RAM question, ok to run volt. 10% higher? - Tech Support Forums

OC Guy · January 2nd, 2002, 02:56 PM

Is it ok to run my ram(PC133 SDRAM)with a voltage increase of 10%? My motherboard only supports memory voltages increase in 5% and 10%. I could really use the 10% gain, but will it kill my ram? Most of you will say its ok with good cooling, so as i type this my system temp is...25C. Has anyone burned up ram like this?

OC Guy · January 2nd, 2002, 04:28 PM

Anyone???^^^

Tomteriffic · January 2nd, 2002, 04:36 PM

OC, I have limited experience in this, but I have one system that's been running 24/7 for months, with only the very occasional reboot that has a 10% RAM voltage bump. Another system which is relatively new and hasn't been stressed much has a 5% boost.

Theoretically, and especially without good case ventilation, you could shorten the life of your memory modules this way. On the other hand, with the design life of electrical components being what they are, it's kinda doubtful that the RAM would remain in service long enough for this to be a factor.

r0l0e · January 2nd, 2002, 05:24 PM

i'm taking a guess, but are you running an iwill kk266? well don't matter.

Only increase the DIMM voltage if your overckocking the FSB. increaseing the memory voltage gets the memory to run a little more stable but at the same time, the more voltage you apply, the warmer the memory chips gets.

i have burned a PC133 mem stick by having it at +10% and the fsb set to 170 at CAS2/ turbo setting.

carefull,
r0l0e

OC Guy · January 2nd, 2002, 07:49 PM

Yes i DO have a iwill kk266, but mine is the Plus-R version, with RAID. The jumper on the motherboard can be set to normal, +5%, or +10%. And I only wont to reach the 150 or a LITTLE higher fsb, and i know my ram wont reach cas 2. Right now im running at 147 fsb, and cas3. Thanks for your help everyone! I have an old pentium heatsink maybe two that i could cut in half and maybe tape(double sided) or jb weild to my ram, would this be a good idea? Any maybe some tips?

Tomteriffic · January 2nd, 2002, 10:06 PM

I've never found it necessary to add heatsinks to SDRAM or DDR, but if you want to try it, there's some double-sided thermal tape out there that has heat transfer properties even better than white thermal paste and sticks very well (without wrecking your RAM permanently). You can buy it in 1.75 inch squares or by the strip (1 foot by 1.75 inch) and cut it to fit. I bought a foot of it and I'm probably set for life for the stuff

It's designed for use on video card heatsinks and stuff, so it ought to work well for memory. You can find it here:

www.millisec.com

These are some of the good guys. Fair pricing, no-ripoff shipping, excellent personal service.

Tom

r0l0e · January 3rd, 2002, 03:20 AM

the only difference in the kk266+ is the audio.

usually ramsinks are used for vid cards. sdrams and ddr usually don't need one cause it doesn't produce as much heat as the RDRAM do.

it's harder to attain higher memory bus speed on sdram than ddr. it also depends on the kind of memory you have. try not to mix memory types.

what you can do is test each sdr module and see how high each will go at default memory voltage. that'll give you a ball park figure for each ram module if your using 2 or more modules. then if you think you've reached the memory's highest, bump up the fsb by 2 or 3 and the voltage by +5%. and do some memory benches and stresses on it to see if it's stable. if not go to +10% voltage then test/ stress again. go as high as you can untill the computer doesn't boot or windows can't load. then do the same thing to the other memory modules. after you've test each mem. module, set the lowest FSB of the three modules combined, test, stress, and burn. still giving you problem? drop down a couple od fsb and test again.

pay attention to the processor speed and temp. make sure the you have anough cooling and keep the case side panel off for now.

also pay attention to the PCI bus speed. the PCI devider will always be 1/4 of the front side bus speed you set it to.

for example:

150fsb /4= 37.5mhz
155fsb /4= 38.7mhz
160fsb /4= 40mhz an so on.

most perifelals will work at 150fsb, over that your on your own. and the less things you have in your PCI slots, the easier you can attain high fsb.

i have 3- 128mb PC133 cas2 /turbo setting and my kk266-raid is set to +10% 160fsb. i would like it at 166fsb, but the USB DV Creator, pci tv/fm capture cards, and the 8gig WD HDD don't like 166fsb or 41.5mhz pci bus speed. the sweat spot is about 160fsb.