P4 DDR vs Rambus

[Rb5614]

Looking for some comparisons of the P4 DDR vs the P4 Rambus. Has anyone some thoughts on this? Is this going to better or worse for gaming with a P4? Thanks ahead of time for any help.

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Ahh...

Rambus is faster than DDR by far... unless you OC a P4m like THUGSROOK did. Only then will DDR be faster.
But the price/performance ratio says go with DDR. You will notice no difference unless you run programs such as SETI or the like.

 

[tapir]

Dual channel DDR and PC1066 Rambus (either 32 bit or 16 bit dualchanneled) are approximately the same in terms of performance. You can get more DRAM for your $ with DCDDR however. For DCDDR the motherboards are more expensive, around $200 but the DRAM is quite cheap - $70 a stick of 512 for PC2100, would be $340 for the whole deal.

With RDRAM you pay only about $150, maybe $130 if you go cheap for the mobo. However 256MB RDRAM is $80, and that's pushing it. So you would pay $130 + 80x2 for 512MB (total $290) or $130 + 80x4 for 1024MB (total $450).

Choice is yours.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper
Ahh...

Rambus is faster than DDR by far... unless you OC a P4m like THUGSROOK did. Only then will DDR be faster.
But the price/performance ratio says go with DDR. You will notice no difference unless you run programs such as SETI or the like.

now, i agree with you to an extent.. but how you say it makes it seem like you are a RAMBUS sales rep... RAMBUS IS NOT THAT much faster... you just gotta buy the right DDR memory and a chipset to match.
and the extra speed gain you MIGHT get from PC1066 is not noticeable in every day use.
so from a cost standpoint, DDR is a no brainer in my opinion.. and it has a far better upgrade path.

 

[DukeChestnut]

i have a:

Soltek p4x400 with 512mb Mushkin pc-2700 CAS 2
and i also have my trusty
Asus P4T-E with 1gb Mushkin pc-800

and let me just say that the P4T-E is by far the fastest and smoothest in anything/everything i run. it just makes no sense how a chipset and memory setup that doesn't utilize the bandwidth of the cpu could be more faster than one that does. if you OC then that's a diff story but stock i'd hafta say that the rdram setups are superior right now. i gave my p4x400 rig to my gf and i'm sticking with my P4T-E.

 

[highmind89]

Though I've never used Rambus, I'm pretty confident that DDR is the way to go. In Sandra, my mem benchmarks equaled or surpassed 1066RDRAM, even before OCing. Intel also appears to be backing away from Rambus, so buying a DDR board now (and a high-end stick of DDR) will allow you to use your memory in future boards. I also emphasize that quality DOES matter in memory, and I'm very pleased with my Corsair.

 

[Ketchup]

Get an Abit IT7. Run your DDR at a 3:4 ratio. Your system will be as fast or faster than a system with RAMBUS (due to latencies involved when running dual-channel Rambus). You will have saved money, and you will be able to re-use your DDR in the future when no one else supports RDRAM.

I verified this with a frind of mine who has a very similar setup, except he has a Gigabyte board and PC1066 RDRAM. I can also overclock much higher than he can (which gives me an even greater performance advantage) because RDRAM doesn't overclock really well, and most i850E boards do not have the AGP/PCI lock function.

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: DukeChestnut
i have a:

Soltek p4x400 with 512mb Mushkin pc-2700 CAS 2
and i also have my trusty
Asus P4T-E with 1gb Mushkin pc-800

and let me just say that the P4T-E is by far the fastest and smoothest in anything/everything i run. it just makes no sense how a chipset and memory setup that doesn't utilize the bandwidth of the cpu could be more faster than one that does. if you OC then that's a diff story but stock i'd hafta say that the rdram setups are superior right now. i gave my p4x400 rig to my gf and i'm sticking with my P4T-E.

The P4X400 sucks. Get a board based on the Intel chipset (wouldn't that be a more fair comparison anyway?), and you won't notice a difference.

 

[DukeChestnut]

The P4X400 sucks. Get a board based on the Intel chipset (wouldn't that be a more fair comparison anyway?), and you won't notice a difference.

true, true. i fell into the via trap... yet again

anyway, i was thinking about getting a P4PE but i read how ppl were not happy with the onboard features. i'm pretty much disenchanted with buying anything right now.

 

[Booter]

Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper
Ahh...

Rambus is faster than DDR by far... unless you OC a P4m like THUGSROOK did. Only then will DDR be faster.
But the price/performance ratio says go with DDR. You will notice no difference unless you run programs such as SETI or the like.

No, SiS655 (fastest P4 chipset) with DDR has proven to be faster at default speeds in basically all reviews and all benchmarks.

 

[Duvie]

I agree...The guy in the first response was pretty vague with his answer....

Facts as they stand today...in the real world!!!

Single channel DDR versus pc1066 = rdram wins....However look in reviews where pc1066 versus ddr 333 of the i845pe chipsets and ddr 266 of the i845d chipsets did (both non cpu oc'd) and you will see that in a majority of the apps the difference can be from 3-8% difference...with ofcourse nice synthetic benchmarks like sissoft showing 29% increase though it doesn't translate to real world....


Dual channel DDR versus pc1066 = toss-up...Granite bay is within the neglible range and sis655 actually beat the rdram pc1066 in majority of test I saw albeit again very neglible....


Throw in cost of DDR ram versus rdram, and look at 112 dollars for sis655 chipset and DCDDR mobo with sis655 (non ocing) is the no brainer.....


NOw the sis658 can be the savior for the rdram platform, but its timetable is uncertain and how much manufacturer support it may actually get...remember Intel is no longer supporting it....

 

[Rb5614]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. My new computer will be sure to have some DDR action going on and should be a gaming monster. Thanks again.