DRAM voltage wrong?

Hi,

I need a bit of advice with my new computer. I'm pretty good with software, but not so much with hardware, so thought it would be safest to ask before I start messing with UEFI settings on my own. :o I'm trying to go for maximum stability with this system, I don't want to overclock anything, ever. So here's the deal.

This is a AsRock Z97 Pro4 & Intel Core i5-4690K system, with what according to the company I bought the system from is Kingston "HX316C10FR/8" RAM in a single 8 gig stick but CPU-Z shows as "KHX1600C10D3/8G". I wanted RAM with a 1.5 V voltage because I've been hearing Intel Haswell CPUs like lower voltages for RAM (instead of the 1.65 V stuff that would have been a little cheaper here) and theoretically might be damaged in long-term use with higher than about 1.5 V RAM voltages. CPU-Z says that the memory's Nominal Voltage is 1.50 Volts so I thought I got what I wanted... except that when I check A-Tuning or UEFI, both clearly show that DRAM Voltage is 1.585 V! What's up with that? It looks like the motherboard is automatically setting the voltage higher than it should be?

What should I do? Should I go to UEFI and switch the DRAM Voltage to manual and lower it to 1.50 V? That's my instinct, I mean, if that's the offical voltage for that memory, then that should be the right thing to use and would be healthier for the system, correct? 1.5 V RAM should have a voltage of 1.5 V, shouldn't it, instead of the weird 1.585 that the mobo for some reason sets? That sounds like a stupid question, I know, but I'm not confident with messing with hardware, because if something fries or gets damaged, I don't have the money to buy new stuff every year or every five years for that matter... But if the memory will be stable and run well at 1.5 V, then that would be great. Just asking to confirm.

Thanks for the help guys! :)

P.S. Can you recommend any reliable, malware-free software for stress testing the CPU? I haven't used those things in a while and have fallen out of the loop.

Thanks for the welcome & the helpful reply! :)

I'm going to set it manually to 1.5 V and run a few hours of Memtest86+ for initial testing, and more later. Perfectionism is hard, but it's so rare that I get a new computer that I get obsessed to get everything running perfectly :D

Almiel wrote: Hi, I need a bit of advice with my new computer. I'm pretty good with software, but not so much with hardware, so thought it would be safest to ask before I start messing with UEFI settings on my own. :o I'm trying to go for maximum stability with this system, I don't want to overclock anything, ever. So here's the deal. This is a AsRock Z97 Pro4 & Intel Core i5-4690K system, with what according to the company I bought the system from is Kingston "HX316C10FR/8" RAM in a single 8 gig stick but CPU-Z shows as "KHX1600C10D3/8G". I wanted RAM with a 1.5 V voltage because I've been hearing Intel Haswell CPUs like lower voltages for RAM (instead of the 1.65 V stuff that would have been a little cheaper here) and theoretically might be damaged in long-term use with higher than about 1.5 V RAM voltages. CPU-Z says that the memory's Nominal Voltage is 1.50 Volts so I thought I got what I wanted... except that when I check A-Tuning or UEFI, both clearly show that DRAM Voltage is 1.585 V! What's up with that? It looks like the motherboard is automatically setting the voltage higher than it should be? What should I do? Should I go to UEFI and switch the DRAM Voltage to manual and lower it to 1.50 V? That's my instinct, I mean, if that's the offical voltage for that memory, then that should be the right thing to use and would be healthier for the system, correct? 1.5 V RAM should have a voltage of 1.5 V, shouldn't it, instead of the weird 1.585 that the mobo for some reason sets? That sounds like a stupid question, I know, but I'm not confident with messing with hardware, because if something fries or gets damaged, I don't have the money to buy new stuff every year or every five years for that matter... But if the memory will be stable and run well at 1.5 V, then that would be great. Just asking to confirm. Thanks for the help guys! :) P.S. Can you recommend any reliable, malware-free software for stress testing the CPU? I haven't used those things in a while and have fallen out of the loop.

All modern DRAM memory has data programmed into it called the SPD data. That data has all the timing, voltage, and other data to set all the memory parameters automatically by a board's BIOS/UEFI. An extension of that data is called XMP, EXtreme Memory Profile, which is a set of the memory's data that sets it at its highest performance.

If you run CPU-Z and click on the SPD tab, it will display some or all of the predefined memory data profiles that was programmed into that memory. It only shows the basic data, since all of it would not fit in the small CPU-Z display. It will also show at least one of the XMP data profiles, if the memory has an XMP profile in its SPD data, not all memory will have XMP data. That includes the memory voltage data, as you have seen.

We don't know if you applied the XMP data profile, that normally is done manually in the BIOS/UEFI by the user. Regardless, the BIOS/UEFI will read one of the standard memory data profiles and apply that data so the memory can function properly, according to the memory manufactures supplied SPD data.

We cannot automatically blame the board or BIOS/UEFI for the voltage it applied for the memory given how this system works.

If the memory voltage you see in the BIOS/UEFI does not match any of the memory profiles shown in the CPU-Z SPD data, then we could possibly blame the BIOS/UEFI. Did you find any other SPD profiles that had a voltage of 1.585V? That sounds like an XMP data setting.

Another possibility is the BIOS/UEFI did apply a higher memory voltage, I have seen 1.585V being applied automatically on some mother boards. That is done in order to be sure the memory will work in a board, since the board manufacture has no idea which of the thousands of memory models available will be used in a board. That is a tradeoff between having the memory work and the board and PC booting, or the memory possibly not work due to a to low voltage being applied, and the user is stuck with a seemingly dead PC. I think you'll agree it is better that the PC works than not.

As said above, we can always set the memory voltage manually, to 1.5V in your case. It should be a standard procedure that we check the memory voltage since WE are the builders of the PC and we are responsible for setting it up correctly. Fortunately, the memory voltage "limit" quoted by Intel of 1.5V is conservative, and user routinely use memory voltages of 1.6V and above when attempting high memory over clocks.

Thanks again guys, I'm really learning here! :)

parsec wrote: If you run CPU-Z and click on the SPD tab, it will display some or all of the predefined memory data profiles that was programmed into that memory. ...

I saved a report from CPU-Z, and under the Memory SPD part of the report, it has these lines among others:

Nominal Voltage          1.50 Volts
EPP               no
XMP               no
AMP               no

So I'm thinking that the 1.585 voltage was something the board decided to apply as a failsafe to make sure the voltage isn't too low, like you described. Interesting stuff, I literally don't know almost anything about this! Hence my shyness with touching any settings without asking someone wiser. :D

Anyway, I left memtest86+ running overnight to test how stable the memory is with 1.5 V. It went nicely through 12 hours and 10 passes, no errors reported, so I think that's looking good. Funny how slow that memtest is though, over an hour per pass, I'm glad I didn't stay up and wait for it like I thought at first. :D I did watch it for one pass (ouch), and it also looked like memtest was not doing some tests, skipping some numbers like test 1 and 11, but maybe that's the way it's supposed to go, it's been a long while since I last used it. In normal use, the system feels normal as I'm typing this. :)

odiebugs wrote: Did you say that you only have one stick of RAM, ?if so, you would have better off with two or four, just for future reference. ?With one stick you're are running the memory in single channel when you could be in dual channel. So if you upgrade and get 16, get 4X4, or 2 X 8, just for an example.

Yeah, just the one stick of 8 gigs. I'll probably get another at some point in the future, but I'm not really a maximum performance kind of person so the single channel thing doesn't bother me. Yet. :D I have been thinking about it, though.