RAM unstable at 1.5V?

[Overclocked_Keyboard]

I recently built a new computer (I've had it for about a month and a half) and everything worked perfectly at first. However, more recently I've been having stability issues in which many applications will crash to desktop with no warning, mainly games but other applications including internet browsers have crashed as well. After this started happening I began getting blue screens consisting mainly of "System_Service_Exception" and NTFS file errors. All of these events were entirely random but seemed to happen more and more often. After some minimal researching I think I've isolated the problem to my RAM.

I currently have Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM which is rated at 1.5V. I booted the computer with each stick individually but they seemed to work just fine. The fix I found prominent on the web was raising the voltage to 1.6V which is where I'm concerned. I have raised the voltage to 1.6 and the computer hasn't BSOD'd or had a application crash yet but I'm still concerned if raising voltage on RAM could really damage it. Would overvolting RAM lower lifetime or cause other small problems? Do you think I really fixed the problem or have I just been very lucky the past few days concerning crashes?


I have a Asus P8Z68 V-pro MoBo, i5 2500k, and Corsair 850AX PSU.

 

[Slaymate]

What happens if you lower the voltage to 1.55v?



Raising your DRAM Voltage above 1.58v is not recommended because it exceeds the specification limits of the Memory Controller Voltage to DRAM Voltage Ratio. The Default Memory Controller Voltage should be 1.05v and the Default DRAM Voltage is 1.5v. These two voltage are suppose to stay within .5v of each other. If you raise your DRAM Voltage to 1.60v then you should raise your Memory Controller Voltage to 1.10v to stay at the maximum ratio limit, but 1.15v may run better. 1.2v is the Maximum Rated Limit for the Memory Controller (going to 1.2v or above can damage your CPU). Your Memory Controller Voltage will probably be called the VCCIO Voltage in your bios.

 

[Overclocked_Keyboard]

Thanks for the advice. I lowered the DRAM voltage to 1.55v and I'll see how that checks out. If it starts to act up again I'll go back to 1.6v and raise the VCCIO voltage.