Low Voltage modules

Whilst looking on Aria for some RAM I noticed something that got me thinking.

Aria stocks two 1600MHz Blackline 8GB (2x4GB) memory kits from Mushkin; both have the same timings (9-9-9-24), but one is labeled 'Low Voltage' as it runs at 1.35v instead of the other one's 1.5v.

Now...does this, by any chance, mean that it would be easier to overclock the Low Voltage modules, as there's more 'headroom' to overvolt, or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

Many thanks,

Josh.

i have the 1.35v. kit and the highest overclock I could get was 7 8 7 24 at 1.65v.

Hope this helps

Josh Weston said:

Whilst looking on Aria for some RAM I noticed something that got me thinking.

Aria stocks two 1600MHz Blackline 8GB (2x4GB) memory kits from Mushkin; both have the same timings (9-9-9-24), but one is labeled 'Low Voltage' as it runs at 1.35v instead of the other one's 1.5v.

Now...does this, by any chance, mean that it would be easier to overclock the Low Voltage modules, as there's more 'headroom' to overvolt, or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

Many thanks,

Josh.

Click to expand...

I would like to know this also.... I see awsome memory kits online needing 1.65V just to hit their rated spec, kinda makes me think a simular kit rated at 1.5v would be the better choice(ie. more headroom to overvolt).

The best kit to fit in with the look of my build is a 1.35v kit but its not the fastest memory on the block by any means.

ThE GpU said:

i have the 1.35v. kit and the highest overclock I could get was 7 8 7 24 at 1.65v.

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

Did you up the frequency at all, or just tighten the timings?

BKCXb said:

I would like to know this also.... I see awsome memory kits online needing 1.65V just to hit their rated spec, kinda makes me think a simular kit rated at 1.5v would be the better choice(ie. more headroom to overvolt).

The best kit to fit in with the look of my build is a 1.35v kit but its not the fastest memory on the block by any means.

Click to expand...

I think it's logical that the lower voltage at the same frequency means that it can be overvolted further, but I also think that a lot of people, including myself, link 'Low Voltage' items to mean less powerful, etc.

I was doing some reading on this very thing the other day. The thing that interested me was that using 1.35v memory as opposed to 1.65v memory used 4W less in system power draw. So if you're building a low power system with tight power requirements then the low voltage ones are better.

LOL 4w

The PSU of my upcoming build is 750w - I think i can spare an extra 4

Although, it might be good to know for if I ever build a HTPC or similar

Josh Weston said:

Did you up the frequency at all, or just tighten the timings?

Click to expand...

I got the frequency up to 1866 9 10 9 1.65v.

And I forgot to list the frequency in my first post it was at 1600 MHz

From what i've seen the 1.5v kits oc the best.

What I would be scare of is if a manufactures would check to see if their memory overvolt/overclock, NO! it won't!!

Well, check to see if it undervolts at its rated spec....YES!...it does!!

OK, throw it in the low voltage bin..... than you stuck with bunk memory.

I don't know if low voltage stuff is specially desined parts of their own or just special binned versions of regular parts.

If they are binned parts, you don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing...I guess it's all in how they test and bin them.

best case, you have memory with a wider range than the normal parts of the same batch.

worse case, you have memory that runs at rated spec and you save a few watts of power.

I can see manufactures special binning them to appeal to the green market, but come on!! replacing an old 10 watt hard drive with a 2 watt SSD saves more power and gives a performance boost!

yeah its a weird one, low voltage memory......