AMD goes DDR2

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
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hey when will AMD mb's go DDR2? does that mean that i shouldn't buy DDR1 RAM now? since i'll be getting a completely new AMD system in the summer, should i just spend about 200 on PCPC 510 PS now?
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
hey when will AMD mb's go DDR2? does that mean that i shouldn't buy DDR1 RAM now? since i'll be getting a completely new AMD system in the summer, should i just spend about 200 on PCPC 510 PS now?

A gigabyte is plenty of RAM. If I were in your spot I would get the 510 Turbo Cool and wait for DDR2.
 

w00t

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2004
5,545
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get the seasonic s12 500-600W instead PCPC 510 tends to run loud at extreme times check out tomshardware guide on psu test's but i'd buy everything at the same time.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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People who have never owned or used a PC Power and Cooling Turbo Cool are the ones who say it is Loud, I can personaly attest that a Pair Of 7200 RPM Hard Drives are just as loud. It is not that noisy, so unless you have owned one then shhhh....
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
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itching to upgrade now, but waiting for amd to go DDR2... then take advantage of DDR2 ram, but i guess the PSU will last me at least 4 mroe years (the PCPC 510)
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
itching to upgrade now, but waiting for amd to go DDR2... then take advantage of DDR2 ram, but i guess the PSU will last me at least 4 mroe years (the PCPC 510)

I am with you, I cannot wait to dump my P3 1.4 GHz Tualtin Server. I am wating for DDR2 only because I know if I want 2GB+ and want to break the 32 bit limit then I will have to wait for DDR2 since DDR1 is rising in price while DDR2 will be cheaper, faster, and denser than the legacy DDR.
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
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well i dont know much about DDR and DDR2, just that DDR2 is newer and should perform better with the new amd CPU's and MB's
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
well i dont know much about DDR and DDR2, just that DDR2 is newer and should perform better with the new amd CPU's and MB's

Basicly if you want more than 2GB in you PC (4GB Preffered) then wait for DDR2, it's lower price and higher performance will allow you to pack much more memory in to you system.
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
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Originally posted by: Googer
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
well i dont know much about DDR and DDR2, just that DDR2 is newer and should perform better with the new amd CPU's and MB's

Basicly if you want more than 2GB in you PC (4GB Preffered) then wait for DDR2, it's lower price and higher performance will allow you to pack much more memory in to you system.


i dont understand.. can you please elaborate?
 

Ike0069

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2003
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For most people, DDR is actually better due to its lower timings although I realize that this is changing and won't necessarilly be the case in the near future.

Waiting for AM2 just so you can use DDR2 though, is probably not in your best interest. When it first comes out, it will be more expensive while offering no real performance advantage over S939.

Personally, I would either wait until AM2 matures, or just get a S939 system now.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
Originally posted by: Googer
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
well i dont know much about DDR and DDR2, just that DDR2 is newer and should perform better with the new amd CPU's and MB's

Basicly if you want more than 2GB in you PC (4GB Preffered) then wait for DDR2, it's lower price and higher performance will allow you to pack much more memory in to you system.


i dont understand.. can you please elaborate?

The price of DDR is going to be more expensive in the next 12-18 months. It will contiue to rise and the price is expected to remain high when compaired to DDR2.

Also DIMMS Larger than 2 or 4 GB will only be avalable in (for the most part) DDR2. Don't expect to find much DDR1 in 4 or 8 GB modules at a resonable rate. Just like 512MB of PC 133 costs more than 1GB of DDR 400.

IF you had $100 to spend on memory you can get twice as much DDR for that price when compaired to SDR.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
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Originally posted by: Ike0069
For most people, DDR is actually better due to its lower timings although I realize that this is changing and won't necessarilly be the case in the near future.

Waiting for AM2 just so you can use DDR2 though, is probably not in your best interest. When it first comes out, it will be more expensive while offering no real performance advantage over S939.

Personally, I would either wait until AM2 matures, or just get a S939 system now.

True. Prices will drop and on newegg.com DDR2 is almost the same price as DDR1 right now. If there is one thing most of us have learded from AMD's on die memory controller is that latency of ram is not a big issue. CAS3 produces the same real world benchmark result as CAS2. The higher operating freaquency of DDR2 is where AMD stands to benefit, not CAS Latency.
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
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assuming i would get my new AMD system in june-august, what platform and what ram would i be getting to optimize for gaming?
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
assuming i would get my new AMD system in june-august, what platform and what ram would i be getting to optimize for gaming?

Just stick with standard issue Crucial or Corsair Value ram. It has been proven that the high performance ram performs the same as it's cheaper stuff at the same frequency. You pay twice the price for no significant (noticeable) gains in performance
 

fire400

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2005
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You probably won't notice the difference anyway, DDR1, DDR2. It's funny to think that 400 MHz will not be enough to supply a modern day office app or even a game? And to think that DDR2 will make things any faster? Probably true, but I doubt you will figure out the milliseconds in running an AMD setup with good DDR1 RAM.

Anyway, just build your rig now, upgrade as time goes, sell the parts or use 'em for another rig or give 'em to your friends to trade up.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
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Originally posted by: fire400
You probably won't notice the difference anyway, DDR1, DDR2. It's funny to think that 400 MHz will not be enough to supply a modern day office app or even a game? And to think that DDR2 will make things any faster? Probably true, but I doubt you will figure out the milliseconds in running an AMD setup with good DDR1 RAM.

Anyway, just build your rig now, upgrade as time goes, sell the parts or use 'em for another rig or give 'em to your friends to trade up.

We will just have to wait and see how the performance of these processors compaire. I doubt AMD has decided to switch to DDR2 with zero or miniscule gains in performance. If there was nothing to gain from DDR2 then I doubt they would bother or waste reasources designing new memory controllers.

I suspect that DDR2 on AMD will be much more noticeable than it was on Intel. Intel's implementation of DDR2 was nothing great. Like I said before AMD should be a differant story than Intel when it comes to the end result.
 

Allio

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2002
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In my opinion, waiting for AM2 is just stupid. The price premium you had to pay for new Socket A, Socket 754 and 939 boards was huge, but it was worth it because the new boards and CPUs offered a huge, massive increase in performance over their predecessors. AM2 is just a little revision adding an extra pin and DDR2, yet you're still going to have to pay that premium for brand new CPUs and motherboards. The RAM will be cheaper but so what?

Buying at the beginning of a new technology curve is never smart. If you have to do a big upgrade, do it now while boards are mature and stable, and prices are low. AM2 isn't going to be the second coming. They're adding DDR2 - which will have next to no performance benefit - and Digital Rights Management, big whoop. You'll find that when it's time to upgrade your CPU in two or three years it's going to be time for a new motherboard, regardless of whether you have a mature 939 or a new 940.
 

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
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Originally posted by: Allio
In my opinion, waiting for AM2 is just stupid. The price premium you had to pay for new Socket A, Socket 754 and 939 boards was huge, but it was worth it because the new boards and CPUs offered a huge, massive increase in performance over their predecessors. AM2 is just a little revision adding an extra pin and DDR2, yet you're still going to have to pay that premium for brand new CPUs and motherboards. The RAM will be cheaper but so what?

Buying at the beginning of a new technology curve is never smart. If you have to do a big upgrade, do it now while boards are mature and stable, and prices are low. AM2 isn't going to be the second coming. They're adding DDR2 - which will have next to no performance benefit - and Digital Rights Management, big whoop. You'll find that when it's time to upgrade your CPU in two or three years it's going to be time for a new motherboard, regardless of whether you have a mature 939 or a new 940.

Not only will DDR2 DIMMS be cheaper, but DDR1 DIMMS will not be getting much bigger and with 64BIT OS' and programs on the horizon there will soon be a great desire to have more than 2-4GB and DDR2 users will most likely be the ones to have it since high density DDR1 will be rare and/or expensive.
 

anatawa

Junior Member
Feb 7, 2006
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people will leave the old tech like ddr if there is a new one... i would prefer to wait than buying system now and have to throw it away in 2-3 years since most of the component are not compatible... AM2 are not just DDR2
 

MrX8503

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2005
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i'm real uneasy to upgrade now becuase of ddr2. Do you guys think i would need more than 2gb? because if i do i would need to buy all new stuff just to get more than 2gb of ddr2.