Low Voltage vs Normal RAM

[Ironslice]

I wanted to know the difference between these 2 8GB RAM for the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard.

GSKILL Sniper Low Voltage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461

GSKILL Ripjaws
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

ASRock Z77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

Thank you in advance.

 

[blazorthon]

Low voltage RAM has lower voltages. This means that it uses less power, puts less strain on the CPU at stock, and can generally be overclocked more than similar RAM at a higher voltage. However, low voltage RAM does not work properly with all motherboards. It should work with your chosen motherboard, but it might not. Just in case, you might as well get 1.5v RAM, unless you intend to overclock your RAM ridiculously (not much point on Intel CPUs, RAM is not a bottle-neck for many workloads, pretty much just archiving and rendering).

I'd recommend getting a 1.5v RAM kit, such as the RipJaws, unless you see the Sniper kit in the officially supported memory for that motherboard or someone else uses that RAM kit with that motherboard.

 

[akxpckwb]

Difference: Low voltage ones use a tiny little voltage less than normal ones. Not worth it

 

[blazorthon]

Difference: Low voltage ones use a tiny little voltage less than normal ones. Not worth it

1.25v (the Sniper kit linked above) compared to 1.5v (standard voltage for now, Ripjaws kit linked above is 1.5v) are significantly different. It's not just a tiny difference at all. That's enough of a difference for the Sniper to overclock to 1866MHz at 1.35v or even 2133MHz at 1.5v, both with good timings too. The Ripjaws kit can't say the same. It most certainly is worth it, especially with how close the prices for the two kits are. However, most workloads on the computer do not benefit much from faster RAM, but a less than $5 difference can be enough to sway someone. Whether or not it's worth it is then up to whether or not the OP wants to play around with overclocking the RAM.

 

[Ironslice]

Well I wanted to know because the Low Voltage is actually one of the only ones that are supported by the motherboard so I guess I'll just go with that.

 

[Ironslice]

Best answer selected by Ironslice.

 

[blazorthon]

If the motherboard states that the low voltage memory is supported, then like I said, it should reduce the strain that the RAM puts on the memory controller on your CPU. This could improve the longevity of your system a little while also decreasing power usage and heat generation slightly. Of course, you can also overclock it if you want to (negating the above advantages in favor or slightly improved performance), but I think that it already has a high enough clock frequency.