Is DDR SDRAM just a myth?

[Felecha]

I'm looking forward to building my first computer over Christmas break. I'm reading up on stuff so I can make the good choices on components, looking for places to buy the right stuff at the right price, etc. I'm reading about the new AMD 760, and there's all this talk about DDR and its performance boosts, and I look out on the net to see what it would cost, expecting it will be too expensive to consider, but then, after all, now is the time, and I can work my way out of debt, maybe -- there's room on the card. But ....!!! I can't seem to find anywhere that it's sold, and I've checked dozens of sites from a Yahoo search. Any leads? And if, say, 256MB of PC133 CAS2 ECC is going to run $300 - $350 , what would be the performance difference to make it worth whatever the DDR might actually cost? I see references to "5% to 20%" improvement, but is that improvement in the RAM's performance, or overall system improvement? I could spend some extra money depending on what I thought I could get for it.

 

[Adul]

Crucial memory

You can find DDR here.

MB should be out by the end of the month. NO its now a myth either. Go and see anand's review on it on the front page.

 

[Adul]

http://www.crucial.com/ddr/order.asp

prices here. 143 for a 128 MB stick. 256 MB stick aren't out yet.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Also, DDR SDRAM is not expected to carry too big of a premium over PC133 SDRAM. I believe that PC1600 RAM (200MHz DDR) should be roughly equal in price to PC 133 SDRAM and that PC2100 (266MHz DDR) should only carry a premium of about 5%-10% in price.

Aaron Meyer

 

[Zeeliv]

Just thought I'd mention, you don't need ECC at all.

 

[Felecha]

Well, this is great. It's not much more than what I've seen as the best prices for the PC133SDRAM. So, motherboards will still be a while, I guess. I've been looking at boards in the $175 range, wanting to get an Athlon in the 900 range (maybe if I wait another month the 1GB will be affordable, so I won't be left wishing I'd gone just a little further to get the prized 1-gig badge). Sounds like it would be worth the wait? Seems like this is one of the major upgrades in the road.

 

[NFS4]

<< Also, DDR SDRAM is not expected to carry too big of a premium over PC133 SDRAM. I believe that PC1600 RAM (200MHz DDR) should be roughly equal in price to PC 133 SDRAM and that PC2100 (266MHz DDR) should only carry a premium of about 5%-10% in price. >>


64MB PC133 - $29
128MB PC133 - $54
256MB PC133 - $118

64MB PC1600 - $72
64MB PC1600 Registered - $96
128MB PC1600 - $138


64MB PC2100 - $79
128MB PC2100 - $144

 

[Buddha Bart]

those are pricewatch prices, i hate it when people quote those, they mean so little.

the difference is much less.

bart

 

[noxipoo]

$54 for 128meg pc133? where they dig up that generic crap? wait till more than 2 places have DDR ram before quoting please

 

[FordLorider]

well prices were basically the same as SDRAM up until recently

 

[Felecha]

I got the ECC thing from AMD's Athlon configuration specs -- it was &quot;recommended&quot;, not &quot;mandatory&quot;.

http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon/pdf/quick_ref_faq.pdf

 

[NFS4]

<< 54 for 128meg pc133? where they dig up that generic crap? >>


It may be Generic, but you can get Micron PC133 128MB for $75. That's still a BIG difference.

 

[Zeeliv]

ECC is useful for things like corp servers that handle huge databases. It's not a thing someone building a comp for home needs at all.

And NFS4, it's like comparing that V5 6000 price (the person who was saying one place had it for some outrageous price like $1200) to existing available video cards. There's one vendor that really isn't even selling them...

Once it hits all the normal channels there will be very little price difference.

 

[Noriaki]

Don't go ECC RAM...it's more expensive and slower.
It's got error correction codes in it so that's it's less likely to get transmission errors...but unless you are in mission critical it's not worth the extra price and speed drop...

As for DDR being worth it, it depends entirely what you do.
As I'm so fond of quoting from AT's Duron 800 vs Athlon 1200 article, the difference in quake3 is 2fps at 1024x768x32. It's all video card.

If you're a gamer I wouldn't worry about DDR for main system RAM too much..(unelss you game at 640x480x16....)
If it's not much more expensive then it might be worth it...but wait a few weeks see the price tags on DDR and AMD760 boards.
I've got an AMD750 board and 128MB of RAM. I'm going to crank on my Athlon 550 a bit. I'm also going to pick up 256MB more RAM cheap from a guy that's going DDR...*shrugs* IMHO it's not worth it. I might pick up a slotA TBird in the 800-900Mhz range if my 550 won't overclock well...but I'm not going new board &amp; RAM for at least 6 months
Find some sucker that's going DDR and pick up his SDR cheap

 

[Felecha]

In any case, the DDR is not unaffordable at all. So, now that there are sop many people in on this one, where's the place to go for it? I generally sense that there are real differences in quality, and price will go with that, but there are different sites, too. I did check out Cricial, and they had 128 for $159. Is that a dependable name? I expect generic is a no-no if I'm spending that much overall?

 

[Adul]

You take your chances with generic. If it goes bad and the waranty isnt all that long, then your out some memory. Thats why i just stick with the named brand stuff.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Ah, NSF4, of course there's going to be a price difference like that during the transitional stage. But, Zemmervolt is probably right from all reports when he says &quot;that PC1600 RAM (200MHz DDR) should be roughly equal in price to PC 133 SDRAM and that PC2100 (266MHz DDR) should only carry a premium of about 5%-10% in price&quot;. once its taken off.

This is because, unlike RDRAM, DDR-SDRAM is made using the same process as ordinary SDRAM, even the dies are virtually the same, consequently once economies of scale kicks in they'l cost virtually the same as normal SDRAM.

Also, one should take into account that all DDR sticks will have a cas latency of 2.5 or faster (that's in the specs), &amp; mostly they'l have CL of 2.

 

[Vegito]

Dont forget to add 50 bucks for shipping on a $28 dollar stick from pricewatch...

Crucial = Micron... one of the top notch memory manufactures..

 

[NFS4]

<< Dont forget to add 50 bucks for shipping on a $28 dollar stick from pricewatch... >>


Actually, it is $10