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Does DDR system memory make a difference?

B

bluemax

Diamond Member
At Crucial's site, PC-133 and DDR 2100 are almost the exact same price. I'm buying a new system, so this is the perfect time for me to move to DDR - provided it's worth my while. Do you really see a performance gain at all or is it just hooey?

What DDR-supporting boards are also cheap to purchase, but reliable for quality?
And added bonus is availability in Canada... :Q

I'm almost there folks... just need some more advice before I make the jump. 🙂 If there's no reason to get DDR, my choice is a lot easier. KT133A.
 
The EPoX EP-8K7A is a fast, tweakable and stable DDR board based on the AMD761 Northbridge. The MSI K7 Master is stabler, also based on the AMD761 Northbridge.

Now for availability in Canada...
 
See what I mean? That motherboard is $100 more than a decent KT133A board! It could be a lot worse, but it still bugs me that that $100 could go a long way elsewhere (like in video card, etc.)

How much improvement do you really get from DDR?
 
I'm beginning to think DDR may be a waste... is there any benchmarks of DDR mobos in action?
Is there really a difference or should I save $100+ and get a nice 133A board?
 
I'd suggest sticking with SDRAM if you can imagine better places for your money to go. I haven't read any recent reviews comparing SDRAM with DDR-SDRAM, but as far as I recall, at most there is a 15% speed improvment, and most of the time it is much lower than that.

Personally, I decided to go with DDR for my recent upgrade. I bought a Soltek SL-75DRV from NCIX, and it has served me well. I had some problems with my system origonally, but I think I've narrowed them down, and they are not motherboard related (heat as far as I'm aware the Volcano III just doesn't seem to work well enough for overclocking).
 
Currently the only improvement with DDR has been seen with the AMD 761 chipset and it was only about a 10% improvement. SiS has a new chipset called 735 coming out that showed an even better improvement and nForce should be out later this year hopefully showing an even better improvement. If you can get the memory and motherboard for about the same price (Epox) then I say go for it, because the DDR is where the industry is going so if you are going to want to use the memory for any length of time, it would be the better way to go. Also if you can wait for either of the upcoming chipsets, do that!
 
Here are some Benchmarks
Sisomft Sandra
Memory
ALU 730
CPU 940

Cpu
ALU 4259
CPU 2138

Multimedia
interger 8475
floating point 10,629

3Dmarks 2000 10,422
3dMarks 2001 6192
 


<< The EPoX EP-8K7A is a fast, tweakable and stable DDR board based on the AMD761 Northbridge. The MSI K7 Master is stabler, also based on the AMD761 Northbridge.

Now for availability in Canada... >>




I beg to differ. The Msi is not more stable then the Epox. I know because I had both. The Msi had some issues when I had it. Maybe a bios update fixed a few things, but I havn't had any problems with the Epox.



Jason
 
I'll say it again, pay - not everyone is American, or can get products from American suppliers. I also have a different currency. 😉

Because it's new and supply is low, the CANADIAN price of the DDR motherboards mentioned on AMD's site are all almost $100CDN more. that $100 could almost pay for a Radeon LE! I think the K?133A is the best way to go, since apparently DDR does very little.

If/When my associate at nVidia allows me to review an &quot;nForce&quot; board, I'll have a reason to go DDR. 😉

I hope memory stays cheap. :Q
 
Well with ddr memory the performance increase percentages raise a lot when your cpu is faster. Once cpus get over a certain level performance will depend more on memory. You may see a 10 percent increase in performance with a 1ghz cpu and then maybe a 25 percent increase with a 1.5 ghz cpu. Dont quote me on those percentages because Im just trying to give you an idea.
 


<< ..I'm buying a new system..... >>



Then you should go w/ DDR.



<< ...Do you really see a performance gain at all or is it just hooey.... >>



hmm......it is like asking if you can see differences between 1Ghz CPU vs 1.4Ghz..maybe not? Since we all still using 32bit OS.
My 3DMark2001 jump 450 points by going to DDR, but do I notice the differences? ABSOLUTELY NOT!



<< ...should I save $100+ and get a nice 133A board.. >>


That might also depends on which DDR board you are interested in, right?
I dump my EpoX 8KTA3 just to try FIC AD11, and I LOVE it. (Cost me extra US$10 compare to brand new 8KTA3, you might want to check your Canadian website)
 
<<I beg to differ. The Msi is not more stable then the Epox. I know because I had both. The Msi had some issues when I had it. Maybe a bios update fixed a few things, but I havn't had any problems with the Epox.>>

No, no, no, I beg to differ. First of all, you have had only one experience of each board, if you used a thousand of each then you probably have a point. Second, every review of the K7 Master I have read mentioned its stability, MSI defines stability, and it wont change no matter how hard you try. Im not saying the Epox isnt stable, but I dont think you're in position to declare who's more or less stable than the other.
 
For those of you with DDR boards: does the fact that most DDR boards only have 2 DIMM slots concern you at all? Do you think that RAM (amount of, not bandwidth of) could become a big bottleneck in the future, in which case it would be more difficult to upgrade the RAM of the DDR boards because they only have 2 slots?
 
Based on my experience with Gigabyte 7ZX and MSI K7T Pro2-A, the Gigabyte was far more stable and ran without a glitch. The MSI gave me quite a few headaches.
 
&quot;The EPoX EP-8K7A is a fast, tweakable and stable DDR board based on the AMD761 Northbridge. The MSI K7 Master is stabler, also based on the AMD761 Northbridge.&quot;

I would like to see some tests that show the MSI being more stable. I think before you deem one board or the other as &quot;more stable&quot; you should try to back this up with hard data..not just your opinion. I will agree with LXi however, in that MSI boards are usually very stable, but that also comes at the price of speed a lot of the time. I think both boards are nice, and both are stable. If one or the other is &quot;more stable&quot;, so be it, but back it up with some data. Have you even used either of those boards?
 
&quot;For those of you with DDR boards: does the fact that most DDR boards only have 2 DIMM slots concern you at all? Do you think that RAM (amount of, not bandwidth of) could become a big bottleneck in the future, in which case it would be more difficult to upgrade the RAM of the DDR boards because they only have 2 slots? &quot;

Nah, I'm not worried. I don't think anytime soon I will need any more than 512mb for a home system. Also, by the time I do, I either will have a DDR board with more than two slots, or 512mb DDR DIMM's will be more common and less expensive.
 
if you look in my rigs page (pc list link at the bottom) you can see my &quot;old&quot; system and my new system specs (old little bastard and new big bastard, respectively). as you can see, i made the move to ddr. honestly, other than bragging rights (which i had with my friends with my old system anyway) there is not really a &quot;seat of the pants&quot; difference, with the exception of some specific programs. for example, flask divx encoder loves the extra 450mhz (i don't know how much of a difference the ram makes), photoshop feels a little snappier manipulating big files, a seti work unit takes much less time (again, mostly cpu there)...basically some memory hogs like the bandwidth...it's only worth it to have a system that will be current down the road, needing only a cpu swap (down the road means Q1 2002 😀)

oh, and i agree with insane3d about the 512meg limit. i had 512megs in my last system and unless i purpoesly tried to use more i never did in &quot;real world&quot; useage...by the time i need more i will have upgraded twice already...
 


<< <<I beg to differ. The Msi is not more stable then the Epox. I know because I had both. The Msi had some issues when I had it. Maybe a bios update fixed a few things, but I havn't had any problems with the Epox.>>

No, no, no, I beg to differ. First of all, you have had only one experience of each board, if you used a thousand of each then you probably have a point. Second, every review of the K7 Master I have read mentioned its stability, MSI defines stability, and it wont change no matter how hard you try. Im not saying the Epox isnt stable, but I dont think you're in position to declare who's more or less stable than the other. >>




NM. I'm not even going to waste my time on you again.
Jason
 
Here is a canadian website for you bluemax, another is here and also here and here not sure if any of them have the parts that you are looking for but it is a start. Oh and I think that you can find the motherboard here
 
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