P5W DH Deluxe memory question

Hello all,

I have been looking around for information on the P5W DH Deluxe
motherboard regarding memory type and allowable amounts.

I have read that this motherboard requires 1.8V RAM in order for the
memory to run at 800MHz. If this is so does anyone have any
recommendations for a brand/model that does well?

Also I have seen folks comment that they could only get two or three
gigs of RAM to show up under Windows XP. I only want to run two gigs
of RAM while I am still running Windows XP Pro, but I wanted to
upgrade to four gigs when I upgrade to Windows Vista. Will this board
run four gigs OK under Vista?

I was thinking of buying this board with an Intel QX6700 quad core
processor and four gigs of RAM, just shelving two gigs of it until I
switch over to Windows Vista.

Many thanks to all replies!

Bryan

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:26:25 -0400, Bryan Williams <bryandmc at
gamew00d dot net> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I have been looking around for information on the P5W DH Deluxe
>motherboard regarding memory type and allowable amounts.
>
>I have read that this motherboard requires 1.8V RAM in order for the
>memory to run at 800MHz. If this is so does anyone have any
>recommendations for a brand/model that does well?

If you plan on overclocking, get modules with Micron D9 chips,
otherwise just get the cheapest DDR2-800 ram.

>
>Also I have seen folks comment that they could only get two or three
>gigs of RAM to show up under Windows XP. I only want to run two gigs
>of RAM while I am still running Windows XP Pro, but I wanted to
>upgrade to four gigs when I upgrade to Windows Vista. Will this board
>run four gigs OK under Vista?

It is a limition of the OS, not the board. You will only be able to
utilize the full 4G if you run 64bit OS. If you are going to upgrade
to Vista 32bit, you are still limited to 3.2-3.5G of ram

>
>I was thinking of buying this board with an Intel QX6700 quad core
>processor and four gigs of RAM, just shelving two gigs of it until I
>switch over to Windows Vista.
>
>Many thanks to all replies!
>
>Bryan

>
>It is a limition of the OS, not the board. You will only be able to
>utilize the full 4G if you run 64bit OS. If you are going to upgrade
>to Vista 32bit, you are still limited to 3.2-3.5G of ram
>
Thanks for the info! I knew that XP 32 bit had that limitation but I
thought that Vista 32 bit had the ability to go past that. If Vista
still carries that limitation I wonder if the 64 bit version is worth
the extra trouble (drivers, possible software compatability issues)?

"Bryan Williams" <bryandmc at gamew00d dot net> wrote in message
news:...
> >
>>It is a limition of the OS, not the board. You will only be able to
>>utilize the full 4G if you run 64bit OS. If you are going to upgrade
>>to Vista 32bit, you are still limited to 3.2-3.5G of ram
>>
> Thanks for the info! I knew that XP 32 bit had that limitation but I
> thought that Vista 32 bit had the ability to go past that. If Vista
> still carries that limitation I wonder if the 64 bit version is worth
> the extra trouble (drivers, possible software compatability issues)?

No. It's not worth it. I tried the 64-bit Ultimate and experienced no
significant advantage over XP Pro 32-bit.

Ron

"Bryan Williams" <bryandmc at gamew00d dot net> wrote in message
news:...
> >
>>It is a limition of the OS, not the board. You will only be able to
>>utilize the full 4G if you run 64bit OS. If you are going to upgrade
>>to Vista 32bit, you are still limited to 3.2-3.5G of ram
>>
> Thanks for the info! I knew that XP 32 bit had that limitation but I
> thought that Vista 32 bit had the ability to go past that. If Vista
> still carries that limitation I wonder if the 64 bit version is worth
> the extra trouble (drivers, possible software compatability issues)?
'Out of the box', Vista still stops at 4GB. However you can enable PAE
(which on XP, only gives extension beyond 4GB, on the Server releases), to
go beyond 4GB. There is however a cost associated with this (table sizes
get larger), and the address space for an application, is still limited as
if this was not enabled. The syntax is:- bcdedit /set pae forceenable. The
remapping does not function as well as the proper memory extension on
Vista64. For example, with 8GB fitted, under Vista64, I can see over
8100MB, but under Vista32, only 7634MB. The problem (of course), is the
limited driver support on Vista64 at present, which can make it a real
bastard.

Best Wishes

"Bryan Williams" <bryandmc at gamew00d dot net> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello all,
>
> I have been looking around for information on the P5W DH Deluxe
> motherboard regarding memory type and allowable amounts.
>
> I have read that this motherboard requires 1.8V RAM in order for the
> memory to run at 800MHz. If this is so does anyone have any
> recommendations for a brand/model that does well?
>
> Also I have seen folks comment that they could only get two or three
> gigs of RAM to show up under Windows XP. I only want to run two gigs
> of RAM while I am still running Windows XP Pro, but I wanted to
> upgrade to four gigs when I upgrade to Windows Vista. Will this board
> run four gigs OK under Vista?
>
> I was thinking of buying this board with an Intel QX6700 quad core
> processor and four gigs of RAM, just shelving two gigs of it until I
> switch over to Windows Vista.
>
> Many thanks to all replies!
>
> Bryan


I think you either got bad info, or misunderstood. The factory setting for
memory voltage is 1.8v, so you need a kit that can boot with that low a
voltage - most PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) kits require 1.9v - 2.1v to be stable at
800MHz. That being said, I have yet to see a kit of PC2-6400 cause any
problems on first boot, at 1.8v (especiallu considering that the memory will
not be running at the rated 800MHz at stock settings. You'll need to
manually set the speed to DDR2-800 in the BIOS.) When you do buy a kit, make
sure you read the specifications for rated voltage at 800MHz and then set it
accordingly in the BIOS.

-phil