DDR-2 why not GDDR-3?

[biostud]

Since DDR-2 was never a succes for videocards, why should it be for motherboards? AFAIK GDDR-3 is cheaper to produce and runs cooler. Does it have even higher latencies than DDR-2?

 

[tart666]

aren't they the same?

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: tart666
aren't they the same?

no

 

[mb]

That's a good question, and I'm sure someone has a good answer. I was wondering the same thing.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Well, DDR3 will likely replace DDR2 much faster than DDR2 did DDR.

I agree, I don't even know why they're bothering with DDR2. I guess they want to get all their money out of it. They probably figure that it'll be easier for people to go from DDR to DDR2 than DDR3.

The reason they didn't just go straight to 3 is to make more money.

 

[tart666]

when nvidia went from 5700 ddr2 to 5700U gddr3 there was ZERO performance improvement, no?

why should gddr3 have any impact now?

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: tart666
when nvidia went from 5700 ddr2 to 5700U gddr3 there was ZERO performance improvement, no?

why should gddr3 have any impact now?

because GDDR-3 scale much further than DDR-2. I don't know how many DDR-2 sticks have been made or how long production time/planning is, but ATM it hasn't even got a foothold since it's so expensive and no real perfomance boost. I wonder if it will turn out to be another RAMBUS (I doubt it) for intel.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: tart666
when nvidia went from 5700 ddr2 to 5700U gddr3 there was ZERO performance improvement, no?

why should gddr3 have any impact now?

more to consider than just performance

 

[Dman877]

DDR2 caps out around 500 mhz and gddr3 can do 800mhz already according to samsung I think it was...

 

[Acanthus]

Micron is producing 1.6ghz GDDR3 now.

 

[biostud]

The fastest applied is the 1.1Ghz (550) on NV40 AFAIK.

 

[KristopherKubicki]

GDDR3 has pretty big density problems. Consider that a whole slot graphics card PCB can fit 256MB of GDDR3 while a single slot DIMM has to do 512MB minimum.

Furthermore, GDDR3 costs more than even DDR2. Ouch 😛

Anyway, thats just what i hear.

Kristopher

 

[zephyrprime]

Consider that a whole slot graphics card PCB can fit 256MB of GDDR3 while a single slot DIMM has to do 512MB minimum.

Is that really a fair comparison? Is seems like most 256MB graphics cards have only 8 chips on them while a 512MB dimm has 16. And does the higher operating speed of video memory come at the cost of lower density?

 

[KristopherKubicki]

This is just what memory manufacturers have told me. Two or three hinted at doing it in the future, two or three more said they already tried and it isnt worth it. I think the density / addressing issues will prohibit GDDR3 from moving to DIMMs for the time being.

Kristopher