Any Significant Performance Gain From DDR2 To DDR3 With Old C2D CPU ?

[Revolution]

Hi,

My current system is:
Intel E4500 CPU @2.2GHz
Gigabyte G41 Combo Motherboard.
Transcent 2GB DDR2 800Hz RAM
AMD HD5670 512MB DDR5
Seagate 500GB 7200.12 SATA HDD

Now,if I change memory to 4GB DDR3 will I see any performance boosts in gaming ?
Mainly I play PC Games @1280x1024.

Thanks!

 

[pwoz]

Well, if you managed to hammer the DDR3 in, I'm not sure it would boot any more.

Kidding aside, you can't use DDR3 in a DDR2 board.

 

[blastingcap]

What pwoz said.

Also, no your RAM is likely not the bottleneck. DDR2@800 is plenty fast for your CPU.

That rig should still be enough to get by at your monitor resolution in older games, and possibly some newer games at medium settings or lower.

If you want to play more demanding games, you will likely have to set graphics down to medium or less, and even that may not be enough if the game is mostly CPU-limited, such as Starcraft II.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Going to 4GB of DDR2 wouldn't be a terrible idea though. Thing is, it's pricey - you'd probably be better off saving the money and upgrading the whole platform at once.

 

[Blain]

Going to 4GB of DDR2 wouldn't be a terrible idea though. Thing is, it's pricey - you'd probably be better off saving the money and upgrading the whole platform at once.

* Upgrading to 4GB DDR2... :thumbsdown: Expensive, so it's not worth the bother
* Upgrading to new platform... :thumbsdown: Again, expensive and not worth the bother IN YOUR CASE.
* Upgrading to 4GB DDR3... :thumbsup: It's Dirt Cheap right now, so well worth the little cash it would take.

Some Gigabyte G41 MBs support both DDR2 and DDR3.
Of course it doesn't support both running at the same time.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I guess the question would be: which Gigabyte G41 motherboard do you have ?

Nevermind I see it

 

[pwoz]

Oh hey, I guess I should have looked at that. I forgot about those hybrid boards.

Either way, even the extra 2 gigs of ram probably isn't going to give what you are looking for. Your video card is going to be doing the bottlenecking.

 

[Cerb]

DDR3 is cheap, and 2GB isn't enough with IGP and no games.

OTOH, your CPU is what the games are going to be choking on, more than anything. It's cheap, so why not; but you'll need a forklift upgrade for much gaming improvement. A CPU that was slow when brand new, and a video card with 512MB VRAM, is going to be quite limiting.

 

[blastingcap]

DDR3 is cheap, and 2GB isn't enough with IGP and no games.

OTOH, your CPU is what the games are going to be choking on, more than anything. It's cheap, so why not; but you'll need a forklift upgrade for much gaming improvement. A CPU that was slow when brand new, and a video card with 512MB VRAM, is going to be quite limiting.

At his resolution the GPU speed, not framebuffer of 512MB, is what matters more. But yeah a total system upgrade is in order for modern games. Some people just want a cheapo windows box to play the occasional old game, though. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[KingRaptor]

Although DDR3 specifies a faster frequency, the modules have higher CAS latency; therefore, they wouldn't be any faster than DDR2 modules. Just know that you can't run both DDR2 and DDR3 at the same time. Your 2GB of DDR2 would be useless in this system.

 

[Revolution]

Thank u all for ur replies!

Some Gigabyte G41 MBs support both DDR2 and DDR3.
Of course it doesn't support both running at the same time.

Yep,u r correct.



Actually my old XFX Motherboard gone dead few months ago so I bought Gigabyte GA-G41M-Combo Motherboard which support both DDR2 and DDR3 RAM.
DDR2: 667, 800, 1066(O.C), DDR3: 800, 1066, 1333(O.C) MHz(only DDR2 or DDr3 at a time).
And taking about my 512MB VRAM.
All I know HD5670+Intel E4500 not meant for HD gaming.
Though may be 1600x900 will be no problem.

But,as 4GB DDR3 cheap these days I may change my 2GB DDR2 800MHz RAM if it worth.
And one more question.
In our local market hard to find any 1066MHZ DDR3 RAM.
Only 1600MHz and 1333MHZ DDR3 available.
So,will higher clocked memory work with my motherboard without any stability issue ?
Will the RAM automatically gone to under clock @1066MHz speed ?

 

[Cerb]

At his resolution the GPU speed, not framebuffer of 512MB, is what matters more.

Only a few console ports will not readily use >512MB, if given the chance. At 1280x1024, the GPU's performance should be plenty. A 5670 isn't that bad, especially for low res, despite there being much better out there, today; being able to turn details down can count for a lot. OTOH, the CPU wasn't fast when it was new, and games were able to tax >=2GHz C2Ds when it was new. For most games that can peg the cores, there's just no way around that.

Some people just want a cheapo windows box to play the occasional old game, though. Nothing wrong with that.

Not at all. I'm sure the OP paid no more than 1/3 what I did, and maybe less than that, for a similar generation computer.

So,will higher clocked memory work with my motherboard without any stability issue ?

Yes.

Will the RAM automatically gone to under clock @1066MHz speed ?

Or 800, though probably 1066. It should take the fastest speed it can between what the RAM says it can run at, and what the board officially supports. >1066 should require you to manually set things in the BIOS.

 

[blastingcap]

At that rez I doubt many older games would cross 512MB, and I am assuming OP plays mostly older games with that level of GPU. Heck I remember the 4870 512MB vs 1GB debate and how little the extra RAM mattered back then for most games at lower resolutions. And even sometimes at higher resolutions.

But you may be right for newer games.

Only a few console ports will not readily use >512MB, if given the chance. At 1280x1024, the GPU's performance should be plenty. A 5670 isn't that bad, especially for low res, despite there being much better out there, today; being able to turn details down can count for a lot. OTOH, the CPU wasn't fast when it was new, and games were able to tax >=2GHz C2Ds when it was new. For most games that can peg the cores, there's just no way around that.

Not at all. I'm sure the OP paid no more than 1/3 what I did, and maybe less than that, for a similar generation computer.

Yes.
Or 800, though probably 1066. It should take the fastest speed it can between what the RAM says it can run at, and what the board officially supports. >1066 should require you to manually set things in the BIOS.

 

[Revolution]

I played BF3,Prototype 2,Batman Arkham City all @1280x1024 with medium and Darksiders II with high setting without any problem.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I think I remember tomshardware doing a comparison of ddr2 vs. ddr3 back when core2 ddr3 boards first showed up, was like 3% performance difference or something (been awhile).

post some before/after benchmarks for us
good luck

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Didn't realize it was a hybrid board.

Some of the 4x series chipsets were picky about memory. Mine is. I'd suggest buying through a site like crucial's that verifies and guarantees compatibility. Don't just throw any old ddr3 in there.

I still say getting "good" performance is going to need more than a ram increase, and when you start piece-by-pieceing an older system, it can get more expensive than a complete upgrade.