GamerLackingKnowledge

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Nov 14, 2011
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Hey everyone,

I am building a new PC, looking at getting a mid range z590 board in a week or so, perhaps the MSI Gaming Carbon.
When considering the ram however, I was looking at getting some Trident Z neo, and ive noticed there is 3600 C16 with 16-16-16-38 and 16-19-19-39, the latter being much cheaper 300eur and 200eur.
I also noticed, that theres plenty of the Trident Z kits that are set by default at 1.35-1.5v

My questions are:
Are there any negatives to using 1.45 or 1.5v dimms? if I bought 1.5v ram is there any downsides, does it kill the motherboard/cpu and if so how quickly?
If I bought the cheaper 16-19-19-39, could I just up the volts to 1.45-1.5 and get better timings such as the 16-16-16-38 or a higher frequency or is it cheaper because its a lower quality stick?
both the sticks mentioned 16-16 and 16-19 are 1.35v, is there a difference to them or is one just tested at higher and confirmed to work at the better timings, is it like silicon lottery?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: the two stick mentioned
 
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Solution
The CL16-16-16 kit likely uses even higher quality ram chips than the CL16-19-19 kit. If you don't care about overclocking and pushing your ram past it's advertised spec, the CL16-19-19 kit will work just fine and you are very unlikely to notice any difference in performance. Don't waste money on slightly better timings when CL16-19-19 is going to be nearly the same in performance to the CL16-16-16 kit. It's not worth 100 Euro more for 1-2% more performance if even...

GamerLackingKnowledge

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Nov 14, 2011
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Link the kits, they are probably 2x8GB and 2x16GB.
 
The CL16-16-16 kit likely uses even higher quality ram chips than the CL16-19-19 kit. If you don't care about overclocking and pushing your ram past it's advertised spec, the CL16-19-19 kit will work just fine and you are very unlikely to notice any difference in performance. Don't waste money on slightly better timings when CL16-19-19 is going to be nearly the same in performance to the CL16-16-16 kit. It's not worth 100 Euro more for 1-2% more performance if even that.

As for 1.4-1.5V on DDR4, those voltages are only seen on high speed kits at around 4133-4600 or higher speeds. 1.35v is safe voltage if that has you concerned. 1.5v is the highest voltage you would want to use 24/7 without destroying your ram. You only need 1.4 and higher when overclocking past 4000 or overclocking low quality ram kit.
 
Solution