DDR3 voltage question.

[PoisonRaven]

Hello everyone.

I have an old PC that use for old games, been using a dedicated gpu but had a problem with it so I decided to get more RAM to be able to use the integrated gpu so I got two DDR3 1600 sticks, they're identical but seems like one stick is newer than the other and it shows like DDR3L in CPU-Z while the other one is a regular stick and now I have one running at 1.5v and the other at 1.35v.

Is this a problem?, I know the DDR3L stick that is running at 1.35v can run at 1.5v too but I don't know how to do that so maybe you can help me with that, they're at dual channel and didn't have any kind of blue screen or something like that.

Spoiler: CPU-Z info.

Cheers and thanks!.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hello everyone.

I have an old PC that use for old games, been using a dedicated gpu but had a problem with it so I decided to get more RAM to be able to use the integrated gpu so I got two DDR3 1600 sticks, they're identical but seems like one stick is newer than the other and it shows like DDR3L in CPU-Z while the other one is a regular stick and now I have one running at 1.5v and the other at 1.35v.

Is this a problem?, I know the DDR3L stick that is running at 1.35v can run at 1.5v too but I don't know how to do that so maybe you can help me with that, they're at dual channel and didn't have any kind of blue screen or something like that.

Spoiler: CPU-Z info.

View attachment 385064View attachment 385065

Cheers and thanks!.

Ok thats a report of their capabilities, go into the bios and look at where dram voltage is set to

 

[DaemonForce]

Are you on a 790GX board?

 

[PoisonRaven]

Ok thats a report of their capabilities, go into the bios and look at where dram voltage is set to

The DRAM Voltage is 1.368v in bios and there are two options:

First one is Memory Timing Mode that is set to auto and 1.35v, I can set it to manual or advanced manual but can't change the voltage, all I can change there are two options called Channel and Rank Interleaving.

The other options is DRAM Voltage (CH A/B) that if I set it to auto it sets to 1.368v but I can change it manually.

Are you on a 790GX board?

No, my board is a GA-F2A55M-S1 rev 3.

 

[DaemonForce]

An A55 board? That's wild.
I'm not sure if I can consider FM2 "old" but it's something.

Generally when I had low voltage memory in an AM3 system, I switched VDDR closer to the spec for that memory.
My system has been all over the place. Mushkin 4GB 1600 kit rated 1.85v and I ran them 2.08v to get them stable.
Had a 1.5v Ballistix kit in it when I went up to 8GB and then a 1.6v G.Skill kit when I went to 16GB 2133.
I can't give you very good advice on these types of systems other than run whatever feels right.

 

[agent_x007]

You either undervolt your 1.5V RAM (with 1.35V on both), or overvolt the 1.35V stick (1.5V on both).
First option should be fine, but maybe check stability of that 1.5V stick separately at 1.35V [DRAM Voltage] (with standard settings) ?
Second option is just "the usual". DDR3 OG spec calls for 1.5V as standard RAM voltage.
I HIGHLY doubt a DDR3L (ie. 1.35V rated) stick, could experience a degrading issue big enough to be noticeable at this voltage level.

 

[PoisonRaven]

You either undervolt your 1.5V RAM (with 1.35V on both), or overvolt the 1.35V stick (1.5V on both).
First option should be fine, but maybe check stability of that 1.5V stick separately at 1.35V [DRAM Voltage] (with standard settings) ?
Second option is just "the usual". DDR3 OG spec calls for 1.5V as standard RAM voltage.
I HIGHLY doubt a DDR3L (ie. 1.35V rated) stick, could experience a degrading issue big enough to be noticeable at this voltage level.

Yep, that's what I want to do, make the DDR3L stick run at 1.5v like the other one to avoid stability/performance problems but don't know how to do it because I had never mess with voltage things hehe.

 

[Dr. Dro]

If you are not getting errors and your PC is not crashing, then there is no issue. DDR3 can run at 1.35, and DDR3L can run at 1.5 without issues, in general.

You might have looked for the same stick model, but the DDR3L is BAB2 instead of BAA3 (in the middle of the model number there), so they are of a different type. Still, if there are no stability issues, let it be, and just enjoy the machine.

If the BIOS defaulted to the 1.35V voltage as it seems to have and you are still not having issues, then it's all good and even better that way. There is no need to raise the DDR3L voltage to 1.5, if anything, doing so might introduce issues instead.

 

[docnorth]

Even though the sticks are rated for different voltages, they will probably operate now at the same voltage. If the system is stable, leave it on auto. If not, some (hopefully small) voltage increase should stabilise it.

 

[PoisonRaven]

If you are not getting errors and your PC is not crashing, then there is no issue. DDR3 can run at 1.35, and DDR3L can run at 1.5 without issues, in general.

You might have looked for the same stick model, but the DDR3L is BAB2 instead of BAA3 (in the middle of the model number there), so they are of a different type. Still, if there are no stability issues, let it be, and just enjoy the machine.

If the BIOS defaulted to the 1.35V voltage as it seems to have and you are still not having issues, then it's all good and even better that way. There is no need to raise the DDR3L voltage to 1.5, if anything, doing so might introduce issues instead.

Is there any software like aida or hwinfo that can show me the current voltage of each stick?. I notice a little freeze when I scroll down fast for example and I changed from 4GB single to 16GB dual channel but I can't feel a very noticeable performance upgrade if you ask me.

Thanks everyone for all your replies.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

DDR3L is rated for both 1.35V and 1.5V. If it's working I wouldn't worry about it.

HWiNFO and HWMonitor can show the RAM voltage.

 

[eidairaman1]

I have ram at 1.65

 

[PoisonRaven]

Hello again, I did an Aida64 memory/cache test, I don't know much about these things but comparing the results with others DDR3 numbers seems like write speed and latency are bad, what do you think?.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Hello again, I did an Aida64 memory/cache test, I don't know much about these things but comparing the results with others DDR3 numbers seems like write speed and latency are bad, what do you think?.

View attachment 385845

Latency is a bit high, you can shave a few ns by adjusting the timings. CL11 is a bit on the high side for DDR3-1600, if your kit can manage it, optimal would be something like 9-9-9-24 1T, plus subtimings. But that will take a lot of trial and error to get right, and the juice might not be worth the squeeze. It'll take a couple of days to get it right and tested for stability, if your mixed memory doesn't play nice it'll become a nightmare fast, and I reckon there's pretty much nothing you can do make an FX-era APU feel snappy today. The best upgrade for you, if you haven't done it yet, is buy an SSD, and even if you purchase something like an A10-7850K which should be the strongest chip for this platform, don't expect miracles either...

 

[damric]

The old Samsung DDR3-1600CL11 "wonder RAM" were technically DDR3L, but they ran great once you juiced them. G.Skill made a killing binning them up past 2400MT/s. But yeah if both kits are working fine at 1.35v then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[PoisonRaven]

Latency is a bit high, you can shave a few ns by adjusting the timings. CL11 is a bit on the high side for DDR3-1600, if your kit can manage it, optimal would be something like 9-9-9-24 1T, plus subtimings. But that will take a lot of trial and error to get right, and the juice might not be worth the squeeze. It'll take a couple of days to get it right and tested for stability, if your mixed memory doesn't play nice it'll become a nightmare fast, and I reckon there's pretty much nothing you can do make an FX-era APU feel snappy today. The best upgrade for you, if you haven't done it yet, is buy an SSD, and even if you purchase something like an A10-7850K which should be the strongest chip for this platform, don't expect miracles either...

So it's just manually change the timers to 9-9-9-24 in BIOS for both sticks and try?, sorry I never mess with things like that and don't wanna fu** anything . If the best I can get is just a small upgrade I prefer to don't touch anything.

I know it's an old setup and I don't expect to get water from rocks I just want to be sure that what I have is working fine. Don't have plans to upgrade this PC because I think it doesn't worth it so I'm saving some money to build something with a Ryzen 5 5600g that it's more than enough for what I need and is not that expensive, hardware prices are crazy here, that's why I'm using this crap.

 

[Dr. Dro]

So it's just manually change the timers to 9-9-9-24 in BIOS for both sticks and try?, sorry I never mess with things like that and don't wanna fu** anything . If the best I can get is just a small upgrade I prefer to don't touch anything.

I know it's an old setup and I don't expect to get water from rocks I just want to be sure that what I have is working fine. Don't have plans to upgrade this PC because I think it doesn't worth it so I'm saving some money to build something with a Ryzen 5 5600g that it's more than enough for what I need and is not that expensive, hardware prices are crazy here, that's why I'm using this crap.

Yeah. Manually changing these to 9-9-9-24 and the command rate to 1 is a start, but you might get crashes. If you do, try adjusting the voltage, up to 1.6 shouldn't be much of a problem. 1.65 if it runs cool, remember that hot RAM is unstable RAM. You'll have to run a bit of OCCT at every turn, and once you feel more comfortable, then put it to the test with MemTest86 and prime95 in blend mode to make sure it's all stable. 5 mins between adjustments is good enough, if you pass solid on a setting you feel like you're happy with, then test those other two for a few hours.

I understand the situation mate, I don't blame you and glad that you are reasonable about it, just don't beat yourself up and lose hours upon hours for what may very well amount to 1 fps. Besides it's still good for loads of great games, I find myself playing a lot of classics on my mid-2010 Mac mini lately, that is certainly much slower than your machine, even have a thread on it.

 

[PoisonRaven]

Yeah. Manually changing these to 9-9-9-24 and the command rate to 1 is a start, but you might get crashes. If you do, try adjusting the voltage, up to 1.6 shouldn't be much of a problem. 1.65 if it runs cool, remember that hot RAM is unstable RAM. You'll have to run a bit of OCCT at every turn, and once you feel more comfortable, then put it to the test with MemTest86 and prime95 in blend mode to make sure it's all stable. 5 mins between adjustments is good enough, if you pass solid on a setting you feel like you're happy with, then test those other two for a few hours.

I understand the situation mate, I don't blame you and glad that you are reasonable about it, just don't beat yourself up and lose hours upon hours for what may very well amount to 1 fps. Besides it's still good for loads of great games, I find myself playing a lot of classics on my mid-2010 Mac mini lately, that is certainly much slower than your machine, even have a thread on it.

Ok, as I said in one of my others comments I have two settings in BIOS.

Memory Timing Mode: set at 1.35v and can't modify it.
DRAM Voltage (CH A/B): Seems like the "default" is 1.500v but it changes to 1.368v at auto and I can change it to whatever I want.

The second option is what I need to change to 1.6/1.65?.

Thanks for understand and love that mini machine that you have there .

 

[Dr. Dro]

Ok, as I said in one of my others comments I have two settings in BIOS.

Memory Timing Mode: set at 1.35v and can't modify it.
DRAM Voltage (CH A/B): Seems like the "default" is 1.500v but it changes to 1.368v at auto and I can change it to whatever I want.

The second option is what I need to change to 1.6/1.65?.

Thanks for understand and love that mini machine that you have there .

It is probably picking up the voltage information from the lowest rated stick and applying that for safety reasons. If it allows per channel independently, try that, I suppose. If the voltage is not adjustable, then there is little you can do there. You can try adjusting the timings nonetheless, but you may not get the best results.

Good luck

 

[DaemonForce]

It's been a while since I've run a system near those specs but I think you're good. I might have to drag out the Phenom II X4 just once.