DDR2 or DDR3

[hennessy1]

I am getting a brand new motherboard cost doesnt matter to me but I want to know should I stick with fast ddr2 or go with the newer slower ddr3 I ask because I want to know if I should stick with ddr2 or get future ready with ddr3? Its not if the apps need ddr3 just future ready speaking.

 

[DSF]

DDR2.

 

[hennessy1]

thank you.

 

[myocardia]

I say get a motherboard that uses both, and buy DDR2 for now. This one fits the bill, as does this one.

 

[DSF]

If you're going with Intel, I don't see any reason to get a combo board. Upgrading to DDR3 isn't going to produce much of a performance improvement at all. You won't need to move to DDR3 until you're buying a new CPU and motherboard anyway.

 

[phexac]

DDR2 cuz it's like 1/4 the price or less and you will be running it at the same speed anyway.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

the question is, when will DDR3 speeds ever be put to use

 

[hennessy1]

Later on down the road Ill have to get a new mobo for Nehalem newayz but I was going to see if I can keep the current mobo and went with ddr3 and made it last as long as possibile but if thats not worth it because of the price then I wont. Ill just replace the whole mobo down the road.

 

[DSF]

DDR3 isn't going to make your computer last longer. GPU power, CPU power and amount of RAM are far more important than RAM speed.

 

[hennessy1]

True I figure by the time it comes to think if I shouldve gone to ddr3 it will deff be time to buy new mobo

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

DDR3 seems to be for overclockers wanting to raise the fsb limit. but i don't get how ddr3 memory gets divided by 3 (e.g. 1333/3 = 444 max fsb) to get the fsb max speed and similarly ddr2 memory gets divided by 2 to get the max fsb

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
DDR3 seems to be for overclockers wanting to raise the fsb limit. but i don't get how ddr3 memory gets divided by 3 (e.g. 1333/3 = 444 max fsb) to get the fsb max speed and similarly ddr2 memory gets divided by 2 to get the max fsb

DDR3 doesn't get divided by three. All DDR, including DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 reports its speed as twice the frontside bus. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and that's where the doubling of the FSB comes in.

DDR3 is just the third iteration of DDR, capable of reaching higher speeds at lower voltage than DDR2. Similarly, DDR2 is capable of reaching higher speeds at lower voltage than DDR.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

DDR3 doesn't get divided by three. All DDR, including DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 reports its speed as twice the frontside bus. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and that's where the doubling of the FSB comes in.

DDR3 is just the third iteration of DDR, capable of reaching higher speeds at lower voltage than DDR2. Similarly, DDR2 is capable of reaching higher speeds at lower voltage than DDR.

that's what i was thinking all along.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y

have you read this guys thread? i'm not challenging you, i'm bringing it up for a possible correction in his post

The 667, 800, or 1066 refer to the max speed (front side bus in MHz x the divider) for which it's rated. It's a little more complicated... these are DDR2 type so you divide those numbers by 2. So you'll get 667/2 = 333 MHz; 800/2 = 400 MHz; and 1066/2 = 533 MHz. The CPU : DRAM divider is discussed later in this document. If you want to run a FSB of 400 MHz then you'll need AT LEAST DDR2-800. The same rule applies for the newer DDR3 memory. That is, divide that last number by 3 to get the max FSB. For example, DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600. 1333/3 = 444 MHz and 1600/3 = 533 MHz.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y

have you read this guys thread? i'm not challenging you, i'm bringing it up for a possible correction in his post

The 667, 800, or 1066 refer to the max speed (front side bus in MHz x the divider) for which it's rated. It's a little more complicated... these are DDR2 type so you divide those numbers by 2. So you'll get 667/2 = 333 MHz; 800/2 = 400 MHz; and 1066/2 = 533 MHz. The CPU : DRAM divider is discussed later in this document. If you want to run a FSB of 400 MHz then you'll need AT LEAST DDR2-800. The same rule applies for the newer DDR3 memory. That is, divide that last number by 3 to get the max FSB. For example, DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600. 1333/3 = 444 MHz and 1600/3 = 533 MHz.

That post is completely wrong, at least the portion pertaining to DDR3, which Graysky doesn't own, I might add. Here's a more official word about DDR3. By the way, were you guys aware that PC3200, PC2-6400, and PC3-12800 all operate at exactly the same speed-- 200 Mhz?

 

[hennessy1]

So what software would actually benifit from ddr3. I do alot of encoding. Probably 24hrs a week. Some minor gameplay COD4 stuff like that. Would ddr3 give me any real improvement in that I have ddr2 1000 8gb of ram currently.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: hennessy1
So what software would actually benifit from ddr3.

Besides benchmarks, pretty much only some scientific things, like folding proteins.

Would ddr3 give me any real improvement in that I have ddr2 1000 8gb of ram currently.

Not at all. A faster CPU, with multiple hard drive would make video editing faster, though. And if the software that you use is multi-threaded, then a quad-core CPU would also help.

 

[hennessy1]

thank you myocardia.