Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

[StrykerX]

I built a new system last October and it was going great, until the ASUS P5K-E motherboard died on me. Once I went cruising various forums and saw how many people were having similar problems with that board (to the point of multiple RMAs needed) I decided to just get a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R to replace it instead of spending weeks in RMA hell with a broken computer. The system is up and running, but has one problem: the RAM. I can only use two sticks of my 1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-667 memory, and I can only use two if I don't go dual-channel. Since one of the sticks died with the motherboard I'm having doubts about the others, and with RAM dirt cheap right now I'm going to just get some new memory to make sure it's not a problem with the board itself. (It's not a bad slot... all four work with a single stick.)

My system configuration is:

GA-EP35-DS3R (F2 BIOS)
Q6600 CPU (G0 stepping)
8800 Ultra GPU
Corsair 620HX power supply
Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Currently 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-667 (the older ones that overclock like crazy)

I'm going to get two 2GB sticks and hopefully that will be easier on the board than 4x1GB. Since I'm not planning to run my Q6600 at over 3 GHz (333x9) or at most 3.2 GHz (400x8), I won't need expensive RAM. I just need a pair of decent 2GB DDR2-800 sticks, but to be safe I want to go with something that is known to work in an EP-35-DS3R, and the RAM list on Gigabyte is out of date and has almost no 2GB sticks listed.

So... does anyone out there gave a GA-EP35-DS3R or a revision 2.1 GA-P35-DS3R (same board except the power savings stuff) with 2x2GB of RAM in it that can recommend some? Newegg has a GeIL CAS4 kit for 100 bucks that looks close to what's on Gigabyte's supported list (a later version of course), but I'd like to get some input from people that have gotten this board to work with 4GB first...

Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

I use <Mushkin in all my GA boards, not on the list and works fine. I think you would be fine with any ram, and since you have your other sticks you have a backup incase you need to get in the bios and change from 1.8V to what you new rams need to boot.

Most will boot at 1,8 anyway, but some will not. but you are covered there anyway.

Ya I see ALOT of crucial RMA's So glad you decided finally to walk away from them. Mushkin, G.Skill, Geil all will work fine. You will need to add some MCH voltage probably to run 2x2Gb though but I assume you already may be aware of that

[StrykerX]

Re: Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

I think I'm going to go with the GeIL Esoteria 2x2GB kit at Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144098

The only real complaints I've seen on it are that it's too thick to fit in adjacent slots on some motherboards, but since the GA-EP35-DS3R uses alternating slots for dual channel (and no way I need 8GB) that's no problem. Plus it's rated for 1.9-2.5V so I don't have to worry about frying it if the board decides to send the RAM a bit more voltage than I set (supposed to be a problem with this series of boards).

Here's hoping it works...

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

Good choice, you will likely need +0.1 or more MCH voltage to run 2x2, just a heads up so you are mad when you first get it in there

[StrykerX]

Re: Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

Well, the new RAM arrived and after a bit of BIOS fiddling I got it up and running. Thanks for the suggestion... I did have to bump the NB voltage up .1V to get it to boot with both sticks. Memtest ran several hours with no problem, so it looks like I'm back in business.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Need help choosing RAM for GA-EP35-DS3R

Cool, glad to see you up and running