Need help with RAM

[Gigabite]

Hi

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-RH motherboard, it can hold a max of 2GB of DDR RAM. I was wondering is a high density ram compatible with my motherboard? Also in the manual it says that the motherboard will support ram which are 2.5 volts. Ive been looking at Kingston Rams and they all seem to be 2.6 Volts:confused: , are they compatible with my motherboard?

Thanks

[PrntRhd]

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=GA%2DK8N51GMF%2D9%2DRH
Hope this matched the motherboard model?

They are showing PC3200 is compatible. All show 2.8 volts.
What do you mean by "high density"?

[jlreich]

2.6v will work in your system. Heck the Crucial stuff is 2.8v. :p

High density ram will work fine as well. :)

Any Kingston, Crucial, Corsair or Patriot (and many others) DDR400 will work in your system up to 2x1GB sticks.

[Gigabite]

That is the wrong motherboard you are looking at. There are 2 types of DDR ram, they are high density and low density. Apparantly all low density rams are 100% compatible with all DDR motherboards and high density rams are compatible 10% of the time.

Brief information about high and low density here:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Myth-Low-Density-vs-High-Density-memory-modules_W0QQugidZ10000000001236178

I was wondering if anyone knows how to tell if high density rams are compatible with motherboards, more importantly i was wondering if Kingston2.6Volt modules would work in my motherboard. ( My motherboard supports 2.5 Volts)

Thanks

[Gigabite]

2.6v will work in your system. Heck the Crucial stuff is 2.8v. :p

High density ram will work fine as well. :)

Any Kingston, Crucial, Corsair or Patriot (and many others) DDR400 will work in your system up to 2x1GB sticks.

How are you so sure that high density RAM works fine?

[jlreich]

The CPU is modern and the chipset is modern. They will not have any problems with high density ram. ;)

[Gigabite]

lol Socket 754 CPU is not that modern to me :P the chipset is ok i guess, thanks alot guys :)

Why do DDR rams have voltages from 2.4v to 2.8v? how can they all be compatible with a 2.5 V motherboard?

[jlreich]

Lol. :D No s754 is not that modern. But the CPU is still AMD's K8 architecture, same as s939. Modern enough to handle high density ram. I have used high density ram in socket A systems and s478 systems without problems, but it's possible there may be some early sA and s478 that may have problems. SDRAM is where you really have to be careful about density.

how can they all be compatible with a 2.5 V motherboard?
I'm not really sure how it works to be honest. But I have never had any problem with DDR compatibility. ;) I assume it has to do with the SPD chip on the stick of ram being read by the BIOS and adjusting settings accordingly. I also believe the ram stated voltage is the highest it can run on.

[Gigabite]

I also believe the ram stated voltage is the highest it can run on.

Ah ok, would make more sense :)

Thanks