ddr2 vs ddr3 question

[iabort]

If you buy one of the fancy 790i or thoughs new mobo's which has ddr3 ram accessibility on it can you use your old ddr2 ram on it?

 

[Extelleron]

If a motherboard supports DDR3 only, then no. There were certain P35 motherboards that supported both DDR2 & DDR3 though; 2 slots for DDR3 & 2 slots for DDR2. No 790i / X48 boards are like that AFAIK though.

Honestly you'd be best off avoiding a 790i board unless you really need SLI (and with the 4800 series there is really no reason to go SLI). And if you're purchasing a high-end system it is worth waiting until Nehalem is released. Apparently X58 motherboards will support SLI as well with the addition of a nF200 chip.

 

[DSF]

Don't worry about DDR3. Stick to DDR2.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: DSF
Don't worry about DDR3. Stick to DDR2.

But he wants a "fancy 790i" MB. :roll:

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: DSF
Don't worry about DDR3. Stick to DDR2.

But he wants a "fancy 790i" MB. :roll:

Fine... Then You Can Listen to Him Whine for the next year and a half...



"O/P Refer all help requests to Blain"

 

[Blain]

It's time we move on with our lives and embrace DDR3 for the promise that it holds. :laugh:

Originally by: Wesley Fink
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=1">Even at slow timings, DDR3 shows a great deal of promise.

DDR3 may not be in your buying plan today, but it will certainly be there in the future. As DDR3 prices drop and/or timings improve, it will be the performance choice.</a>

 

[Fox5]

DDR3 will be the way to go mainly for capacity reasons.
Thing is, ddr2 is already quite cheap for 2GB sticks, so it's really quite affordable to do an 8GB ddr2 system. DDR3 will eventually make it just as affordable to do a 16GB system, but what individual needs that much ram?

 

[piasabird]

A question you might ask is what is the return on the investment. How much faster will DDR3 Make your system run and how much it will cost? Is this a mere 3-5% increase or what? If you are increasing the cost of RAM from $80-$200, what are you getting for your money? Then how much more will you pay for that motherboard?

 

[DSF]

The key is, "As prices drop." There just isn't any way to recommend DDR3 with the prices as high as they are now.

There's a guy in another thread spending as much on his RAM as I did on my entire system six months ago, and I can game just fine.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: piasabird
A question you might ask is what is the return on the investment.

Sounds like your analyzing J&J or Exxon. :laugh:
"ROI" on PC components? That's got to be a sad story.