DDR Question

[BUTCH1]

I am building a budget system for a freind useing a duron 1 gig proc. Is it worth the extra money
to get a MB that supports DDR at this time or save the $30 or so and stick with a 133a based board
Thanks in advance, Barry

 

[Athlon4all]

Consider ECS K7S5A. It's got both DDR and SDR slots, and can be had for only $52 at Newegg.

 

[BUTCH1]

Wow $52.....That's cheap!!

 

[Mavrick007]

If you were to build a system, the extra $30 or so will be definitely worth it to go DDR. You will notice alot better improvement in applications that require high memory bandwidth now, and into the future.

You can also find cheap deals on DDR mobos now too though so you don't have to get the best mobo out on the market. The ECS board is a good alternative as as Athlon4All stated, it has both SDR and DDR ram. The Duron 1G and the ECS board could be had for under $100 which would make a very affordable machine.

 

[BUTCH1]

Thanks for the advise guys, One more quick question, can the Duron make use of the DDR ram or do I
have to use SDRAM now and get DDR when I upgrade to a XP processor?? Thanks again..

 

[Duvie]

It can take advantage of it, whether or not that means full or not....ECS bios has a 100/133 option...The duron is a 200mhz fsb while the ram runs 133 double pumped for 266mhz....

I would say if you have readily available sdram pc133 now you may wish to stick with since ddr pc2100 is so high priced right now....

I bout 2 sticks of 256mb pc2100 crucial back about 4 months ago for 28 and 33 dollars = total 60.00...Now you will pay 83+ for one stick...

IMO it is hard to stay budget with that type of price, and I highly highly as an ex-ecs mobo owner that quality ram is a must...I only switched cause I jumped to p4...The ecs was one of the best boards I have ever owned. Killed my via boards in performance and reliability...

 

[BUTCH1]

I will prob. go with the DDR then for him as he is upgrading from a K6 socket7 system and not much
can be re-used.