Should I worry about DDR3?

[AndyD2k]

Hoping to build a new machine in July. I'm thinking about going with the Asus Blitz Formula board that should be available by then. My only concern is that I will be spending quite a bit on a motherboard that will not be future proof.

What benefits will I see with DDR 3 that makes it important? I like the idea of the MSI P35 Platinum where it both supports DDR 2 and DDR 3 - I just prefer Asus over all due to prior experience. I also like what I've read about prior boards in this series

 

[bigsnyder]

DDR2 will be around for long while, even when DDR3 picks up more steam. Even regular DDR is still around at decent prices.
As much as I like the idea of a combo board, I think ultimately for me that it would be a wasted feature.

 

[masteraleph]

Originally posted by: AndyD2k
What benefits will I see with DDR 3 that makes it important?

At least for the moment, you won't, really.

See this article for more info.

It is very possible that eventually DDR3 will improve on the latencies, which might make it somewhat faster. You also may be able to overclock it in the future. However, if you like leaving it at stock speeds, then considering that the boards won't officially support anything higher than DDR3/1333 anyways, it's not really worth it.l

 

[aka1nas]

Realistically, it will probably be 18 months or so before DDR3 is fast enough to be desirable and won't also be horrendously expensive.

You really can't future proof your purchase, just buy what meeds your needs and your wallet and don't sweat it. If you go with DDR2, you probably won't be able to get anything bigger than 2GB sticks for it ever, which means 4GB total easily or 8GB if you want to deal with a 4 stick setup. Even on a 64-bit platform, it's tough to actually use more than 4GB of RAM at this time as there are so few 64-bit apps out yet.

 

[n7]

Considering DDR2's amazing pricing, & the very high prices on DDR3 for the next long while, no.

Once again, it looks like AMD won't be using DDR3 for a while, & although they likely have less market power than when they transitioned from s939 (DDR) to AM2 (DDR2), you might remember how it took till then for DDR2 to really explode as a viable option IMO.

 

[AndyD2k]

Thanks for the info guys. I really was concerned about going with a DDR 2 board but, yeah, I doubt I'll get any sort of advantage any time soon by going with DDR3 (I'm sure I'll be paying premium just for the privilege as well)

 

[Pwntcomputer]

One more little tidbit. If you are considering Penryn, X38 (high end intel board) WILL accept DDR2. With PCI 2.0, you will be safe as you can be for at least a little while. I have been suggesting that people wait for Penryn 45nm Quads to compensate for the fact that the 65s run extremely warm. I believe these chips will much better OCers. Just my $.02

DDR3 is insanely expensive and will offer little, if any, gain over even Low latency DDR2. Even when DDR3 reaches DDR2 latencies, the difference in performance will maybe 5% Max? I have also read that DDR3 is currently running hotter than higher volt DDR2.

Good luck!

 

[Cheex]

Simply put....NO!! :thumbsdown:

 

[AndyD2k]

Originally posted by: Pwntcomputer
One more little tidbit. If you are considering Penryn, X38 (high end intel board) WILL accept DDR2. With PCI 2.0, you will be safe as you can be for at least a little while. I have been suggesting that people wait for Penryn 45nm Quads to compensate for the fact that the 65s run extremely warm. I believe these chips will much better OCers. Just my $.02

DDR3 is insanely expensive and will offer little, if any, gain over even Low latency DDR2. Even when DDR3 reaches DDR2 latencies, the difference in performance will maybe 5% Max? I have also read that DDR3 is currently running hotter than higher volt DDR2.

Good luck!

I'm not really concerned about overclocking to be honest. But when should I expect Penryn and the x38 boards? Looks like the chipset was just announced...this is expected in the fall?

 

[AndyD2k]

http://www.techenclave.com/for...et-surfaces-92185.html

Early 2008? Not sure if I want to wait that long

 

[tcsenter]

P35 is already shipping, which is the successor to P965. X38 will be the successor to 975X. P35 boards supporting DDR2-1066 are already available, even though Intel doesn't "officially" support beyond DDR2-800. I believe NVIDIA boards are available that support DDR2-1066 as well.

 

[AndyD2k]

X38 is what I was referring to. Anyone know when we can expect the boards? Is it Penryn that we should be expecting in 2008 but the boards this summer?

 

[Skott]

I'm thinking P38 this summer. Late summer actually is my feeling. Penryn more like Fall/Winter. Thats just me guessing though. If Penryn is ready Intel will want to get it out before AMD gets their quads out.

 

[AndyD2k]

I want to build around crysis - I can wait till that's released but definitely not till 2008. If not, I may go with the Asus P35 Blitz Formula board (if its around $350)