GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Rev. 3.3 - compatable RAM?

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Jake_Barnes

Jake_Barnes

Splendid
Feb 6, 2003
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I'm ready to order this board: GB GA-965P-DS3 Rev. 3.3

I know GB has a "Supported Memory List" Link

What I'm looking for is somebody who actually has this board and can give me some real world advice on RAM they are using. I want to use DDR2 800 (PC2-6400) and want to use the fastest that will work in this board (without a nightmare). There are a bunch of good deals on DDR2 800 now, but I'm a bit concerned about the intel 965P "restriction":

Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.
Click to expand...

Anybody know if this 1.8v and timing limits still is "absolute"?
 
😵? No need for that much.

I recommend DDR2 800 to go with that DS3. Bump the FSB to 400MHz on the E6600 and an instant 3.6GHz. For the RAM,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087
Is sufficient for the job. I would've recommended the FSX800D2C-K2G from Buffalo @the same price, but they are on auto notify still. Great set, they perform well.

If you want RAM that is really up to the task,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609026
These Super Talents work great.

Those timings you spoke about are about as concrete as air. CAS 4 will work fine, and even if, Intel chips don't need tight timed RAM, so setting it back to 5-5-5-12 from 4-4-4-12 isn't really going to kill performance. .5% maybe, but not by much.
 
here's what I would go with, this memory is top notch, and you are getting an amazing deal with it, otherwise most memory will work, I know corsair tests their memory before hands to see if it passes JEDEC standards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146563
That memory will take you up to probably at least 1200mhz if you feed it, otherwise it's guaranteed I believe by crucial to run 800mhz cas3 anyways
Click to expand...

A review from ClubIT - Link

I got this board from here about a month ago.Its up and running now with a nice E6400 @3.2ghz and a 8800GTS 320mb.But the frist fe weeks were a nightmare.Constant BSOD's and cold boot issues out the wazooh.Come to find out my ram had micron D9GMH Ic's which this board does not like at all.I finnally ended up buying new ram and its a whole new system.No more cold boot issues or BSOD's.The ram i had that was causing these issue's was 2 gig OCZ PC2 8800 Gold XTC cas5-6-6-15.My new ram is Geil DDR2 800 Ultra's(not the Ultra Plus they are micron IC's) Now my board boots like a dream and runs flawless.Dont use micron based ram. Oh the OCZ are running happily in a AM2 system without issue
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Kind of makes me worry about Crucial :?
 
Oh, I thought you meant boot voltage, or the min required for the board to boot. Silly me. :lol: 😳

Reading it again, those are just design specifications for the P965 chipset. They are recommendations, but you can ignore them if you want to. Technically, if you are overclocking, you are already ignoring the specs in the first place.
 
Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets

In the spec above, the key words are INTEL DESKTOP BOARDS meaning that Intel branded boards don't allow Vdimm adjustments on the 965 boards. So, you need JEDEC spec RAM for them.

Those Gigabyte boards will run OCing RAM very well and have adjustable voltage for the Vdimm. I can't speak for other brands but I know that our memory is compatible. I have a rev 1.1 and it runs anything DDR2 I stick in it.
 
Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets

In the spec above, the key words are INTEL DESKTOP BOARDS meaning that Intel branded boards don't allow Vdimm adjustments on the 965 boards. So, you need JEDEC spec RAM for them.

Those Gigabyte boards will run OCing RAM very well and have adjustable voltage for the Vdimm. I can't speak for other brands but I know that our memory is compatible. I have a rev 1.1 and it runs anything DDR2 I stick in it.
Click to expand...

Got a specific DDR2 800 2 GB kit to recommend?
 
Besides one of your own?
Click to expand...
That's a really.......odd question. Jake asked me as a Corsair rep to chime in here. Do you think that I am going to recommend another brand?

In order, here's my preference. You can sort them by budget or desired performance:

PC6400C3DF
PC6400C4D
PC6400C4
PC6400C5
VS PC6400

The PC6400C4 and C5 kits are dirt cheap at Newegg these days if you don't mind a rebate.
 
Well, if you are worrying about boot voltages,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
Might be up your alley.
Click to expand...

I was going to buy this ram a while ago, but then read reviews that said this ram actually needs 1.9V, not the listed 1.8V to run stable.

Same thing happened to me with the G.Skill PC2 6400. It's rated 1.8-2.0V but it wasn't stable at 1.8. And since I can't change the voltage, I had to sell it. Sooo, my point is is it is hard to find DDR2 800 that actually works with only 1.8V.
 
It seems like you might be a little confused about the ram.

Yes, with no problem, the gigabyte ds3 will run DDR2-800 ram that requires all the way up to 2.4v or so. The first mistake was looking at intel's specifications. You need to look at gigabyte's specifications for the board.

Gigabyte is not known for any general compatibility issues with ram, so any ram should work just fine in there. The only problem, slightest chance of possibility, is that you would be required to use a different stick of ram to boot up the system so you can select the correct voltage in the bios for your high performance ram. but i think this isn't really an issue and with most ram it should boot just fine.

The ram in the search i link here to newegg is the fastest ddr2-800 ram, or the correct way to say it would be the one with the tightest timings.

The ram that was linked to above looks like good ram. Although he said he can run at ddr2-800 with 3-3 timings i would never guarantee it although most likely it should run fine.

The price you pay for the tighter timings though is not representative of the performance gain you get, so any ddr2-800 with 4-4-4-12 timings will be fine.
 
You can't expect your higher performance memory to run at its specified speed and timings and still try to run it at 1.8V.

If your ram was unstable its because you need to reduce the speed down to a level that it can operate at 1.8V. Basically ddr2-533 with 5-5-5-12 timings should be fine to run most ram at 1.8V
 
Yes, with no problem, the gigabyte ds3 will run DDR2-800 ram that requires all the way up to 2.4v or so. The first mistake was looking at intel's specifications. You need to look at gigabyte's specifications for the board.
Click to expand...

That spec "quote" was off the Gigabyte DS3 page - not intel's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012

Contains this statement:
Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.
Click to expand...

Since I don't own this board, I'm just being cautious and going with what the vendors say (or warn)

I was reading this review:
I got this board from here about a month ago.Its up and running now with a nice E6400 @3.2ghz and a 8800GTS 320mb.But the frist fe weeks were a nightmare.Constant BSOD's and cold boot issues out the wazooh.Come to find out my ram had micron D9GMH Ic's which this board does not like at all.I finnally ended up buying new ram and its a whole new system.No more cold boot issues or BSOD's.The ram i had that was causing these issue's was 2 gig OCZ PC2 8800 Gold XTC cas5-6-6-15.My new ram is Geil DDR2 800 Ultra's(not the Ultra Plus they are micron IC's) Now my board boots like a dream and runs flawless.Dont use micron based ram. Oh the OCZ are running happily in a AM2 system without issue
Click to expand...

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA4830994

Last thing I want to buy is unstable RAM 8O
 
Besides one of your own?
Click to expand...
That's a really.......odd question. Jake asked me as a Corsair rep to chime in here. Do you think that I am going to recommend another brand?

In order, here's my preference. You can sort them by budget or desired performance:

PC6400C3DF
PC6400C4D
PC6400C4
PC6400C5
VS PC6400

The PC6400C4 and C5 kits are dirt cheap at Newegg these days if you don't mind a rebate.
A slight bit of sarcasm, begrudge a surly bastard that much. Your RAM is good, actually often the best, but sometimes I find the prices to be a bit high.
 
You can't expect your higher performance memory to run at its specified speed and timings and still try to run it at 1.8V.

If your ram was unstable its because you need to reduce the speed down to a level that it can operate at 1.8V. Basically ddr2-533 with 5-5-5-12 timings should be fine to run most ram at 1.8V
Click to expand...

My point was that the ram is "specified" to run at 1.8V, DRR2 800, and CAS 5. But for some people, it needed 1.9V. As for the G.Skill I had, it was actually underclocked to 733Mhz and was unstable at 1.8V. But it did run fine at 682Mhz.
 
[/quote]
A slight bit of sarcasm, begrudge a surly bastard that much. Your RAM is good, actually often the best, but sometimes I find the prices to be a bit high.[/quote]LOL...it's cool. I was wondering if I missed some humor there which is why I just said "odd". I was actually headed out the door to the gym when I posted that so I did not ponder it too long. Price not withstanding, thanks for the compliment, we take pride in our memory.

Jake, perfectly understandable being cautious building a new system. Last fall, several 965 based boards had problems booting and running high performance memory at the stock settings at the first boot. That has been resolved with bios updates so a rev 3.3 DS3 should run just about any memory you can stick in it.

Taco's, thanks for the reference 8)
 
Both of those RAM kits are above the 1.8v limit spec'd for the board - will those 1.9 to 2.2v sticks work in that 965P board?
Click to expand...

when i had my GEIL PC2-6400 Value (rated at 1.8v), my S3 would run them at 1.92v even if i run them at DDR2-533/667 or 800

it would run problem free..until i added another 2x512 (after which it would just BSOD and fail memtest)

so i traded it with a friend's Micron D9CWX DDR2-667, now my board runs the 4 sticks like a dream
 
What about this ram for a DS3 P965 board...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

I mean at that price its hard to pass up unless its crap ram. Will that ram allow the PC to boot up without needing to drop in different ram to get to the bios? And will that ram allow an 3.6ghz OC on the E6600?
Click to expand...

A possibility. This G. Skill looks good and is at a good price too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087

And this:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065
 
The more expensive looks like it should overclock pretty high. You'll notice its recommended voltage is 2.0-2.1V vs the 1.9-2.0V of the white ones. If you don't plan on running the memory any higher than 400mhz then i would just settling for the cheaper ones. The slightly more expensive ones will allow you to overclock beyond 400mhz while still keeping the 4-4-4-12 timings.
 
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