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I have a HP Pavilion 15-ab299nia with 4GB Hynix RAM. HP website says that it has DDR3L RAM but Windows task manager, CPU-Z and Speccy shows DDR3. And it's getting more funny when they show RAM voltage as 1.35!!!

So my questions are these:

  1. can it possible for DDR3 to run at 1.35V?
  2. What type of RAM should I buy to upgrade RAM? DDR3 or DDR3L?

This is what CPU-Z shows

CPU-z

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    Can you supply us information on the module that is already installed in your system?
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 17:06
  • @Ramhound this is what CPU-Z shows link
    – MARK
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 17:12
  • I was suggesting you visually inspect the label on the module and provide us the data yourself. CPU-Z is only as accurate as the data it can detect. Inspecting the label and providing us the data will result in a better answer.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 17:18
  • @Ramhound For now it's not possible for me to uncover my laptop. is there any way to get details without inspecting label?
    – MARK
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 17:30
  • You should upload the image using the provided functionality to imgur. Your image does not work for me.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 18:19

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So, using the part number from the image, I see Newegg photos that show it with a label that shows "PC3L". This indicates DDR3L.

In addition DDR3 is 1.5 volt only, whereas DDR3L also supports 1.35v. So both clues point to this being actually DDR3L.

As far as compatibility, plain DDR3 is not compatible with newer-than 4th Generation Intel CPUs. The memory controller is on the CPU die now, so always check your CPU model on Intel's site for compatability (e.g. https://ark.intel.com/products/88180/Intel-Core-i3-6100U-Processor-3M-Cache-2_30-GHz )

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  • DDR3 actually is compatible with Haswell processors. So you should revise your statement to that effect that Broadwell (5th Core Generation) only support DDR3L. While Skylake and newer only support DDR4.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 18:22
  • @Yorik So CPU-Z shows incorrect info?
    – MARK
    Commented Jun 2, 2018 at 5:45
  • @MARK CPU-z reads the information form the SPD chip inside the strip of RAM. Many DDR3L strips simply report as DDR3 (seen that many times), the voltage (1.35) further identifies it as the L version. I don't have the JEDEC specs for the SPD info available at this time, but if I remember correctly this is actually allowed by the spec. As DDR3L can also operate at 1.5V (and then works as if it is normal DDR3) this sort of makes sense.
    – Tonny
    Commented Jun 2, 2018 at 11:00

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