Manufacturer states that RAM is DDR3L but Windows and Linux apps and commands states DDR3

Is DDR3L RAM and DDR3 RAM compatible?

I have a Notebook that I want to upgrade, Toshiba Satellite C55-B5212KL and (the manufacturer specs are here) where they clearly state that the RAM is a DDR3L.

Now my question comes from the fact that I have dual OS (Windows 8.1 and Linux Mint 17.3) and the outcomes after using an app on Windows and running two commands in Linux are like this:

Outcome of memory under Windows 8.1

Outcome of SPD under Windows 8.1

Linux: sudo lshw

Linux: sudo dmidecode --type 17

On Linux the results are straightforward and they don’t show that my laptop has a DDR3L memory, they say it has a DDR3 @1333 MHz. On the other hand the app in Windos 8.1 also shows a RAM DDR3 but @666 MHz which is confusing for me since I don’t know so much about hardware.

So again, whom should I trust for upgrading my laptop and making the right purchase, my output from two different OS or the manufacturer specs?

Solution 1:

DDR3L is identical to DDR3 except for the ability to operate at lower voltages, officially 1.35 V. Otherwise, it is identical, and can be used with any DDR3 compatible device. However, some devices are designed for lower voltages and may be damaged by the higher voltages, which would cause reduced device lifetime.

Typically, Laptops are designed for DDR3L for improved battery life, but you can check by reading the voltage delivered to your memory. To be safe, you can use DDR3L anyway, though the performance would be slightly lower, hardly anything is memory bound any more due to the high efficiency of modern caches.