Is DDR3 here to stay for a while?

[BD2003]

Been a while since I've been considering building a new system. All of my current systems are Core 2 era, and run on DDR2. I tend to swap a lot of parts around, and I'm heavily invested in DDR2 right now.

Its at the point where to upgrade my most powerful system, a 2.8ghz C2D on a P965 board, I'll basically have to start from scratch and buy all new components.

Will sandy bridge, fusion, or any other upcoming architectures require DDR4 or something new? Or will DDR3 stick around for few more years at the high end?

 

[jjmIII]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM

 

[Rifter]

Im pretty sure that sandy and fusion will be DDR3. As for the next top end sockets i think it will depend if they are released in 2011 or 2012. If 2011 they will probably be DDR3, if 2012 i think they will be DDR4. Hopefully we get one more top end DDR3 socket, that would be cool.

 

[maniac5999]

Another thing to remember is that AMD has a much better track record of cross-compatability than intel. AMD introduced the AM2 socket for DDR2 RAM, and even the newest Thuban x6 will slot into it if the BIOS supports it. (Bulldozer will finally drop AM2 support) Intel has a habit of switching sockets and RAM support at the drop of a hat. (in less than 3 a three year period they are going to go through 5 sockets: 775, 1366, 1155, 1156, 2011) depending on the board LGA 775 can be DDR2 or DDR3, but never both.

The moral of the story is that if you want to go AMD, you can expect greater cross compatability than intel, but if you go intel in the high end you can currently get parts that blow AMD away... Tomorrow, however you might be looking to replace many more parts than an AMD system to keep up.

 

[cbn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR4_SDRAM

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory...ion_DDR4_Memory_to_Reach_4_266GHz_Report.html

Some more information to add to that.

 

[RebateMonger]

Wow. Five years to mass transitiion to DDR4. That's OK with me....I haven't even bought any DDR3 yet.

 

[Sahakiel]

Well, think back to how long it took each memory standard to entrench itself. Then consider how long it takes processor development to bottleneck at the memory bus.
Basically, even if DDR4 somehow makes it to market availability in 2012, I wouldn't expect it to become a significant factor in any system I build until about mid-2014 or 2015 if not later.

Since high end systems drop to midrange or below after about 2 years, I wouldn't worry about DDR4 forcing your new high end system into obsolescence. The biggest problem is new sockets coming out basically dead-ending any new build to what's currently available.

 

[kalniel]

I'm still running DDR :$

Pricing seems to be an inverted parabola though - starts off high, drops down lots as it becomes mainstream, then goes back up again when it's out of fashion and harder to find. If you buy at the right times then upgrading to the next RAM technology doesn't cost you too much.

 

[anishannayya]

Hell yea. I'm a fan of the incremental upgrade idea. Typically that entails upgrading the GPU every 2 years. You can usually squeeze 4 years out of a CPU, mobo, and RAM. That's when I'll get rid of it, and that's when DDR4 will come out. Actually, I haven't built a system running DDR3 yet, but plan to soon. My other machine is only 2 years old, but I was offered $900 from a friend for it. Since I only paid $1,100 + recently grabbed an SSD + 5770, I jumped at the offer. I get to keep the SSD. Will be leaving my house tomorrow My next powerful desktop is a old machine running a p4

The other components (monitor, HDD, PSU, mouse, etc.) you just upgrade whenever you need or feel like.