DDR2 vs. DDR3

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thejesus1

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I have a 3 year old homebuilt computer and I am currently running 4gb of DDR2 with Windows XP. I guess the question I have is : Is DDR3 memory a substantial speed boost over DDR2? If it is then I must upgrade the memory, the board, and maybe even the operating system (to Windows 7). I figure all this will cost me another $500 or so.....so do you guys think there will be a SUBSTANTIAL speed increase? Thank you in advance for all your posts. = )
 
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Heres and article I dug up showing the differences between DDR2 and DDR3 on the P35 chipset. Its old and his system uses the faster IMC instead of the FSB so I'm not sure how that changes things.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2232/7

Looking at the scores, using the same CPU moving from DDR2-800 CL3 to DDR3-1333 CL 9 gets you an extra 2 FPS or so depending on if you were using the 965 or P35. You could get an extra 5FPS if you have slower CL5 or 6 DDR2. While 5FPS might sound like a lot, remember that when dealing with numbers this large its only an extra 5.5%. Not a whole lot. Last, depending on the speed and timings, you could actually get better results with ultra fast DDR2 (1066 CL4 scored 108+) over slower DDR3 (1066 CL7...
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$500 for faster memory? Your kidding right?

For $500 you could upgrade the memory, motherboard, cpu and Windows7 and still have money for a new hdd.

Of course this would all be irrelevent of your question. It would just be a entire upgrade, not just a memory upgrade.

 
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In short, solely a DDR2 to DDR3 jump would not be worth an investment if your motherboard somehow supported both DDR2 or DDR3. If you do want better performance, save some bucks and upgrade the entire system.

Assuming you have a good PSU and case already, $700 would get you decent performance if you live in US.
 
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In fact he can build a whole new PC for that much; I just wanna no his specs so we can guide him through a full system upgrade.
 
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Here is my current system:
- GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
- HP 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model 1035i
- SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
- Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- 500 watt antec earthwatts powersupply
- AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX440WFGIBOX

I am running 2 monitors one 1650X1080 and tehe other (my main) 1920 x 1080. I use the computer mostly for playing games like WOW. Thanks again for ur help.
 
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You can still get DDR2 1066 RAM, but if you have the money, with $500, you can do
a complete system upgrade.
What is your budget?






 
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Roughly $500 max....was thinking upgrading to win 7 with an ssd...but if i did that, do a whole rebuild....worried that the ram and the pci-e slot are bottlenecking the current system.
 
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Put SSD's aside, they are way to expensive for a system like yours.

I'll just do you some searching right now, you should upgrade the Mobo, RAM and CPU.
 
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If you have $500, I'd upgrade to a quad core and a better GPU. A 5770 is nice, but not for 1080.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-directx-11-performance,2793-3.html

At 1080, the 5770 in this review was good for 57FPS. Not bad, but expect less in raids. They were probably also using a much faster OC'd quad core CPU. With a good PhII and a 6870 you should be in better shape. You might even have enough left over (don't forget to sell your old parts) to get that SSD.
 
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Why doesn't he get a new mobo with crossfire and DDR3, a new processor, and a second 5770 for crossfire?
 
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Why doesn't he get a new mobo with crossfire and DDR3, a new processor, and a second 5770 for crossfire?
Click to expand...

You mean AM3 mobo and processor? That would be dumb, he can drop in a AM3 processor now, using his ddr2. Why upgrade the mobo?

I really don't see any reason to drop $150 on a cpu though, the cpu he has now is pretty decent if he overclocks it a few hundred mhz. I think he should overclock a bit and get a new video card or wait and upgrade the mobo, cpu and ram when SB or BD come out.
 
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So that he can get a second 5770 for crossfire!

I thought he could go for a nice cheap cooler like the CM hyper 212+,
 
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Actually have it overclocked to 3.6 on air with the stock cooler.....temps idle around 40 and go up to 65-70 when playing wow. And i overclocked the GPU as well, 910 Mhz clock, 1310 Mhz memory = ).
 
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Why doesn't he get:

A Phenom II X4 965 for $160
A new AM3 mobo with Crossfire and DDR3. $100
A second 5770 so that he can use it with his old one in crossfire. $120
A set of 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM. $50.

Total price is $430.
 
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Take a look at this and tell me what you think.

So:

Option 1:

HD 6870 $220
Phenom II x4 965 $160
Crucial RealSSD 64GB $124

Total is $504

Option 2:

A Phenom II X4 965 $160
A new AM3 mobo with Crossfire and DDR3. $100
A second 5770 so that he can use it with his old one in crossfire. $120
A set of 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM. $50.
Crucial RealSSD 64GB $124



Total is $554, he can make up for going $50 over-budget by selling his old processor and hardware.

Option 2 is much better than option 1, he would have a SSD, DDR3 and crossfire, a true gaming rig, that is an excellent combo, what do you think?






 
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I already linked a 6870 thats $180. Why is "my build" using a $220 number?

And while that PSU is nice, its only 80+. I'd rather sink the $$$ into a better PSU then spend it on DDR3 ram.

Edit: Just because you have CF doesn't make it a "true gaming rig". Both options would be similar in performance, but the first would be cheaper.
 
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Dude, the second option is obviously better, it would have DDR3 1600MHz memory. There isn't much of a use of a SSD with DDR2 RAM, it would be a bottle neck, RAM makes a bigger difference than you imagined.

Option 2 is really awesome, NO one uses DDR2 anymore, he would also have a more future proof computer, if he bought the 6870, he would waste the old 5770, it wouldn't sell either.

About the PSU, a crossfire motherboard uses DDR3, so he would have to buy the RAM anyways, I think he should sacrifice the SSD and go for a PSU.

And I used the $220 one because it's 5 eggs, the other ones that are 4 eggs have defects and bugs if you read the reviews.
 
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Dude, the second option is obviously better, it would have DDR3 1600MHz memory.
Click to expand...

And? That will get him how many more FPS in his games then DDR2-800? You keep making statements like CF = gaming rig or DDR3 makes a gaming rig. As I keep trying to say option 1 should perform similar to option 2. I prefer one because you DON'T have CF, and its cheaper. Nothing wrong with going option 2 if you have the $$$ and don't mind decreased performance in games that don't scale/scale well. (Like WoW.) I'd also rather have the newer PSU, so I don't waste as much $$$ on power.
 
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Well, then option 1 it is, but does he really need the extra power, and what about windows 7?

AND what about the 5870 instead, it's faster.
 
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