I have a GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 motherboard and I need new RAM for the motherboard, the manual asks for 1.8v and the few ones that support 1.8v is the, Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory.

The RAM is okay but I wanted RAM that was more for gaming. I have heard about changing RAM voltages, can u change it to whatever u want? is there a limit? If I bought RAM that was 2.0v or 2.2v and installed it could it work?

And I was wondering about cas latency is the higher the better or lower?

Thanks a lot for your help and input.

Yes you can change the voltage - I am not sure the limit on your board but 2.1v is no problem - a lot of memory runs at the speed.

Lower latency is better.

Since you have a gigabyte board - you might want to become familiar with their forum at tweaktown which provides good help - I got a response with what I needed about memory timings in two hours - and on the 4th of July.
If you get lsdmeasap tell him hello for me.

This post may help clarify things: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] s#t1249881
Also, remember that DDR2-800 is all you need for FSB speeds up through 1600MHz; it's only for overclocks faster than that that faster memory bus speeds are useful.

rj's post in this thread is fine and helpful; I haven't seen his other posts, though.

Try to get RAM on the QVL. If you want RAM that's not on the list, and many are not, then go for it, there is a very good chance it will work, but no guaranty. 1.8V is the JEDEC standard that is why they call for it. There is no DDR2 RAM, with a voltage that is available, that the X48-DS4 won't handle. No you can't change it to whatever you want, are you surprised by that? Yes 2.2V RAM will work with ease. Lower Latency is always better, but don't get hung up on it. The Core 2 architecture, excepting Allendale, is not that sensitive to RAM speeds or latency.

Cleaned.

Rocky, please stop pushing assistance by a poster/moderator from another site unless it is seriously warranted. It is in bad taste.

Why is it in bad taste?
I think THG does not mind their viewers getting advice to go to another site when it is a specialized site geared to helping that particular posters problems - and a manufactureres site at that. The poster is more likely to get fast, efficient, and effective help there. You think THG is so worried about keeping its clients that it does not want them to get the best help?
Did you ever watch Miracle on 34th Street? Macies sent customers to Gimbels (or was it vice versa) and got a great reputation because of it and did more business. Want a more recent real life example? Look at who all Amazon lets post on their site - including used book that take directly from their business.
But they know that part of providing customers the best experience is to provide service like that - Amazon knows it is in its own best self interest to become the focal point for book shopping - even if it means sending some of its potential customers to sites selling new and used books posted by others.
If a THG officials asks me to stop or you can point to some site rules that prohibit it - then I will stop. Until then I will assume that THG wants to serve posters the best they can - including referals to other sites. And shame on you for wanting any less for them - or for setting yourself up as the arbiter of good taste.

I've got to agree with rj on this.

thanks everyone for the help, I posted this question because I went to the gigabyte site but I didn't understand the RAM chart they had, the numbers I looked for were the module P/N but nothing would come up on newegg for that number so I didn't get it. Maybe someone could tell me what I am doing wrong?

I tested a sample part number and was able to search for it successfully on newegg. What memory are you looking for? PLease provide complete description (make, model, size, speed) as well as the model number.

The Gigabyte forum probably has had discussions about the best RAM for the board and for gaming - did you get recommendations from it?

This link might be helpful:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga [...] ram-27390/

Or this one:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga [...] ory-27301/

Note that the moderator for both is lsdmeasp - the person I mentioned above. Feel free to post your questions about memory and get recommendations from him.

I purchased my memory off the Gigabyte approved list - but when I went to the Tweaktown forum I found it was actually notorious for problems - like I had. Lsdmeasap helped me through it.

Note that if you get 2.1v memory (which is fine, as I noted above you can increase the memory voltage - I did too) since the mobo is default at 1.8v you need to stick in just one stick at first then go into BIOS and up the voltage before adding the other sticks.