A few questions about AM2 Socket

[DJCrunkMix]

I am thinking of building a new gaming rig from last 2/3 months now :-( ... I am sick and tired of waiting. Well, I guess I am gonna wait till AM2 comes out.

Questions:

1) - The AM2 socket Athlon 64 3800 X2 costs the same as socket 939 = 299 $. So, what the hell is the difference? Just that It supports DDR2 RAM?
2) - Looked up prices for DDR2 RAMs and they are pretty expensive. I am looking for 2 GB (2x1) RAM modules.
3) - Any significant differences between DDR and DDR2?
4) - Any significant differences between the "speeds" of 533, 667, 800, 1066 as far as gaming/multi-tasking is concerned?
5) - How to figure out if the RAM is compatible with the motherboard/CPU?
6) - Worth waiting for Conroe? I dont really want to invest in a new technology. I am thinking of getting the tested/reliable stuff and wait for a year and half and then upgrade to Conroe after the prices go down and more reviews come out.

Sorry for being such a n00b... Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

DJCrunkMix

 

[hardwareking]

to be honest,if ur current system is decent,then u shouldn't get am2.
There aren't any real world or significant gains to be had by getting am2.
And i think u ought to wait for conroe if u aren't in a hurry to upgrade.If u are well i'll answer.
1.There are 2 differences.One is the support for ddr2 ram.Two is the difference in socket.
2.Corsairs XMS2 DDR2-675 5400c4 model comes in good at $170.
3.U won't notice any.DDR2 provides more memory bandwidth.
4.The higher the speeds,the more the bandwidth.All x2 processors use ddr2-800(including fx-62)
5.Well socket 939 motherboards are usually named ike ASUS A8N32-SLI.Where as for AM2,it'll be ASUS M2N32-SLI.And the details of whats compatable and whats not will be there on the box.
Hope it helps and good luck.

 

[thestain]

I am in your camp and waiting with you.

If you must go with AMD and socket AM2, you need to know that AM2, while old, is also new at the same time, so you need to wait to get reviews on the motherboards, etc.. and all the info you can so this should take you to early June.

AMD will have more info to offer on June 1.

1) Current X2 3800 on 939 will perform better than on AM2 with DDR2, you need to step up to the X2 4000 at the lowest to justify a move to AM2 imo.. plus the added cache is good for gaming.. but even then.. WAIT for the better X2 4000 chips due out in June.

2) You can get decent prices for DDR 2 Ram at 667 and below.. key is low latency and knowing how the new AM2 memory controller uses 400 as a CPU divider and automatically adjust your memory based on CPU speed.. not a biggie, but it will negatively impact your performance..

3) Just double everything.. and you have very similar performance, but.. DDR 1 is maxed out at DDR 500 or so.. while DDR2 still has a little ways to go, but the big news is DDR3, for which the AM2 controller just might work.. which is coming out by year end.. so.. it is possible AMD did not jump to DDR2 so much as to prepare for and be ready for DDR3 and DDR3 will have the better over-all performance.

4) Speed.. those numbers are the speeds.. but with AMD, you need to focus on latency.. unfortunately most of the reviews on the memory have been based on intel performance, so.. you should wait to see AMD AM2 performance and see what kind of bang for the buck you are going to get.. EVEN numbers for your speeds are going to be important.. DDR2 800 is speed you want for now.. you can get there different ways.. overclocking DDR2 PC-6400 or lower memory or underclocking DDR2 PC-7200 AND HIGHER MEMORY.. the choice is yours, but I would wait to see some benchies first.

5) Reviews.. again.. boards like Anandtech..

6) Just what is the tested reliable stuff.. It is not AM2, it is not Conroe.. if you want tested and reliable look to something else.. if you like AMD, take a look at Socket 939 again.. heck.. find a good overclocking motherboard.. a decent X2 and invest in a graphics card that cost about the sum total of your motherboard and cpu combined. PS.. if you are a newbie.. there is no shame in asking questions.. ask away.. and a well researched noob... like myself will chime in.. or perhaps some others much more knowledgeable than myself.. but.. regardless if you want to go with Conroe or AM2 or 939.. prices are a dropping soon.. and the energy efficient line up from AMD for AM2 is really a better deal than the line up just now being released imo

The Stain

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix
I am thinking of building a new gaming rig from last 2/3 months now :-( ... I am sick and tired of waiting. Well, I guess I am gonna wait till AM2 comes out.

Questions:

1) - The AM2 socket Athlon 64 3800 X2 costs the same as socket 939 = 299 $. So, what the hell is the difference? Just that It supports DDR2 RAM?
2) - Looked up prices for DDR2 RAMs and they are pretty expensive. I am looking for 2 GB (2x1) RAM modules.
3) - Any significant differences between DDR and DDR2?
4) - Any significant differences between the "speeds" of 533, 667, 800, 1066 as far as gaming/multi-tasking is concerned?
5) - How to figure out if the RAM is compatible with the motherboard/CPU?
6) - Worth waiting for Conroe? I dont really want to invest in a new technology. I am thinking of getting the tested/reliable stuff and wait for a year and half and then upgrade to Conroe after the prices go down and more reviews come out.

Sorry for being such a n00b... Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

DJCrunkMix

I just ordered the parts for my AM2 system, but I'll probably be waiting on the CPU to arrive for a few extra days.

1) The AM2 chips don't boast much of an improvement in performance, however they consume less power than ther s939 counterparts. You also have an upgrade path wth AM2 that you don't have with s939.

2) For my AM2 system, I selected some Muskin DDR2-800 2x1GB sticks from newegg, they've got 4-4-4-12 timings. The original Corsair DDR2-800 EPP modules I wanted were out of stock.

3) DDR2 has high latency than DDR1, but it does boast a lot more bandwidth. If the CPU is starved for bandwidth, then DDR2 shines. AM2 chips, and A64 chips in general, aren't really starved for bandwidth though. Now that both AMD and Intel are using DDR2 as their main memory, DDR1 production will slowly drop off and prices will rise.

4) 533 and 667 are worthless, their bandwidth isn't high enough to offset their higher latency. Xbit Labs did a comparison of several different DDR2 modules in their AM2 review, its a good read. Best performance was offered by DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 timings. DDR2-667 with 3-3-3 timings performed much worse than the 800 modules.

5) This will be listed on the mobo's specs, at the manufacture's website. Usually it just says DDR2 533/667/800. Something to look for though is the RAM voltages the mobo supports. Standard DDR2 is 1.8v, but many high performance modules use 2v and 2.1v, so make sure the mobo you buy will support your RAM's voltages. Most DDR2 modules will run at the stock 1.8v, but you'll have to relax the timings a great deal.

6) Depends, do you need to upgrade right now? Conroe is supposed to offer great performance with low power consumption. Motherboard compatibility is really up in the air right now though. Right now, only the Intel 975X chipset actually supports it, and most mobos require a physical revision update. Its not something you'll be able to add with a simple bios update, at least, thats whats believed at this time. A lot more information about conroe will become available after its annoucement at the end of July.

 

[DJCrunkMix]

^^ Thanks for yall's reply,

I currently own a laptop, so there is no such thing as "upgrade", I am building the entire system.

So, is it worth waiting for Conroe? or it would be better to buy a system now and then wait for next year till Conroe becomes mature enough to be reliable?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix
^^ Thanks for yall's reply,

I currently own a laptop, so there is no such thing as "upgrade", I am building the entire system.

So, is it worth waiting for Conroe? or it would be better to buy a system now and then wait for next year till Conroe becomes mature enough to be reliable?

Will your labtop suit your needs until next year? There are a lot of early benchmarks that claim Conroe will outperform AM2 by a large margin, using less power, but availability is likely to be tight when its firs released. By next year, any availability issues should be resolved and most of the bugs hammered out, plus you'd have much better motherboard support.

Waiting to build will always net you more performance, but if you're always waiting for the next big thing, you'll always be waiting and never building.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Waiting to build will always net you more performance, but if you're always waiting for the next big thing, you'll always be waiting and never building.

QFT...

This line should be a sticky somewhere!