Why would Intel do this?

[czepiel]

I recently picked up the annual Intel bundle of a DG965WH with an E6300 and Vista Ultimate.

The question, well maybe more concern, I have pertains to the motherboard. The specs on Intel's website state it only takes 1.8V memory with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6.

Source: http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/wh/wh_mem.htm

Now I follow the trail to Crucial's website where the compatibility goes from slim to almost everything under the sun.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=DG965WH

While I did speak with a Crucial rep who assured me all memory listed as compatible has been tested... why would Intel limit the prospective buyers by making it appear that only a handful of, imho, subpar memory would be compatible? I know for one if the bundle wasnt an amazing deal ($220 for all that) I would have stayed away from the mobo...

Any thoughts?

 

[Fulmar]

The 1.8V at 5-5-5 and 6-6-6 timings lies with the 965 chipset which has been shown to be picky with ram. You can use higher voltage and different timing ram; however, you need to go into the BIOS after the computer posts and change it to whatever your ram uses (say 1.9 and 4-4-4). I have heard that some ram that have different voltages and timings will not post at all, thus you cant reach the BIOS and change the settings.