Memory for Intel DG965OT motherboard

[anthonys]

I bought an Intel DG965OT motherboard for Conroe E6600 processor. Motherboard specification says ----

1.8 V (only) DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts
Unbuffered, single-sided or double-sided DIMMs with the following restriction:
Double-sided DIMMs with x16 organization are not supported.
Non-ECC DIMMs
DDR2 800 DIMMs with SPD timings of only 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 (tCL-tRCD-tRP)

Most of the memories like crucial ballistic, XMS2 and many other, need much higher operating voltages, and CL timings are much better.
This may be too basic, do I need to strictly search for RAM with just these specs i.e., 1.8V and 5-5-5.
Even if I buy say ballistic with CL of 4 and 2.1 V, will I be able to tweak settings on my motherboard for these ratings.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[hans007]

supposedly all those higher spec rams, do have to run ddr2-667- 5-5-5 at 1.8 v. it should be in their eprom to be jedec complaint.

 

[anthonys]

Yes. But to utilize the motherboard to full extent need to run at 800 MHz. I skimmed through other blogs, I guess most of them have this problem.

Say if I buy ballistic and change bios settings CL to 4 and voltage to 2.1 V. I guess there is an option for this. Will it be okay.

Even XMS2 voltage is 1.9 V for 800 MHz. Why does intel specify 1.8 V then.

I need to buy RAM as I need to buy just this one and everything else is ready.
Suggest me a good 2X1GB module at 800 MHz, that works hasslefree on DG965OT.

 

[brainwave]

I had the same problem with my Intel DG965 board. Corsair XMS2 6400 @ gig kit was incompatible. Initially it booted, but after benchmarking it would not POST. Tech support at Corsair said to use Value RAM 667 1.8v until they come out with their Value RAM 800 1.8v. There are very few DDR2 800 1.8v modules and I don't trust them on this Intel board since the voltage is not adjustable. The option is to buy a different brand board (Asus, Gigabyte) that allows you to set the RAM voltage.

 

[anthonys]

I guess I will go with
CT2KIT12864AA80E
DDR2 PC2-6400 ? CL=5 ? UNBUFFERED ? NON-ECC ? DDR2-800 ? 1.8V ? 128Meg x 64

This memory is shown as tested memory on Intel website. Only other thing that bothers is on Crucial website it is 421.99 bucks. I may search and find a deal for $400 probably.

Can anyone suggest a better deal. Or any other cheaper RAM with same voltage and CL.

 

[jimmyj68]

NewEgg has exactly what you want. Kingston DDR2 800 at 1.8V at a lot less money. Text

I'm having trouble getting you a link but that's the address.

 

[anthonys]

I was able to obtain 1.8 V memory, most of them were out of stock. So got an RMA to return the motherboard.

Now looking at ASUS P5B Deluxe / with Wi-Fi.

Any advice on choice?

 

[hans007]

all jedec complaint memory is supposed to be 1.8 volts. alot of companies use more voltage since most motherboards can read it and it will work.

however any system from say hp/ dell etc willa lways use 1.8 volts.


it was the same thing with ddr400. ddr400 is a 2.5 volt standard. but a lot of manufacturers spec'd out 2.6 volt drams (kingston i know does this with value ram) so much that it became spec'd out at 2.6 for ddr400 (some earlier boards only worked with 2.5) . ddr400 when it first came out was a high speed bin, so it was hard to get yields at 2.5v presumably.

there is supposed to be a threshold anyway , suppsoed to be 1.8 +- .1 volts. so 1.9 volts should be ok, but i wouldnt expect any overclocking headroom.


the reason some ram wont work is as follows. say you have a ddr2-800 stick . jedeec standard is 1.8 v. so the motherboard is always set at 1.8 volts unless you can set this manually. say a crappyu ram company such as OCZ or geil writes the eeprom to be 4-4-4 timings. the motherboard read the eeprom to set the timings automatically when you set "use SPD" and this will always be the case on say a dell/hp oem box.

what happens is, ocz will say its 4-4-4 @ 2.1 or something and force the 4-4-4 timing in the spd. since the motherboard always reads the spd first (unless the motherboard default to manual timings), and cant set the memory based on the spd at the motherboard default 1.8v it wont even post. companies that dont suck such as say crucial, will put the slow jedec timings in the eeprom allowing the user to set the timing manually instead of trying to automatically do it through the spd. that way, say you buy a stick of crucial balisstic. in the eepprom is might say ddr2-800 @ 6-6-6 which will always run at 1.8volts. but they will guarantee it for say 4-4-4 @ 2.1 volts which you can set yourself if your machine allows voltage and timing tweaks.


in my opinion the "premium ram " is almost always a rip off for this reason. its twice as expensive for "pre-tested" since any normal jedec compliant value ram will have to run probably 5-5-5 @ 1.8 volts at 667 or 800 for higher bins. just there is no sticker guaranteeing higher, but its obvious at say 2.1 volts you are going to be able to do better. just no guarantee, but then again you dont have to pay out your ass to get a guarantee , plus some stupid heatsink with leds on it or something ridiculous.

 

[anthonys]

Awesome, extensive comments by hans007.
Hats off to you man!!!!!!

 

[anthonys]

Now I am trying to choose among ASUS P5B Deluxe, P5W DH or even Intel 975XBX.
I have a general question, 965G and P chipsets use memory controllers that support DDR2 800.
But 975X chipsets doesn't support 800, it is uptill 667. So on Intel 975XBX max DDR2 is specified 667.
But P5W DH specs states that it supports 800. How about this, do they use a different memory controller to support DD2 800, or do they simply overclock 975X by default. Can anyone clarify please.