Upgrading from DDR2 800 to DDR3 1600

[perdomot]

I'm getting the new Win7 in October and was considering upgrading my mobo and ram. Currently running an AMD Phenom II X3 720BE in a 780G mobo with DDR2 800 ram. So far, prices are looking good for getting an AM3 mobo some ddr3 1600 ram but I'm wondering what kind of real world benefits I'd see from the transition. Most comparisons I've found are from 2007 and I'd like to get something more current. Most demanding thing I do is some video editing/encoding so I'm trying to find some charts/comparisons in an article. Anybody seen any? Thanks.

 

[Denithor]

Xbitlabs: No real performance improvements DDR2 -> DDR3

Anandtech: No real-world benefit from DDR3 vs DDR2

 

[perdomot]

Thanks for the feedback. I had seen the articles before but since they were from two years ago, I had hoped that something with the new DDR3 1600 modules had been done. Can't seem to find a recent comparison so perhaps Anandtech will do an updated review.

 

[Absolution75]

Tighter timings? That's about the only thing that will change with the ram itself. Tighter timings don't really show any noticible performance improvements either.

 

[Denithor]

Ask and you receive.

June 2009 recent enough for ya?

Looking at the first links I provided there were minimal differences between DDR2-1066 and DDR3-1066 (and the tighter timings of the DDR2 modules generally yielded minutely better performance).

In this second set of work you will see that DDR3-1600 is somewhat faster than the DDR3-1066.

Worth upgrading? Perhaps, but I would only do it if I had a way to easily resell the older board + RAM.

 

[perdomot]

One thing I noticed on the Xbitlabs article was the decrease in the Super Pi benchmark when you go from my current ram, DDR2 800 at 5-5-5-15 to DDR3 1333 at 7-7-7-18. I'm thinking this would indicate a decrease in encoding times especially if I get the DDR3 1600 ram. Am I incorrect in this assumption?

 

[perdomot]

Thanks again for the info Denithor. Would an AM3 rig benefit about the same amount? I think I've read that the Intel rigs benefit more than AMD.

 

[Denithor]

Intel used to benefit more from high-speed RAM than AMD because the memory controller was in the Northbridge instead of integrated into the CPU itself. Now that chips from both camps (i7 & PhII) have an IMC they both benefit about the same from faster memory - which is to say, minimal improvements at best.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade from AM2+/DDR2 to AM3/DDR3 simply to get a tiny speed boost from memory. If you want an upgrade for video encoding - get an upgrade - buy an X4/AM3/DDR3 and sell your current parts. The fourth core + speed boost will help far more in reducing encoding times than just switching to AM3/DDR3.

 

[perdomot]

Thanks again for the feedback. It confirms what I suspected about the AM2+ vs AM3 platforms. Right now, my main gripes with my current mobo are the limited number of sata ports and PCI slots. I figured I'd get the newer AM3 platform as there are a couple of mobos that fill my needs and I figure moving to AM3 would help with the upgrade path. Appreciate the help.