GA-P35-DS3L Memory Voltage question..

W

WMBlalock

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 1, 2002
Messages
256
Alright, well I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard with an E2160 1.8ghz cpu. I have it overclocked to 3ghz by raising the FSB from 200 to 333. I have the memory ration at 2.4 so i can use my full 800mhz memory. I use 4GB of A-data DDR2-800 memory that is rated at 1.8V. For some reason my motherboard runs my memory at 1.99V instead of the 1.8v it's rated for and I don't see a way to change it. In the bios it gives me an option to add voltage to it if i set all my computers voltage controls to manual and set them myself.. but that doesn't help because i need to remove some voltage. Not to mention, if I set my voltage controls to manual, then i have to manually set the cpu voltage, which i want to automatically take care of itself sine it can. So why is my memory running at 1.99v instead of 1.8v, is it a bad thing, and is there anything i an do to change it?
- Mike
 
Probally not, there is some variations (tolerances) in the resistors used to create the voltage divider circuit that is used to "calibrate" the memory power supply and on this inexpensive board the memory supply itself is not as sophisticated as one on a high dollar board. Also I think Gigabyte intentionally ran the memory voltage a bit high to make sure it would boot with performance ram. And its possbile the bios engineer messed up, that could be fixed in a later bios if enough people complain. I have seen this before and the 3L I built had the same issue but not quite as much.

Bottom line, since as you have realized there is not much you can do about it, all you can do is mitigate the risk. 2.0V is not radical and more than likely your memory will like the extra voltage, might even want to play with the next memory mulitplier and see if your memory (might have to loosen timings) can run even faster. However to eliminate your concern, run memtest86+ as a stress test to heat the memory up and place a finger on different spots on the memory heatspreader. It should get nicely warm but if you find you cannot count to 10 and keep a finger on it or you just feel its too hot you can get fans that clip over the memory retention levers for about $25. OCZ and Corsair make them or just get a fan blowing on the sticks anyway you can.

Hmm its gotten cheaper. Might have to junk my homemade one. Dont like the Corsair (/gasp) with 3 smaller fans I think it would probally be "whiney". OCZ has 2 larger fans.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202003

Some people complained about the blue LEDs, seems simple enough to take it apart and either disable the leds or with a black "sharpie" marker tone them down a bit. ONly down side is than in my experience these kinds of things last at best two years and then the fans fail.
 
the board defaults memory to 1.8v, so if you have set memory voltage to +.2, it would come up AROUND 1.99~2.04 depending on your board and chip. on mine, with g skill pc-8000, i have the ram set to +.2 to take advantage of the tighter timings available. you may want to recheck, and make sure your dimm voltage is set to +.0

good luck and msg me, if i can be of any help.
 
And...Just so you know you can set the voltage of the items separately. Meaning you can put it on manual, but leave all but the ram on "Auto"
 
a573573 said:
And...Just so you know you can set the voltage of the items separately. Meaning you can put it on manual, but leave all but the ram on "Auto"
Click to expand...

My voltage for memory is not set at +.2, the main voltage option is set to Auto, so that all my voltages are automatically controlled. I wonder if i got a defective board? How can i set just the memory manually, yet let all the other options (spacifically the cpu) be set to auto? If i turn off the main option for voltage control, then it makes me set voltages for each item individually and there isn't like an Auto option for each thing either, just the +.#
hmmm
- Mike
 
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