[SOLVED] Mixing 1.5v and 1.35v ram modules

[Deleted member 2849646]

Hello,

i’d like to upgrade one of my ram modules to 8gb. I have two pc3l 1600 udimm modules in there at the moment. I want to recycle the low voltage 1.35v ram and put it into my dad’s pc which uses ddr3 pc3 1600 udimm modules. I.e. same except his pc uses 1.5V. I fead somewhere that this is possible and the 1.35V module will work at 1.5V, but I don’t really know if the low voltage ram modules have to be explicitly engineered/listed as “1.5V compatible”, or do all 1.35V ram modules work at 1.5V regardless?
thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Please don't mix and match sticks of ram even if they fit into the ram slot. It's best if you could parse the specs to your build. In your case, you should list the specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

If you're not sure about the sticks of ram, you can pass on images of the sticks and perhaps links to the ram.

 

[Zerk2012]

Some motherboards are only designed to use 1.35 volt memory not 1.5 volt.

 

[SamirD]

Hello,

i’d like to upgrade one of my ram modules to 8gb. I have two pc3l 1600 udimm modules in there at the moment. I want to recycle the low voltage 1.35v ram and put it into my dad’s pc which uses ddr3 pc3 1600 udimm modules. I.e. same except his pc uses 1.5V. I fead somewhere that this is possible and the 1.35V module will work at 1.5V, but I don’t really know if the low voltage ram modules have to be explicitly engineered/listed as “1.5V compatible”, or do all 1.35V ram modules work at 1.5V regardless?
thanks!

All DDR3L 1.35V modules must also work at 1.5V--it's part of the DDR3L spec:
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132438/what-is-ddr3l-memory

 

[Deleted member 2849646]

All DDR3L 1.35V modules must also work at 1.5V--it's part of the DDR3L spec:
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132438/what-is-ddr3l-memory

So that's to say they will work in the way I've described above right? Oh and if I put it into a slot that works at 1.5V, does that mean the ram module will show up in the PC as 1.5V ram module?

 

[gskill support]

Yes, however not all motherboards can accept 1.35V memory, especially those produced before 1.35V RAM existed.

 

[SamirD]

So that's to say they will work in the way I've described above right? Oh and if I put it into a slot that works at 1.5V, does that mean the ram module will show up in the PC as 1.5V ram module?

That is correct. If the slot only works at 1.5v, the DDR3L module will also run at 1.5v.

 

[SamirD]

Yes, however not all motherboards can accept 1.35V memory, especially those produced before 1.35V RAM existed.

Interesting. What happens in this scenario?

 

[gskill support]

Interesting. What happens in this scenario?

No boot

 

[DSzymborski]

And even if the voltages are not the problem, even sticks of the exact same model, made on the same day, and sold together on the same shelf, won't always work together without being tested together. These are likely two very different RAM sticks.

 

[SamirD]

And even if the voltages are not the problem, even sticks of the exact same model, made on the same day, and sold together on the same shelf, won't always work together without being tested together. These are likely two very different RAM sticks.

This was much less a problem back in the ddr3 days. I've only run into true incompatibility problems a handful of times (most of the times one of the modules was actually bad).

 

[SamirD]

No boot

But would not the modules simply operate at 1.5V and everything work like normal?

 

[gskill support]

Not in all cases, BIOS must be able to recognize the chips.

 

[SamirD]

Not in all cases, BIOS must be able to recognize the chips.

Interesting. Good to know.