# 2.25v safe DDR2 voltage?



## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm playing around with my memory, trying to see if I can get it to run at DDR-900 4-4-4-12-16 rather than DDR-1000 5-5-5-15-20. To do this, I need to bump it up from 2.15v to 2.25v. Is this a safe voltage to be running through my stuff? I do enjoy the speed and snappiness that comes with it, but I wouldn't want to risk frying my memory, or even my motherboard or memory controller for it... the last thing I need is another current overdrawing nightmare that takes out multiple components..


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 29, 2010)

I split the dif. on my old 775. 960 at 5-5-4-12. It took about 2.26 actual according to everest, don't recall what I set it to in the bios. That system is still together and running fine. I think 2.2 is safe, up to 2.3 should be safe for the most sticks, wouldn't say all.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 29, 2010)

Depends on the exact sticks. I had a pair of sticks that called for 2.4V, but required being run with a fan, and they had some pretty well-working heatsinks on them as well.

I know that Micron D9s were fine with higher voltages as long as they were kept cool, but 2.4V gave them about a 1.5yr life before they went kaput. Find out what ICs you have on your sticks, then google around to see what people are running.

Edit: If it's these: GeIL Black Dragon 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM...

See rated voltage.


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## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm really worried about the rest of the system though... last time I pushed voltage I fried my board, cpu and graphics card. This is merely a 95w budget board.

These are Geil Black Dragon sticks, no idea what they are... crap. I'd have to take the heatspreaders off too..


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## DanishDevil (Jun 29, 2010)

Yeah, looks like they've got 3 different versions on their site:

http://www.geil.com.tw/products/showSpec/id/119

And nothing there says 2.4V. If you're that worried, I'd keep 'em where they are. You'll never forgive yourself if you cook your stuff again.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jun 29, 2010)

hat said:


> I'm really worried about the rest of the system though... last time I pushed voltage I fried my board, cpu and graphics card. This is merely a 95w budget board.
> 
> These are Geil Black Dragon sticks, no idea what they are... crap. I'd have to take the heatspreaders off too..



They dont have heatspreaders on do they? unless you have put some on? 

Geil does say 1.8-2.4v for some of their black dragons I am sure it is the higher rated ddr800 sticks at 4.4.4 as opposed to the 5.5.5 set which cant clock for shit anyway, I know 

Trying to find out where I seen 2.4 though not having much luck, even the TPU review of the cas4 set back a few years ago could only get them to run 2.2v anything more and they became unstable, like my set also:

Source:



> The next restriction is the fact that the memory does not like high voltage. It routinely becomes unstable or unbootable at anything above 2.2V. This really constricts the playing field to a voltage between 1.9V and 2.2V


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## Wile E (Jun 29, 2010)

2.25 _should_ be fine for almost any DDR2. Just make sure your case has some decent airflow.


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## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

It was part of a 4x2GB set, they were rated for 800MHz 4-4-4-12.

No they don't have heatspreaders on stock. I put some on myself, mainly to cover up those red "dragon eye" LEDs... the rig is in my bedroom and I leave it on 24/7, including when I sleep... I would prefer to have as little light coming out of my PC as possible.

OK, the chips say "GL2L128M888A188W" and "U84018CA9T6H" below that. Googling those didn't help much...


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## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

CPU mosfets are hot to the touch... can't keep my finger there. I put some of those little zalman vram heatsinks on them cause I didn't have anything better... it shipped with no heatsinks at all.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jun 29, 2010)

hat said:


> CPU mosfets are hot to the touch... can't keep my finger there. I put some of those little zalman vram heatsinks on them cause I didn't have anything better... it shipped with no heatsinks at all.



The black dragons are shit to be honest, they were nothing but a marketing gimmick and no kit i've owned or heard has clocked that welll. They dont use microns btw, they use some crappy ic's I recall doing some research when I bought a set only to be thoroughly disappointed


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## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm not worried about the ability of them to overclock... if it fails the test, I'll just put it back to where it was. I'm worried about the ability of my system to hold together at 2.25 vram... I got burned bad when I fried that board, cpu and video card.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jun 29, 2010)

hat said:


> I'm not worried about the ability of them to overclock... if it fails the test, I'll just put it back to where it was. I'm worried about the ability of my system to hold together at 2.25 vram... I got burned bad when I fried that board, cpu and video card.



Well looking at some of the reviews of them being finnicky with voltages I would be a bit conservative, I doubt there is any discernable difference between 900 @ 4.4.4 and 1000 at 5.5.5 if they do the latter at 2.15 I would maybe just keep them there or try to tighten some of the subtimings if you feel the need to tweak


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## MohawkAngel (Jun 29, 2010)

I cant tell for you exactly bro but I got some cheap Crucial Rendition sticks that hold the same voltage when I verclock them. Sometimes I think that they are like the Phenoms X2... some unknown powers at the moment of production. So you buy Crucial Rendition 800mhz like mine and can set ti up manually in the bios at 1066mhz on same voltage without chaning anything else


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## AsRock (Jun 29, 2010)

NdMk2o1o said:


> They dont have heatspreaders on do they? unless you have put some on?
> 
> Geil does say 1.8-2.4v for some of their black dragons I am sure it is the higher rated ddr800 sticks at 4.4.4 as opposed to the 5.5.5 set which cant clock for shit anyway, I know
> 
> ...



As DanishDevil said the D9's did but like his mine failed for after a while.  They stopped making the Axeram 1200's a long time ago.  Transend gave me lower Axeram 1066 2x2GB over the overs which were 1200 1x1GB sticks.

I would not push ya ram even more if you cannot afford to lose them.  To be honest gaming wish i have never noticed a difference.


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## Laurijan (Jun 29, 2010)

My old OCZ HTC Reaper 800MHz CL3 must be feed with 2.3V to work properly (at least thats what they say) and I have had them running so for years now but they have kinda heavy heatspreaders and an active OCZ memcooler.


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## claylomax (Jun 29, 2010)

My previous ram, Kingston HyperX, required 2.3v to work at the advertised speeds.


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## Laurijan (Jun 29, 2010)

BTW Geil Black Dragon dont have heatspreaders right? If no I would not go to 2.3V with them even though they are good quality ram.


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## claylomax (Jun 29, 2010)

Laurijan said:


> BTW Geil Black Dragon dont have heatspreaders right? If no I would not go to 2.3V with them even though they are good quality ram.



Well my current ram are Geil Black Dragon and apparently "they don't need heatspreaders" because they've been tested to the max. I'm not worried though, they just need 1.5v.


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## hat (Jun 29, 2010)

Mine do


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## hat (Jun 30, 2010)

The system appears to be stable at 900MHz 4-4-4-12 at 2.25v!


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## Mussels (Jun 30, 2010)

hat said:


> The system appears to be stable at 900MHz 4-4-4-12 at 2.25v!



just make sure they dont overheat, get some airflow on em.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 30, 2010)

I agree with the cigar smoking shellfish named after a mollusk.


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## mauriek (Jun 30, 2010)

just beware that your memory will degrade faster if you run it overvoltage, mine wont boot at default 1,8 after over voltage it to 2,15 for 6 month..no overheating problem because i use 3rd party memory HSF and fan but still it degrade..


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## Mussels (Jun 30, 2010)

mauriek said:


> just beware that your memory will degrade faster if you run it overvoltage, mine wont boot at default 1,8 after over voltage it to 2,15 for 6 month..no overheating problem because i use 3rd party memory HSF and fan but still it degrade..



usually overheating is what degrades it.

you may say that yours died fast because it was overvolted, but how do you know it wasnt going to fail anyway, at the stock volts?

its impossible to tell if it would have died anyway, TBH.


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## mauriek (Jun 30, 2010)

Mussels said:


> usually overheating is what degrades it.
> 
> you may say that yours died fast because it was overvolted, but how do you know it wasnt going to fail anyway, at the stock volts?
> 
> its impossible to tell if it would have died anyway, TBH.


yup it usually is but not in my case, my memory didnt die just wont boot if i use default voltage or sometimes it boot but BSOD when it reach windows, i have read it somewhere probably in this forum, someone talk about electromigration effect when overvoltage..the point is overheating degrade your memory in electronic  component level such dioda,resistor and overvoltage degrade your memory in silicon/metal level..

edit-find my old file but i cant find the source where i copied it..(can somebody help)



> Electromigration
> It's a phenomena caused by the high current density in a solid material, that alters physically the cristalin structure of the material due to loss of cinetic energy of the electrons. Errr ... a little more explanation maybe ? . The solid metals are networks of bonded atoms that have shared a few electrons each. These electrons can move freely trough the metal's structure and transport, of course, electric charge, that's why the metals are so good electric conductors. Theoretically electrons have so small mass compared to the atom's nucleus that can be neglected, but when trough a very small piece of material you pass an immense quantity of current, the bilions of bilions of electrons forced to move at huge speeds hit the atoms in their way and in time they knock out of the otherwise nicely organised structure some atoms, creating voids in the places they were originally.
> 
> This phenomena cannot be avoided and it happens in any material the moment current passes trough it; there is a mathematical model called Black's equation that estimates the average life span of a material under known conditions. Of course, under regular conditions failure due to electromigration is very unlikely, but degradation rapidly accelerates under high current density / increased temperature. As manufacturers move to smaller and smaller manufacturing processes, the importance of electromigration grows larger, as the metallic structures are thinner and thinner and thus more sensitive to this kind of damage. It is true though that there are some technological methods to compensate a little the electromigration's effects by wisely placing the material during chip's construction, but they only delay what will happen anyway


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