Damaging RAM Via Overclocking?

[TechMasterMind]

So as it says in my signature I am running my RAM at 3400Mhz (Highest stable) but this ram is only rated for 2400Mhz I just didn't expect to get such performance out of this memory...

This leads me to be concerned if I'm pushing it too hard because I have no way of measuring RAM temperatures or such and the voltage is on auto and could be jumping to dangerous levels without my knowing.

Should I dial back the overclock? Manual set the voltage? Can I set a voltage offset on RAM?!? What should I do?

[LionSpeck]

2 minutes ago, TechMasterMind said:

So as it says in my signature I am running my RAM at 3400Mhz (Highest stable) but this ram is only rated for 2400Mhz I just didn't expect to get such performance out of this memory...

This leads me to be concerned if I'm pushing it too hard because I have no way of measuring RAM temperatures or such and the voltage is on auto and could be jumping to dangerous levels without my knowing.

Should I dial back the overclock? Manual set the voltage? Can I set a voltage offset on RAM?!? What should I do?

What RAM are you using? Either way, you should always set a manual or at least an offset voltage (eventhough an offset voltage may still exceed the value set). Also, are you sure you're obtaining higher performance with that OC? By increasing the clock, you're also (in your OC) increasing the timings, which balance out the higher clock speed, so you're probably not even getting higher performance out of that RAM, just making it run hotter and potentially (depending on the voltage, what is it btw?) reducing its lifespan

[TechMasterMind]

Ok so I should set an offset voltage of 0 if I can because yes I realise the performance gain which can be in the region of 10% fairly easily from 2400mhz is probably not worth the stability loss but it's still significant because before my CAS latency for e.g. was 16/2400 * 2000 = 13.3 ns in comparison whereas now it is 18/3400 * 2000 = 10.6 ns which is a 26% improvement in latency. This is forgetting the 42% increase in memory bandwidth (which is more important to performance than latency).

So basically you can see why I would want to have faster memory and not just leave it at stock especially since I tend to be CPU bound in what I do.

[DocSwag]

If anything would hurt it it would be voltage, but usually ram can take really high voltages anyways so you should be ok

[TechMasterMind]

1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

If anything would hurt it it would be voltage, but usually ram can take really high voltages anyways so you should be ok

So leaving it on auto voltage and just adjusting timings and speeds should be ok?

[thedude4bides]

Damn... why wouldn't I buy 2400mhz RAM at way cheaper if I can the OC's you are getting?!

 

That's a huge improvement.  I'll check back in a week to see if they aren't fried by then;)

[TechMasterMind]

25 minutes ago, thedude4bides said:

Damn... why wouldn't I buy 2400mhz RAM at way cheaper if I can the OC's you are getting?!

 

That's a huge improvement.  I'll check back in a week to see if they aren't fried by then;)

Haha well I'm running them on AIDA 64 memory stress test at the moment and they're running @ 1.392 volts most of the time (and that is the maximum) so they're not gonna fry in a week but yes maybe I should bring the clocks down a little.

But yh this is my first time ever overclocking RAM AAAND I bough it from eBay for £85 so I don't know what I'm doing so I might just be really really lucking out? But yeah I mean if you want to buy I'm happy to oblige!

[DocSwag]

3 hours ago, TechMasterMind said:

So leaving it on auto voltage and just adjusting timings and speeds should be ok?

Usually people go up to 1.35v because that's what a lot of higher frequency kits use.

[TechMasterMind]

12 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Usually people go up to 1.35v because that's what a lot of higher frequency kits use.

Well I've just been doing some research and I've found out that you're right but RAM from SK hynix (my RAM chip manufacturer) can handle 1.65-2 volts pretty easily depending on cooling?!? So yeah I'm gonna go be spend quite a few hours in my bios...

So yeah I will thank you if I get 4000mhz or something and hate you if my RAM dies, the blood will be on your hands!!!

[DocSwag]

3 minutes ago, TechMasterMind said:

Well I've just been doing some research and I've found out that you're right but RAM from SK hynix (my RAM chip manufacturer) can handle 1.65-2 volts pretty easily depending on cooling?!? So yeah I'm gonna go be spend quite a few hours in my bios...

So yeah I will thank you if I get 4000mhz or something and hate you if my RAM dies, the blood will be on your hands!!!

Don't quote me on it . I've seen people run the RAM voltage super duper high though without any special cooling. I'm not sure if it depends from ram to ram tho

[TechMasterMind]

On 7/27/2018 at 7:53 PM, DocSwag said:

Don't quote me on it . I've seen people run the RAM voltage super duper high though without any special cooling. I'm not sure if it depends from ram to ram tho

Interesting I really shoudl excperiment... muhahahaha!...

Seriously though however much i want to put insane voltages on my ram and gain 600mhz I would rather run at 3400 and just keep 1.2V which I'm really really happy with

Although that does sound interesting i will look into it just for fun (if that dosn't sound too nerdy?)

Tanks a million!

[TechMasterMind]

On 7/27/2018 at 4:34 PM, thedude4bides said:

Damn... why wouldn't I buy 2400mhz RAM at way cheaper if I can the OC's you are getting?!

 

That's a huge improvement.  I'll check back in a week to see if they aren't fried by then;)

Not broken btw but I still count myself very lucky and I got the right type of RAM chips from 07/17 so unless you know what you're doing just accept that they will most likely only run 266mhz faster than stated with memory timings relaxed most likely as RAM is binned up to 4000mhz these days.