Is DDR worth upgrading to?

[SickBeast]

Hey guys,

I'm currently running an athlon 1333 on a kt133a board (133mhz pc133 sdram). I'm wondering if I would notice an improvement in gaming performance on my system if I was to upgrade to 333mhz DDR ram. I'm currently scoring 8300 in 3dmark 2001 with my radeon 8500.

--dave.

 

[o1die]

I don't think you will notice that much improvement. I would start saving for opteron, and sell your old rig and start over when the time is right.

 

[MCS]

If you are planning a change of motherboard anyway, then DDR is the only way to go. However, I wouldn't say it's worth upgrading JUST to get DDR.

 

[jaybee]

Upgrading to DDR would give you probably less than a 10% bump for most apps. However, one thing I have noticed with overclocked systems (especially at high cpu freqs) is a higher fsb seems to be a big help. How high can you run the fsb on your kt133a? I'm guessing 145 or so is the max. It's easier to overclock the fsb with DDR -- as long as it's better than PC2100.

Anyway, I agree with o1die -- you're better off upgrading the whole system: cpu, mobo, ram, and vid card (should get a great card for a good price in Q4).

jaybee

 

[kgraeme]

To give you an idea:

Athlon 1GHz + Radeon64 + 384MB PC133: 3217 3DMark
P4 2.1GHz + Radeon64 + 256MB DDR333: 2896 3DMark
P4 2.4GHz + Radeon64 + 512 MB DDR333: 4042 3DMark

Yes, the 1GHz Athlon system could actually outscore the 2.1GHz P4.

 

[SickBeast]

That's really interesting that the Athlon 1000 beats out the P4...
Anyhow to answer your question jaybee, I am currently running at 153mhz FSB. I think I'm just going to hold off until hammer arrives. And as for the video card wars, as soon as R9700 costs $200 or less I'm buying one.

--dave

 

[Athlon4all]

Yea you'd notice a difference on KT266A. Mite be worth it.