DDR333 vs RDRAM PC 1066

[MarthaStewart]

ok i need your opinions on this subject since this is a major fork in the road as far as mobo's are concerned:

ddr has support from intel, yet the ddr333 kind is not officially supported by intel yet but it will be for sure. pc1066 has potential for greater performance but could become extinct if not offically supported by Intel, which it sounds like it wont be. what gives and which road is the best bet for a gamer who would like to upgrade throughout the next few years. ddr mobo or rdram mobo?

 

[VC15]

By the time RDram is extinct you will need a new motherboard and CPU anyway, so i for one ordered an Asus P4T533-C board and Kingston RDram.

 

[Athlon4all]

Go RDRAM. 845G is very competitve, but a top quality 850 board that does PC1066 and 533fsb (Abit TH7II) is actually cheaper than Abit's own BG7 845G board at Newegg. And RAM prices are very close as well. This board should support all future Northwood P4's that use a 533fsb (which will go up to at least 3.06GHz), plus it shoudl support the latest next gen vid cards (ie Parhelia, NV30, R300)

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: Athlon4all
...but a top quality 850 board that does PC1066 and 533fsb (Abit TH7II)

The Abit TH7II does not officially support the 533MHz FSB! Though some boards may reach that speed, in general, it is fairly unlikely, because they are not equipped with the proper clock generators. Unless you want to solder newer ones on yourself, I suggest you buy an i850E board (such as the Asus P4T533-C), and leave the uncertainty out of the situation, since no vendor is selling TH7II boards guaranteed to run at 533MHz FSB (unless you want to buy a bundle).

 

[MarthaStewart]

thanks for the info guys

 

[Athlon4all]

The Abit TH7II does not officially support the 533MHz FSB! Though some boards may reach that speed, in general, it is fairly unlikely, because they are not equipped with the proper clock generators. Unless you want to solder newer ones on yourself, I suggest you buy an i850E board (such as the Asus P4T533-C), and leave the uncertainty out of the situation, since no vendor is selling TH7II boards guaranteed to run at 533MHz FSB (unless you want to buy a bundle).

Yes TH7II does not offically, but I have yet to see a single case that didn't run successfully at 533fsb (provided the CPU could run at that speed). The reason I suggest TH7II cause its cheaper than even Intel's D850EMV2 board, and P4T533-C.

 

[Tom]

I've also been looking at the TH7II, particularly since it's gotten significantly cheaper. I started a topic about it before I noticed this thread which is kind of about the same subject if you're interested.

THREAD

 

[Acer]

Is this the famous TV personality Martha Stewart that we all see on TV?? Sorry for asking a personal question, but my curiosity just peaked like your interest in DDR or Rdram.

My understanding, Intel is not supporting it but they would be crazy to let them die on the dance floor since they, Rambus, brought Intel to the dance. You know the saying! hehehehe

Rdram will keep you ahead of the pack in memory bandwidth. DDR is trying to catch up through better chipsets. The cost differential is small right now. Competition is what keeping it there!

Good talking to you even if you are maybe not that famous person.

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: Athlon4all
Yes TH7II does not offically, but I have yet to see a single case that didn't run successfully at 533fsb (provided the CPU could run at that speed).

Actually, I have seen several cases where the TH7II's clockgen's can't reach 533MHz FSB speed over at the www.overclockers.com forums. It's just luck of the draw as to whether or not you get the right PLL's.

Here's my verdict of RDRAM vs. DDR--go RDRAM.

#1. 32ns PC1066 is significantly faster than DDR333.

#2. High Density DDR333 CL2 modules cost a lot. (512MB)

#3. RDRAM scales well. As the P4 reaches higher and higher clock speeds, DDR333 and even DDR400 will become bottlenecks. RDRAM offers room to grow, because it runs at the same speed as the bus.

Just as a disclaimer, I own a 2.53GHz P4 w/ 1GB of 32ns PC1066 RDRAM. I have to say, it is so fast that I couldn't stop jumping for joy the first couple of days I had it (I upgraded from a 600MHz PIII). I think that the main issue for me was that as the Pentium 4 gets faster and faster, that any DDR RAM that I bought would hold it back. RDRAM has lasted for a long time, and even though Intel will not be making any more RDRAM chipsets, I think it will continue to perform quite competitively. If you look back at the people who bought the first Intel i845D chipsets w/ DDR266, it appeared that the performance deficit was not too great. However, as the Pentium 4 grew faster, the discrepancy between the i850 w/ PC800 and the i845 grew as well.

RDRAM is faster and has a longer shelf life than DDR. I don't think you can go wrong with 32ns PC1066.