DDR2 vs. DDR3

philosofool

Senior member
Nov 3, 2008
283
19
81
I'm going to be getting a new system soon to replace my sad Athlon X2 3800+ w/ an 8800GTS 320MB. It's going to be awesome. My current system has 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM.

On my wish list of things to get: an ATI 4800 series card, an AMD X3 720, a 500GB HDD, a new PSU, a motherboard, a DVD burner--I could probably add a few more odds and ends if I kept thinking about it. However, I probably won't have the money for everything I want.

Is there any evidence that in real world applications, DDR3 1600 considerably out performs DDR2 800? It would cost $80 to get DDR3 memory for my new rig and I'm hard pressed to see why that money isn't better put into other areas for improvement.

Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
 
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
the GPU should be on its own upgrade cycle, seperate from CPU+Mobo+ram...
So you can sell your current video card and get a 4800 ATI card TODAY.

with the CPU + Mobo + ram id wait a little longer for the P55 + i5... at the very least it should cause price drops across the board of whatever else you might want to buy.

4GB ram outperforms 2GB quite clearly... and already the price difference between those two is very small.

depending on your mobo, you might just be able to plop down a phenom2 into your current mobo + ram combo.