Effects of running DDR2 at 2.2v daily?

Stonedofmoo · 11 Mar 2008 at 09:49

I've got some excellent Geil PC6400 memory that overclocks really well.

I currently have two choices. I can run it at DDR933 12-4-5-4 at 1.9v and it will happily complete memtest86 loops at this setting all day

OR I can run it at DDR933 12-4-4-4 at 2.2v and it will run memtest86 all day

The 12-4-4-4 doesn't really seem to have a significant impact on performance, only on the voltage requred to run it. Geil claims their memory is rated to 2.3v but realistically no one seems to runs theirs that high.

Should I run it at 2.2v and run the risk of stressing it day in and out, or settle for the slower 4-5-4 timing and run as low as 1.9v

Thoughts?

TechnoCorruption · 11 Mar 2008 at 10:19

I would go for the 1.9v settings, the difference in settings and performance is not enough to warrant an extra 0.3v in my opinion.

If you were saying should I run it at 667 1.9v or 1066 2.2v then maybe the extra voltage could be justified, but as you said yourself there is very little performance increase.

HeX · 11 Mar 2008 at 11:09

Yup, stick to 1.9V, that minor adjustment in timings isn't worth the extra volts.

Vir · 11 Mar 2008 at 18:31

They are supposed to run at like 2.1v - 2.3v. It even says on the label ON the sticks. What's the problem? It's even better for stability reasons.

Stonedofmoo · 11 Mar 2008 at 19:43

Because it's not. 2.2v is a lot for a DDR2 module, that will generate a lot of heat which will lead to instability without a fan or something to keep things in check.

Rroff · 11 Mar 2008 at 20:15

DDR2 in general doesn't like running above 2.1v long term... 2.2 if its actually at 2.2 should last a couple of years... but at 1.9 it should last forever (or as good as in computer terms).

ryder · 11 Mar 2008 at 22:21

My Ballistix Tracer memory says 2.2v in the specs... should I be running it at a lower voltage :confused:

BEn_2600+ · 11 Mar 2008 at 22:23

ryder said:
My Ballistix Tracer memory says 2.2v in the specs... should I be running it at a lower voltage

As low as you can without stability problems really, but its actually rated at 2.2v so getting it run lower is a bonus

mr griffin · 11 Mar 2008 at 23:16

ran 4 gig of geil ram for over a year and a half at 2.25 DDR900 4-4-4-12 no problems so I wouldn't worry too much, just make sure you have reasonable air flow through your case, if you don't just point a fan at them :-)

Rroff · 12 Mar 2008 at 09:55

Active cooling make little difference to the lifespan with different voltages with DDR2 - unless your running something like 2.5+v through them... tho some modules will benefit from it more than others - geil typically runs quite hot and could probably benefit.

boulton · 12 Mar 2008 at 10:07

I can run mine at 920, 4-4-4-12, at 2.1v no probs, if you are worried you could just take it down a bit and run them at 2.1v which is the rated voltage on the sticker, they do have a lifetime warranty anyway.

Stonedofmoo · 12 Mar 2008 at 12:10

boulton said:
I can run mine at 920, 4-4-4-12, at 2.1v no probs, if you are worried you could just take it down a bit and run them at 2.1v which is the rated voltage on the sticker, they do have a lifetime warranty anyway.

Same here, in fact thats exactly what mine runs up to at those timings at 2.1v

To go that little bit higher though requires that one notch more.

I'm going to get everest and superPI later and see if there actually is any real difference between 12-4-5-4 and 12-4-4-4

d.chatten · 12 Mar 2008 at 13:02

I've just received an e-mail back from crucial today because out of curiosity i asked the very same question, my ram is rated at 1066MHz @2.2v and crucial told me that the ram voltage should be set at it's rated 2.2v even if i underclock the ram to 533MHz/667MHz or 800MHz, after all, it does have a life time warranty.

reflux · 13 Mar 2008 at 16:33

Running my Crucial D9GMH sticks at slightly over 2.2v, 1.1ghz, 5-5-5-15. They've been rock solid at that speed for six months, but I forgot to plug my RAM cooling in one day and OCCT crashed after 45 seconds!

If the memory is specced at that voltage and you've got good cooling, I don't see any reason why 2.2v is a bad thing.

Rroff · 13 Mar 2008 at 18:55

All of my D9GMH based RAM thats been run at 2.2v and above has failed after 12-20 months. They all had active cooling.

If you really care about your memory lasting long term then I don't advise over 2.1 max.

TechnoCorruption · 13 Mar 2008 at 19:10

d.chatten said:
I've just received an e-mail back from crucial today because out of curiosity i asked the very same question, my ram is rated at 1066MHz @2.2v and crucial told me that the ram voltage should be set at it's rated 2.2v even if i underclock the ram to 533MHz/667MHz or 800MHz, after all, it does have a life time warranty.

I think they just said that as 2.2v is what its rated at, my Ballistix 667 can do 1100+ with 2.0v prime blend and memtest stable. If you find your ram can do the speeds at lower volts than I say that is a good thing.

Its the same as if bought a Q6600 with a stock vcore of 1.3v, now if that run at its stock speeds fully stable at 1.2v then I am sure that's what most people would run it at. No point in giving hardware voltage that it doesn't need.

C64 · 15 Mar 2008 at 14:38

yea it doesn't matter as most ram has lifetime warranty

willhub · 15 Mar 2008 at 16:23

I killed 2 sets of Crucial Ballistix ram when I was running them at 2.2V (DDR667 Ballistix), I now have them in my PC with GeIL Ultra 800Mhz which is rated at 1.9V even says on the sticker on the Ramsinks, but I'm running them at 850Mhz 4-4-4-12 at 2.0V, They are fine at 1.8V so I'm proberbly going to lower them again tonight, I upped the voltage as there was some problems in Windows but it turned out to be a dodgy install of TDU and bad NV drivers.