What does voltage of RAM do?

[phunky_21]

I keep reading about people talking about RAM voltage but I have no idea what they are talking about. Now I'm starting to get the boogie men about the new build I'm making. Here is the MOBO, CPU and RAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489

Are they all compatible and would my RAM be fine at stock voltages?

 

[akxpckwb]

Voltage is overclocking territory. If you don't plan on overclocking your RAM don't worry about it. Yes those 3 components will work together no problem

 

[abekl]

There is more to it than akxpckwb says.

Think of a ram modules voltage as the power required to maintain or change an electrical state. So 1.5 volt ram needs 1.5 volts of power to change a 1 to a 0, for example. 1.65 volt ram would require that much power to do the same.

RAM is designed to be run at a certain power level. Running at a different power level can damage the ram, or cause the data in the ram cells to become garbled.

Basically, current cpu/chipset designs require that memory operate at 1.5 volts. That's what you really need to know. Don't buy desktop memory that operates at anything other than 1.5 volts.

 

[phunky_21]

Best answer selected by phunky_21.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr