Corsair Dominator voltages

[JBNimble]

Just built a new system with
Intel D975XBX2 and
Corsair 2 GB Dominator TWIN2X2048-6400C4D

This memory is rated as 4-4-4-12 at 2.1volts.

I set this up, and ran tests with Memtest86+ from a floppy.

Running at standard clock rate
It passed several times at
2.12v
2.08v
2.00v
1.92v
At which time I decided 2.00v should be safe.

First time I booted into Windows at 2.00v, I got an error, so I chickened out
and went back to 2.12v, where it's OK.

Why does it pass Mentest86+ at 1.92v, but not the real world at 2.00v?

[fvineyard]

I have to run my Dominators at 2.2v in a D975XBX2 in order to get it to boot. Somewhat disappointed that they will not run at the rated 2.1v but I guess it could be my mobo and not the RAM. It does run at slightly over 900mhz if I want to, so I guess not all is bad.

Frank

[specmike]

Originally Posted by JBNimble

Why does it pass Mentest86+ at 1.92v, but not the real world at 2.00v?

It could be the voltage regulation on the MOBO. Memtest barely loads the system but, when in the OS your power demands increase somewhat so you could see some fluctuation in some of your voltages. It could also be your PSU.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by fvineyard

I have to run my Dominators at 2.2v in a D975XBX2 in order to get it to boot. Somewhat disappointed that they will not run at the rated 2.1v but I guess it could be my mobo and not the RAM. It does run at slightly over 900mhz if I want to, so I guess not all is bad.

Frank

Your right, the C4D Dominator sticks will not run at 2.1V or 2.12V (Profile1) on my machine either. They will run great at 2.2V though even above 800MHz. I have no gripes with this though as it is minor. A year ago you couldn't get 667 modules to run at less than 2.2V either and if you look at Corsairs C3D sticks that run at 3-4-3-9 then they require 2.4V. I have seen others running the C4D sticks at 4-4-4-12/2.1V though so it is not an error. It could be a mobo related problem I don't know. Still it does more good than harm to push the voltage up a little on these DDR2 sticks nowadays.

This goes the same with my C2D X6800. It runs pretty cool and I don't think it hurts the chip at all to up the voltage some. I think default core voltage is 1.325V and I am at 1.375V running at 3.2GHz. Runs about as cool as stock but faster. I have had my Dominator sticks go way above 1000MHz to.

Sandog

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by JBNimble

Just built a new system with
Intel D975XBX2 and
Corsair 2 GB Dominator TWIN2X2048-6400C4D

This memory is rated as 4-4-4-12 at 2.1volts.

I set this up, and ran tests with Memtest86+ from a floppy.

Running at standard clock rate
It passed several times at
2.12v
2.08v
2.00v
1.92v
At which time I decided 2.00v should be safe.

First time I booted into Windows at 2.00v, I got an error, so I chickened out
and went back to 2.12v, where it's OK.

Why does it pass Mentest86+ at 1.92v, but not the real world at 2.00v?

Memtest runs in memory with DOS I believe. Windows is a whole different ballgame. Thats why computers OC'd too high will post but crash in Windows either before or right after Windows loads.

I have the same sticks as you but I could not even post at less than 2.2V/800MHz although I was simultaneously OCing the CPU ATT.

Sandog