RAM Voltages

[VivienM]

Okay, pretend I'm a noob, please...

I have one of these (or at least I think it's this) sitting on my desk - http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_gold_dual_channel . I got it when I was on sale at a rather low price, so bought it before the rest of my parts...

I also "have" an Asus P5W DH that's on a truck somewhere...

I also "have" a C2D that's preordered and not yet headed my way.

Now, I am reading all these things about people with the Gigabyte board having issues POSTing because "normal" RAM is 1.8V and theirs is 2.0V or so... and I noticed mine is 2.0V as well.

Is this something I should be worrying about (along with improper BIOSes and whatever else awaits me), or is it specific to the Gigabyte P965 board and mine "should" automagically give the RAM 2.0V?

 

[CrappyLuckMan]

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=248&model=1198&modelmenu=1
click on qvl download
ocz OCZ28001024EBDCPE-K in qvl http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m...um_enhanced_bandwidth_dual_channel-eol 2.1volts
you should be fine
good luck noob

 

[OBCT]

The motherboard willdefault to its normal voltage setting (probably 1.8V). You will need to turn it up in order for the RAM to work properly. At DDR2-800 (and high performance RAM), it needs the full 2.0V to work properly. If you can't get it to 2.0V, underclock the memory. That should avoid any POSTing issues.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: OBCT
The motherboard willdefault to its normal voltage setting (probably 1.8V). You will need to turn it up in order for the RAM to work properly. At DDR2-800 (and high performance RAM), it needs the full 2.0V to work properly. If you can't get it to 2.0V, underclock the memory. That should avoid any POSTing issues.

How does one underclock the memory if it won't POST?

 

[OBCT]

Set a memory divider so that it operates under 400Mhz. If your mobo has a DDR2-800 standard, then a 1:1 will run it at DDR2-800 at whatever voltage you can get it to. Try setting a lower memory divider so that it runs under 400Mhz (remember, 400Mhz x 2 = DDR2-800).

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: OBCT
Set a memory divider so that it operates under 400Mhz. If your mobo has a DDR2-800 standard, then a 1:1 will run it at DDR2-800 at whatever voltage you can get it to. Try setting a lower memory divider so that it runs under 400Mhz (remember, 400Mhz x 2 = DDR2-800).

How does one do that without getting into BIOS?

 

[gobucks]

you have to do it from the bios, but usually even if your ram isn't running stably it should be able to get into the bios just fine. also, fyi, OCZ supports mild overvolting of the RAM, so as long as you don't push it beyond 2.2V +/- 5% (which works out to be just over 2.3V max), it's still covered by warranty, so my guess is that you'll be able to get higher speed or faster timings with a little overvolting.

 

[VivienM]

This whole business is continuing to trouble me. So... please bear with my noobish nature...

By way of reference, my last build was a socket 478 Deleron on an Abit IS7 (i865PE) for a Linux "HTPC". I put a single DDR400 Samsung 512M DIMM, it booted up, printed a message about the RAM running at DDR400, and was happy. I later bought a second (identical?) Samsung DDR400 DIMM, put it in, and the BIOS started saying "Dual Channel DDR400". Again, zero issues. I never overclocked the thing, never screwed with advanced BIOS options dealing with RAM speed, timings, etc, etc, it just worked at the advertised speed.

Now, I have this P5W DH sitting on the floor. Was going to buy Intel DP965LT, but got seduced by a) the availability, and b) a few of the features on this board. I also, perhaps noobishly, bought the aforementioned OCZ "Gold" RAM, which was sold for roughly the same price, if not less, as something "boring" like a ValueRAM/ValueSelect kit from the usual big manufacturers. I have no particular intention to overclock the thing. (Keep in mind it's replacing a 1.9 Willamette... )

So, here's the part that bugs me. If I do exactly what I did with the Abit in the last build (in other words, nothing), my rig will not POST at worst, or flake out at best, until I can get into the BIOS and bump the voltage up? (And, similarly, if I had gone with my initial plan, the 1.8V-only Intel DP965LT, instead of this expensive Asus, it would not work at all?) And every time I flash the BIOS, if the settings are reset, I have to bump the voltage back up? (Again: I do not care about overclocking potential. I do not care about timings. I want it to say "Dual-channel DDR2-800" when it POSTs, boot up Windows, and not f*** up)

Perhaps I'm REALLY being a noob, but if that's true, there seems to be something wrong. I have the RAM in front of me. No mention of voltage on the packaging. No instructions saying "Need motherboard that supports > 1.8V". No anything. It says "Mainstream users and PC enthusiasts will enjoy the power and reliability of OCZ's memory features." I assume those mainstream users are running Dells or something with no memory voltage adjustments It says also "OCZ testing guarantees flawless performance and compatibility with most motherboards." Can they REALLY be marketing in this way RAM that essentially won't work out of the box?

Or am I making a big deal out of a misunderstanding?

 

[bmchan]

Viv,
You're not the only one not 'getting it'. I ordered a Gigabyte ga-965p-dq6; which says it supports DDR2-800 RAM. In their manual (on their website) it says must use 1.8V RAM. NewEgg doesn't have any DDR2-800 RAM with a "Voltage" of 1.8V but I see a lot of RAM that shows their specified voltage as 2 or or even higher. I wonder if both of us are reading too much into it.

Everyone else,
Does the voltage specification on a stick of RAM specify it's maximum supported voltage or the minimum supported voltage or both that's the voltage it has to run at in order to work?

I miss the days of just figuring out if the memory was PC100... Does voltage really matter?

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: bmchan
Viv,
You're not the only one not 'getting it'. I ordered a Gigabyte ga-965p-dq6; which says it supports DDR2-800 RAM. In their manual (on their website) it says must use 1.8V RAM. NewEgg doesn't have any DDR2-800 RAM with a "Voltage" of 1.8V but I see a lot of RAM that shows their specified voltage as 2 or or even higher. I wonder if both of us are reading too much into it.

We'll wait for everybody else to comment, but I'm starting to suspect that "all" DDR2-800 is basically "factory overclocked" 533/667 DDR2. Kinda like how the video card industry doesn't seem to sell very many 7900GTs at stock speeds anymore?

Doesn't dual-channel DDR2-533 provide the "right" amount of memory bandwidth for a 1066FSB, anyways? I can tell you one thing: if our fears are right, and the damn thing does not POST or takes more than 30 minutes to make work stably or causes ONE BSOD or similar issue, I'm going down to the computer store and replacing this OCZ thing with 2 gigs of "generic" (read: some established brand's value line) DDR2-667. I'm probably screwed for RMAing the OCZ RAM, which is unfortunate, but there are limits to what I'll put up with.
I don't want a box that will overclock 2% more than the next dude's, I want a box that will run stably without being screwed with, like my current i850/RDCRAP/Intel board setup, or my Abit IS7/DDR400 box. And I want to be able to flash my BIOS without worrying that a) the box won't come back up without major surgery (swapping in 256 megs of cheap RAM to set the voltages back up is "major" in my book), and b) my Windows install will get f***ed due to memory corruption when it boots back up. (The i850 is still running its original Windows XP install after 4.5 years... it's kinda slow now, but still rock solid. I expect the same of this setup)

I never could have imagined that a RAM brand designed for enthusiasts would come with a "PITA factor" as high as this seems to... (and from what I can tell, the AM2 people are as screwed as we think we are?)

 

[bmchan]

Viv,
After reading the other posts of Gigabyte MBs using the Intel 965P chipset it seems to be more of a problem of the Gigabyte board misdetecting the CAS of the memory, so if it's CAS 4 it detects it as CAS 3. Not necessarily a voltage problem. I hope my MB which is a slightly different board than what other people are having problems with doesn't have this problem. But I guess we'll find out soon. My guess is you'll be find and that your Asus board will be fine... where as I'll probably have a problem with my Gigabyte board...