Specific question about late 2011 MBP and RAM voltage

[rboy505]

Decided to give this its own thread as I didn't want this to get lost in the several informative threads about RAM options for MBPs.

The question is this: does the late 2011 15" 2.5 MBP, with the i7-2860QM processor even take advantage of the lower 1.35v of dual voltage chips or is it only capable of running them at 1.5? I've gotten both answers elsewhere so I figured to ask here : ) Does the RAM in this case change to the best the MBP can do, or is the MBP capable of dropping to the lower rating in use.

Thanks : )

 

[Orlandoech]

It runs them at 1.35v and if you put in 1.5v modules it will down scale them to 1.35v to run appropriately.

Ive already tested this on a 2011 15" 2.2 with these modules and they run perfectly and stable.

• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104317
• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233265

 

[jland]

It runs them at 1.35v and if you put in 1.5v modules it will down scale them to 1.35v to run appropriately.

That's interesting. I knew that the 1.35 would switch to accommodate a system that wanted 1.5 but was unsure if this model MBP would in fact run 1.35 chips AT the lower voltage, since it comes stock with 1.5, and there is no official Apple documentation easily available to determine this. Just that it's limited to 1333mhz (wrong) and 8 gigs (wrong) : ) and ships with 4 gig of 1.5v.

Ive already tested this on a 2011 15" 2.2 with these modules and they run perfectly and stable.

• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104317
• http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233265

I was about to get the Corsair, since there are many satisfied 16 gig users with the same MBP model. But was not so much thinking in terms of any miniscule battery life advantage but the potential heat one going up to 16. All other things being equal, did your tests reveal no significant heat difference between 1.35 and 1.5 at 16 gig 1600mhz? Thanks.

 

[rboy505]

It runs them at 1.35v and if you put in 1.5v modules it will down scale them to 1.35v to run appropriately.

Having done more looking into this I'm fairly certain this is incorrect. The spec on the model is for 1.5v memory. If you use 1.35 dual voltage it will run at 1.5. Using 1.5 runs them at 1.5. You might be thinking of 2012 models.