DDR3 1.5V RAM on LGA 1151 MOTHERBOARD SAFE? + Other Questions

[Alberto Bj]

Hello , i previously started a thread regarding on what Skylake/Kabylake CPU to buy but they suggested me to just stay on my platform which is LGA 1150 , the problem is , as stated on the previous thread, no one sells brand new haswell CPU's nowadays. (i heard they're sold out on the market , i haven't confirmed it yet but I’m 90% sure it’s not being sold anymore) , others suggested that i buy used CPU's from people but i won’t do that as second hand computer hardware could have a lot of problems and i would likely want to avoid the hassle. as much as possible i want it to be brand new, now regarding the problem, as its not being sold anymore looks like i am going to be forced to transfer to a platform which is LGA 1151. Originally, budget for the CPU alone is 200 USD+ ish which is the cost of an i5 4th Gen CPU here (i converted from our country's currency). Now if I’m going to transfer to a new platform , it would cut the budget because I will have to buy a new motherboard AND worse , a new pair of DDR4 Rams which costs ALOT here in my country. Now what I’m asking if a DDR3 that is running at 1.5V is SAFE to be used on LGA 1151 because i heard intel said that it’s not safe and might fry or decrease the lifespan of the CPU.

Now what i'm trying to do is try to SAVE as MUCH as i can to cut the cost for the MOTHERBOARD + NEW CPU only. Rather than a new MOTHERBOARD, CPU + A NEW PAIR OF RAM. would it be wise if i would just re use my old DDR3 ram to save up "A little" or not risk it and just buy a new pair of DDR4 given that it wouldn’t make much difference because if Im going to transfer to a new platform, the cost for a motherboard would be around 60-80 USD that leaves me with 120 USD for the CPU alone IF I’m going to go with Used DDR3 Ram if it’s safe, now if it isn’t DDR4 rams would cost around 60-80 usd too or even more, so that leaves me with JUST 40 USD for the CPU alone , considering I don’t know the exact prices for the motherboard,cpu and rams yet , it could cost even more or less. Now regarding the cpu given the situation that if I buy new ddr4 dims , my only option would be to get G4560 which is a Dual Core 4 Thread CPU that doesn’t add much on the performance of the cpu im currently using which Is G3250, I’ve heard some positive reviews about it they said it runs like an i3 6100 but with disabled features but im afraid it will still be bottlenecked by my GTX 1060., now if im going to use the DDR3 ram, it will leave me at 120 USD , and the only CPU running around that price point is the i3 6100 which I just mentioned earlier. That people said its pointless to buy and would not be worth the money because it runs exactly like a g4560 but with additional features. So what should I do? What should be the best bet? If im going to go for the g4560 or the i3 6100 im afraid I wont be able to upgrade for a i5 7500 or similar again for a long time and I’m afraid the 6th and 7th gen processors will soon be also faced out by the time I saved up for a 7th gen i5. Or should I just save up more, stretch my budget until I can afford a motherboard , a pair of ddr4 ram and an i5 equivalent or a quadcore cpu.?

 

[BigBoomBoom]

Look at it this way, if the voltage is not safe why motherboard maker like ASUS, ASROCK or Gigabyte make DDR3 (NOT DDR3L) motherboard for 6th gen? In fact, DDR4 high frequency also go up to 1.4V or 1.45V as well. It might be that it's a bit too early (2 years) since release of 6th gen CPU but there's zero report of people's CPU being damaged because they run DDR3 RAM. I challenge anyone to point me to any reported case.

 

[Alberto Bj]

Look at it this way, if the voltage is not safe why motherboard maker like ASUS, ASROCK or Gigabyte make DDR3 (NOT DDR3L) motherboard for 6th gen? In fact, DDR4 high frequency also go up to 1.4V or 1.45V as well. It might be that it's a bit too early (2 years) since release of 6th gen CPU but there's zero report of people's CPU being damaged because they run DDR3 RAM. I challenge anyone to point me to any reported case.

thats what ive been trying to figure out too, if anyone here uses ddr3 on lga 1151 please tell if ur not having any problems or so

 

[BigBoomBoom]

I did use i7-6700k with ASROCK Z170 Pro4 D3 for a couple months, no problem whatsoever. I since switched to DDR4 mobo because my Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400Mhz DDR3 ends up selling for more than I bought it for 12 months prior (bought $75 sold for $100) so I actually ended up with extra cash when switched over to Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200Mhz DDR4.

 

[synphul]

A number of people have mixed ddr3 1.5v with 6th gen cpu's and have been running them that way. I personally wouldn't but there haven't been a bunch of dead cpu's from doing so to my knowledge. At least nothing that specifically points to the higher ram voltage killing them. The argument that it must be safe because motherboard makers provided ddr3 boards for skylake doesn't say much.

The memory controller isn't on the motherboard, it's built into the cpu. Since it's not part of the motherboard it's not really up to asus, gigabyte and asrock to say 'it's ok, trust us'. When it's their part, then they can definitively make those claims, otherwise they're claiming safety/compatibility for parts which they don't produce and coincidentally, won't warranty if it does cause issues.

Even if ddr4 goes up to 1.4v or 1.45 it's still lower than 1.5v or 1.65v of ddr3. Ddr4 'extreme' memory still runs below plain ddr3. As I said, I wouldn't personally do it but I tend to err on the side of caution. 8gb of ddr4 2400/3000 currently runs around $60-80. Whether I had an i5 or i7 (which would be what I run, so based on my personal build type), both cost significantly more than a replacement cpu. If it was just the ram that was at potential risk it's only $60-80 or so, much less to replace.

Much like overclocking, it's not all the same. Overclocking the cpu using the multiplier on a z series board has been proven time and again to be safe within limits over several generations. It doesn't mean if I crank up the base frequency and stress the rest of the system in the process there won't be damage or crashing due to instability. What you overclock or overvolt and by how much matters. Just because you can overclock a certain cpu by 600mhz doesn't mean you can safely do so with any gpu. Pushing the memory controller isn't the same as a generic cpu overclock.

If you go with an i3 or g4560 now it will be cheaper up front but if your end goal is an i5 or i7 it will be more expensive in the long run. Ddr4 isn't going anywhere for awhile, whether you buy it now or the next time you build/upgrade you're going to need ddr4. Amd and intel have both moved on from ddr3. I would save up a bit and get what you want if it's going to be that long before you upgrade again.

Being that tight on budget have you considered ryzen? An r5 1400 or 1500x will perform similarly to an i5 7400. The only thing I'm not comfortable giving advice on is memory for ryzen, I've looked at a couple of different motherboards (b350's) from msi and asrock as well as their memory compatibility charts and haven't had much luck finding high speed compatible ram (which benefits ryzen cpus) that comes in 8gb kits and not 16 or 32gb kits. With ryzen's memory issues things keep changing. Support continues to be added to handle memory at higher speeds but it doesn't always work (ram may be limited to lower speeds, pc may have trouble booting). Hopefully others with ryzen experience can chip in with what ram/mobo combo's they've used that works well.

 

[Alberto Bj]

A number of people have mixed ddr3 1.5v with 6th gen cpu's and have been running them that way. I personally wouldn't but there haven't been a bunch of dead cpu's from doing so to my knowledge. At least nothing that specifically points to the higher ram voltage killing them. The argument that it must be safe because motherboard makers provided ddr3 boards for skylake doesn't say much.

The memory controller isn't on the motherboard, it's built into the cpu. Since it's not part of the motherboard it's not really up to asus, gigabyte and asrock to say 'it's ok, trust us'. When it's their part, then they can definitively make those claims, otherwise they're claiming safety/compatibility for parts which they don't produce and coincidentally, won't warranty if it does cause issues.

Even if ddr4 goes up to 1.4v or 1.45 it's still lower than 1.5v or 1.65v of ddr3. Ddr4 'extreme' memory still runs below plain ddr3. As I said, I wouldn't personally do it but I tend to err on the side of caution. 8gb of ddr4 2400/3000 currently runs around $60-80. Whether I had an i5 or i7 (which would be what I run, so based on my personal build type), both cost significantly more than a replacement cpu. If it was just the ram that was at potential risk it's only $60-80 or so, much less to replace.

Much like overclocking, it's not all the same. Overclocking the cpu using the multiplier on a z series board has been proven time and again to be safe within limits over several generations. It doesn't mean if I crank up the base frequency and stress the rest of the system in the process there won't be damage or crashing due to instability. What you overclock or overvolt and by how much matters. Just because you can overclock a certain cpu by 600mhz doesn't mean you can safely do so with any gpu. Pushing the memory controller isn't the same as a generic cpu overclock.

If you go with an i3 or g4560 now it will be cheaper up front but if your end goal is an i5 or i7 it will be more expensive in the long run. Ddr4 isn't going anywhere for awhile, whether you buy it now or the next time you build/upgrade you're going to need ddr4. Amd and intel have both moved on from ddr3. I would save up a bit and get what you want if it's going to be that long before you upgrade again.

Being that tight on budget have you considered ryzen? An r5 1400 or 1500x will perform similarly to an i5 7400. The only thing I'm not comfortable giving advice on is memory for ryzen, I've looked at a couple of different motherboards (b350's) from msi and asrock as well as their memory compatibility charts and haven't had much luck finding high speed compatible ram (which benefits ryzen cpus) that comes in 8gb kits and not 16 or 32gb kits. With ryzen's memory issues things keep changing. Support continues to be added to handle memory at higher speeds but it doesn't always work (ram may be limited to lower speeds, pc may have trouble booting). Hopefully others with ryzen experience can chip in with what ram/mobo combo's they've used that works well.

okay so my best bet is to just save up for more? the best choice is to go with ddr4 + any h110m or b250m mobo then an i5 equivalent cpu.