ShArP 11 Posted January 19 I have a technical query, rather long winded, for those that are that way inclined... I recently bought a new laptop ( HP Pavilion 15-ec1006na ) Specs: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8 Core Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q 6GB 8GB DDR4 3200MHz Memory 1.2v My intention is to upgrade the memory to 32GB (the motherboard's maximum supported amount) and have purchased a Crucial Ballistix 32GB kit (2 x 16GB sticks) [model - BL2K16G32C16S4B] The kit's advertised speed is 3200MHz and they run at 1.35v supply (as you can see, the memory the laptop comes with runs at 1.2v). I have done some research regarding memory and can't separate the fact from conjecture. Some places lead me to believe that if my motherboard is incapable of supplying voltage beyond 1.2v to the RAM slots then the memory will run fine (I checked compatibility on Crucial's website), but likely at a lower speed of 2666MHz as the memory would have insufficient power to run at the advertised 3200MHz, and that if I want 3200MHz I will need to find a kit that runs at this speed on 1.2v supply. Other places seem to think that the motherboard will supply the memory sticks with the voltage they require by default. Can anyone clear this up for me? I've tried to find out if my motherboard is limited in terms of the voltage that it can supply to the components that are installed on it. According to Command Prompt my motherboard model is HP 87B3 but I cannot find any information on it when searching. All search requests omit this model number from the search and return generic HP motherboard pages. Any help gratefully received. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PANiC 164 Posted January 19 (edited) I don't think i can clear it up but had a quick look around I've not looked at stuff for a while so bear with me. finding the motherboard part number might be handy, maybe u can see it when you take off the ram cover or however you get at the ram. it's usually something like this format: 695760-001 So crucial sell a 32GB ram kit that runs at 3200 @ 1.2v The ballistix 32GB kit runs 3200 @1.35v The difference is the timings. I think 2 things might happen, 1 it runs at 3200 on slacker timings, 2 it runs at 2666 . If it was me then id have bought the ballistix, and if it ran a bit slower, i would never even notice and the ram is likely to last longer because it's running under spec a little. Nice piece of kit Edited January 19 by PANiC spelling Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShArP 11 Posted January 19 Cheers for the reply, PANiC! By 'timings' I assume you're referring to the CAS Latency? If so, the Crucial 32GB 1.2v kit you refer to has a CAS Latency of 22, but the Ballistix version has a CAS Latency of 16. I had originally intended to by the 3200 32GB 1.2v version as it was the top result on Crucial's website when I ran the system compatibility scan, however it was out of stock and has been at all it's affiliated retailers for 2 weeks or more now. Today I saw the Ballastix version appear in Crucial's compatibility scan results and noticed the lower CAS Latency and that it was tagged as 'gaming memory', but only saw the difference in voltage after purchase (silly me). As I say, it may well be that the motherboard can happily power to 1.35v, in which case I get the most out of the product performance wise. I can't say I have checked under the RAM cover for the motherboard part number, but will be sure to before I unpackage and install the new memory (it arrives tomorrow - you have to love Prime!) For clarity, though - you personally would have gone for the Ballistix (1.35v) version, as I did, regardless? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PANiC 164 Posted January 19 (edited) yeah u got it, it's a combination of all the timings (lower is faster), the one they focus on is the CAS latency. Ballistix 16-18-18-36 other is 22-22-22(-44??) or something they have missed a digit maybe. i can't remember all this stuff 😄 Yes i would have got the more expensive, better looking not that u ever see it memory 😄 it's not always the case, but with some laptops u can check all these settings and change them in the bios. but generally it will set it good enough to never worry about. Edited January 19 by PANiC Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShArP 11 Posted January 19 Cheers, mate. Really appreciate your help. Set my mind at ease! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PANiC 164 Posted January 19 yw, i'm happy to be corrected on anything, but it's all good to go i believe 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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