Socket M2 Benefits

[Penth]

So everyone who visits this site knows that AMD will be moving to DDR2 with Socket M2 next year. As far as I know, DDR2 offers increased bandwidth at the expensve of higher latency. But recently there was an article about using DDR500 and the increased bandwidth offered very little performance increase in most usage scenarios. Is it very likely that the switch to higher latency-higher bandwidth DDR2 on M2 will actually increase performance all that much?

I ask because I'm considering going with an X2 3800+ and would possibly consider holding off until M2 if there should be major advantages.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Upgradability for the future. 😉

I'll wait till it comes out before I develop my own opinions.

 

[anarchyreigns]

M2 will be short lived. You're better off skipping it and waiting unitl DDR3 comes out in 2007.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: anarchyreigns
M2 will be short lived. You're better off skipping it and waiting unitl DDR3 comes out in 2007.

All of the A64 sockets have been shortlived.

Without seeing benchmarks on the new socket and not having any definite specs on it, its hard to say whether it will be worth it or not.

At present, the A64s benefit more from having lower latencies more than they benefit from having higher bandwidth. Perhaps as the multicore A64s become more common in their lineup, the extra bandwidth will become more necessary.

 

[w00t]

your comp should be able to hold off for awile.

edit: is m2 gonna be like s754?

 

[Some1ne]

Right now benchmarks show that DDR and DDR2 are essentially the same in terms of performance. Of course, the problem is that the only DDR2 support currently available is for Intel systems, which do not use an integrated memory controller like AMD chips do. So, if AMD's integrated DDR2 controller outperforms Intel's chipset-based solution by the same margin that AMD's integrated DDR controller does, then it might offer a bit of an advantage when socket M2 comes out. On the other hand, if the integrated DDR2 controller only performs about the same as current chipset-based solutions, there really won't be much benefit to using an M2 board in terms of performance. I personally wouldn't hold out for an M2 board right now, and would instead just build a socket 939 system...DDR performs good enough.

 

[Topweasel]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: anarchyreigns
M2 will be short lived. You're better off skipping it and waiting unitl DDR3 comes out in 2007.

All of the A64 sockets have been shortlived.

Without seeing benchmarks on the new socket and not having any definite specs on it, its hard to say whether it will be worth it or not.

At present, the A64s benefit more from having lower latencies more than they benefit from having higher bandwidth. Perhaps as the multicore A64s become more common in their lineup, the extra bandwidth will become more necessary.

Please explain. 754 is still running great you can even get a 3700+ from that, and anyone who purchased it a while back had to know that it was going to be replaced by 939. 939 when it is replaced will have been alive for 2 years and will have at least a year of upgrades before it dies making it about 3 years old That is long for any socket. 940 is already 3 years old when it is replaced it will be 4 years old. AMD has been completely against constant changing of its sockets and has done a great job so far in my mind. Look at the new intel, 4 months old and people are already having o change the boards just to get the newest CPUs even though they use the same pin configuration.

 

[Cerb]

DDR-II 667 is almost mainstream, and 800 isn't far off, nor 1066.
So, move to DDR-II. Performance at 800MHz and up should be slightly better than all but the highest-speed DDR, but even so, we're talking <5% in most cases. The big issue is not to allow s939 to have DDR-II. Think about this:
It's a year or two in the future, and you've got a 939 chip. So you get a 939 mobo, and it uses DDR-II. Plug it in, and it doesn't work. Oh, it's too old!

Solution: new socket to keep it all straightened out. If socket support remains good, like with s462 and s754, then there won't be any trouble.

We were all a bit afraid of the 939 move, partly because of how Intel dropped 423 like a rock and basically forgot it existed. However, if the support is like s754 and s939 now, where the 754 drop-out is gradual (you can still get good s754 boards now--it's just worth going to s939 if you've got the money), then all will be well.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

The only gain I see from DDR2 is lower voltage use, allowing for slightly less power consumption in laptops...

 

[anarchyreigns]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: anarchyreigns
M2 will be short lived. You're better off skipping it and waiting unitl DDR3 comes out in 2007.

All of the A64 sockets have been shortlived.

You're right, but what I meant, more precisely, is that DDR2 is only going to have a short life in the AMD world. It's not going to have the long run that DDR had, as DDR3 is due some time in 2007.