DDR or DDR2?

[tagfat]

I run a Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA/ D805 combo with two sticks of DDR. Im rebuilding my old system (Barton 2500/Asus Nforce3) and need a stick of ram for that. I can either just buy DDR or i can get some DDR2 for the new system and use the then redundant DDR from there, but i have no idea if upgrading to DDR2 means anything in terms of performance.

Suggestions and references are welcome.

 

[htoonthura]

I run a Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA/ D805 combo with two sticks of DDR. Im rebuilding my old system (Barton 2500/Asus Nforce3) and need a stick of ram for that. I can either just buy DDR or i can get some DDR2 for the new system and use the then redundant DDR from there, but i have no idea if upgrading to DDR2 means anything in terms of performance.

Suggestions and references are welcome.

Hello

You need to use ddr 2. not ddr. Look for low latency memories.

Bye.

 

[Spiv]

If the board supports DDR2 (it is a different slot than DDR) then go for it. It is a tad faster overall, and there are no new systems now using DDR, so it makes sense to get DDR2, which should be around for at least a year or two until DDR3 gets popular.

 

[Sunburn]

...it makes sense to get DDR2, which should be around for at least a year or two until DDR3 gets popular.

By "get popular" we mean "moboards exist that can use it," yah? Or is it backward compatible with DDR2 240-pin slots?

IMO DDR3 = price drop in the ddr2 I'm going to buy, not a reason to run screaming to newegg, madly fumbling for my credit card.

I refuse to jump at every chance to blow hundreds of dollars. Especially with this industry. Full of liars, idiots, and fools who don't know they're lying. By this I mean America Online, Ageia PhysX, and Dell. That's just to start naming names.

 

[thetanman]

I'm running that same mobo with an E6600 and my old DDR 266 and it runs fine so far if you have to migrate old ram for the time being. If you're buying new ram, I wouldn't go with anything slower than pc-4200 (533 chips) just so it will be relevant a while. DON'T buy new DDR. I've listed wikipedia's references for DDR and DDR2 below to give some perspective to the speed/bandwidth differences.
DDR
* PC-1600: DDR-SDRAM memory module specified to operate at 100 MHz using DDR-200 chips, 1.600 GByte/s bandwidth
* PC-2100: DDR-SDRAM memory module specified to operate at 133 MHz using DDR-266 chips, 2.133 GByte/s bandwidth
* PC-2700: DDR-SDRAM memory module specified to operate at 166 MHz using DDR-333 chips, 2.667 GByte/s bandwidth
* PC-3200: DDR-SDRAM memory module specified to operate at 200 MHz using DDR-400 chips, 3.200 GByte/s bandwidth

DDR2
* PC2-3200: DDR2-SDRAM memory stick specified to run at 200 MHz using DDR2-400 chips, 3.200 GB/s bandwidth
* PC2-4200: DDR2-SDRAM memory stick specified to run at 266 MHz using DDR2-533 chips, 4.267 GB/s bandwidth
* PC2-5300: DDR2-SDRAM memory stick specified to run at 333 MHz using DDR2-667 chips, 5.333 GB/s bandwidth1
* PC2-6400: DDR2-SDRAM memory stick specified to run at 400 MHz using DDR2-800 chips, 6.400 GB/s bandwidth

 

[tagfat]

Ok.

To me it boils down to: Im free to do whatever, but it makes no sense to buy old ram.

The complication is that i have two sticks of 500 Mb DDR. So i will need to either just split those between the comps, buy two sticks of 500 Mb DDR2, or go from 1 Gig to less on the main comp.

I guess im just cheap.

Thanks guys!

 

[Spiv]

...it makes sense to get DDR2, which should be around for at least a year or two until DDR3 gets popular.

By "get popular" we mean "moboards exist that can use it," yah? Or is it backward compatible with DDR2 240-pin slots?

IMO DDR3 = price drop in the ddr2 I'm going to buy, not a reason to run screaming to newegg, madly fumbling for my credit card.
quote]

lol. I meant that when DDR3 is supported (the next Intel chipset). And looking at right now, there are no "enthusiast" boards supporting DDR. I imagine that will be the case with DDR2 a few years after DDR3 is released.

I live by the motto "upgrade every 3-4 years, but get the top of the line when you do." It's worked for the past 10 years, so I think it's good to live by. Sure you could buy more DDR memory now, but the next time you upgrade you'll have to throw it out. There's a much better chance of a board supporting DDR2 in 3 years than DDR.

 

[Sunburn]

I live by the motto "upgrade every 3-4 years, but get the top of the line when you do." It's worked for the past 10 years, so I think it's good to live by.

Good idea. When my P4 laptop died, I found my old Pentium 3 laptop, top-of-the-line as of June 2000. It's running XP Pro, MSOffice 2003, Firefox, etc etc, everything just fine. Just... no games. 8MB Video RAM. Yeah.

Sure you could buy more DDR memory now, but the next time you upgrade you'll have to throw it out. There's a much better chance of a board supporting DDR2 in 3 years than DDR.

That's one good reason to buy DDR2, but there are others:

#1: Overclocking. Next to a quality moboard, DDR2 with good timings is what determines how far you can overclock a C2D system.

#2: Performance. Find the bottleneck in this system: C2D E6600, X1900XTX, DDR. Fast RAM is necessary for a, uh, fast system. In addition, C2D seems to reap particular benefits from performance RAM.

#3: Upgradeability. In a year or so it'll be time to feed the monkey again; if you can just migrate your RAM, it's that much less you have to buy. Two $150 sticks will last you at least one upgrade; two $100 sticks, not.

 

[ryokinshin]

when ddr3 becomes mainstream ddr2 becomes more expensive, same with wats happening to ddr1 rite now, cuz the few companies that make it raise prices

 

[sailer]

Ok.

To me it boils down to: Im free to do whatever, but it makes no sense to buy old ram.

The complication is that i have two sticks of 500 Mb DDR. So i will need to either just split those between the comps, buy two sticks of 500 Mb DDR2, or go from 1 Gig to less on the main comp.

I guess im just cheap.

Thanks guys!

Just looked up your board and it supports either DDR or DDR2 ram. Amazing. So no, you don't have to buy new ram. This is one of those crossover boards from Asrock that works, but is not a performance board by any means. If you have to buy ram, get DDR2. It will be marginally better than DDR and have better support and usage in the future.

For now, if you want to go the cheapest route, you can use the DDR.

 

[purdueguy]

Your planning on buying memory at the worse possible time as DDR2 memory has increased in price over the last couple of months. I would bet this has to do with AMD finally moving over to DDR2. Not enough supply, too much demand.

Anyway, there is some relatively inexpensive DDR2 667 Ram. PQI Turbo DDR2 667

2x1GB sticks for $180 after MIR. Considering some memory is selling for over $300 (DDR2 800), this is a bargain.

So, go get some DDR2 for the new system and use the DDR sticks you currently have for the Athlon system.

 

[pmr]

I run a Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA/ D805 combo with two sticks of DDR. Im rebuilding my old system (Barton 2500/Asus Nforce3) and need a stick of ram for that. I can either just buy DDR or i can get some DDR2 for the new system and use the then redundant DDR from there, but i have no idea if upgrading to DDR2 means anything in terms of performance.

Suggestions and references are welcome.

Don´t bother buying ddr2 667 and above. Get 533 and you're fine.
I tested with an E6300. If it didn´t do anything for the conroe, it won´t do for a 805...I think

 

[Maxx83]

I have a question that is somewhat related. Im building a computer mainly for gaming and my only difficulty left is the ram. it runs at 800mhz but it has 5-5-5-12 as a CAS latency it is DDR2. Im used to DDR that has had 2.5 to 3 at most. Will I notice a performance hit or will it be faster due to the much faster Mhz

 

[pmr]

the only hit you'll get, it's in your wallet.If you board supports 800, well, you´re fine. Just check if the $ difference worth the performance increase over 667.

I said not to buy ddr2 667, but just with that mobo (Asrock 775DUAL-VSTA), becuse there is no performance increase.

 

[Spiv]

I have a question that is somewhat related. Im building a computer and my only difficulty left is the ram. it runs at 800mhz but it has 5-5-5-12 as a CAS latency it is DDR2. Im used to DDR that has had 2.5 to 3 at most. Will I notice a performance hit or will it be faster due to the much faster Mhz

DDR2 800 is faster than regular DDR. CAS 5 is a tad high if you're looking for ultimate performance, especially if you intend to overclock. Look for CAS4 or CAS3. Or get DDR2-1066 CAS5, which should run fine at 800 at CAS4.