DDR2 or DDR3?

bryan240g

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I am building a new system within the next couple of months, and I am not sure wether I should get DDR2 or DDR3? DDR3 is newer and faster, and more EXPENSIVE, but DDR2 is cheaper and still faster than what I got now. Keep in mind that whatever you suggest, it needs to be upgradeable in the future. I will not be buying a new mobo for at least 3-4 years. So I am building a nice system that will be upgradeable. This decision of memory will determine what mobo I choose. Thanks for your suggestions. Oh and by the way, this will be almost completely for gaming.


-Bryan
 

ZOldDude

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It will be a few years befor DDR3 can get up to preformance of DDR2...or close to the price of it.

Shame MB's and DDR1 is so hard to find as the setup in my profile preforms far better than the fastest DDR2 sold in Read/Write/Copy benchmarks.
 

systemlord

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DDR3 is the biggest waist of money these days! It offers no real performance advantage over DDR2 and costs way too much for what it is, put your money where it will make a difference.
 

bryan240g

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Ok will do. I have been reading up on ddr3 since I posted this and have decided to go ddr2, and get a 780i board and run sli with my new 8800gt.
 

systemlord

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Crucials Ballistix DDR2 800 or 1066MHz RAM is known for huge overclocks and reliability. If you want 4GB of RAM then G.Skill's 2x2GB kit is the way to go because you only use up two memory slots instead of four and some mobo's are picky when using all availible slots.

Crucial DDR2 2X1GB 800MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

Crucial DDR2 2x1GB 1066MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820148069

OCZ Platinum DDR2 2x2GB 1000MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227280
 

blotch

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At the end of this year i believe Intel will be DDR3 only and that would prevent upgrades but I would recommend you get a great MoBo, Cpu, and 4-8Gigs of DDR2 to hold you over until you need a new board. Intel's current boards aren't very RAM dependent compared to how they will be with the new socket/chipset. What I'm saying is that DDR2 will perform very close to DDR3 right now. Not until Nelham (sp*) will DDR3 be worth buying.
 

wing

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I agree the advantages of sDDR3 vs sDDR2 isnt worth the dollar cost per performance boost when you can get some very decent DDR2 for praticly nothing these days. This is so due to memory makers are now focusing on ddr3 and the newer ddr4 once the next gen starts being released more and more youll see dd2 and soon ddr3 will slowly start to drop.

Currently theres nothing that needs ddr3 at 1ghz+ with the rather lacking timings, but its totally sweet to have the new toys. if you really want to shell out 500 for a couple sticks im not stoping you.
 
DDR3 memory doesn't bring much (if any) benefit over DDR2 until you get to VERY high clock speeds. So for a new build now, definitely go with good DDR2. Plan your (over?)clock, and buy the memory that'll run with nice tight timings at the speeds you intend in running it.

A year or two from now, DDR3 may come into it's own. But for now, the cost/benefit isn't there...