DDR2 worth the price

[uglymonk]

I have an ecs 915p mobo. It supports DDR and DDR2 both in dual channel.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-135-157&depa=1

THis pc is for digital audio and I need to get a gig of memory. Should get low latency

DDR-400 (PC-3200)Cas Latency: 2-3-2-6-1T
Or should I get
DDR2-533(PC2-4200)Cas Latency: 3-2-2-4?

Its an extra 60 dollars for the DDR2 which is alot for me.
On some tests I've seen, it show little benefit from ddr2.

 

[jammydodger]

DDR2 @ 533Mhz has about the equivalent performance of DDR1 @ 433Mhz.
I dont think that the price of DDR will really be justified untill PC6400 DDR2.
Also bear in mind that if you have a P4 with 800Mhz FSB then your RAM will be running faster than the FSB (if you use 533Mhz DDR2 in dual channel). So you will likly see little performance increase over DDR.

 

[uglymonk]

My prescott runs at 800 fsb so is ddr 433 better than 1:1 DDR-400? Also I plan on overclocking And I was lookin at the 2x512 version of these sticks

http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20050124/ddr2_modules-06.html

Does the comparison change if I can get the ddr2-533 to 667 or 710?

 

[jammydodger]

If you want to overclock and maintain a 1:1 RAM/FSB ratio then you should get at least PC3500 (I would get PC4000). DDR2 is slower than DDR1 clock for clock, its only advantage is that it can reach higher clock speeds.
The problem with getting DDR2 533 or even 667 is that your FSB is the limiting factor.

An 800Mhz FSB provides 6.4GB/sec maximum bandwidth, dual channel DDR 533 will can provide 8.5GB/sec bandwidth. So the bottleneck is your FSB (you RAM can provide a lot more bandwidth than your FSB so the extra bandwidth goes to waste). It will be slightly quicker because RAM's max theoretical bandwidth is rarely reached while the FSB's is, but still i dont think it will be worth the cost.

DDR2 will only make a noticable performance increase if you A) have a 1066Mhz FSB CPU and
B) are using DDR667 or above

 

[BrentUnitedMem]

I'd go with DDR dual channel and spend the bucks later to upgrade to faster DDR2.

 

[mozzartusm]

The only way that I can see justifying the price difference and buying DDR2 is if you have one of the very few MOBOS that can hit the high speeds. Otherwise stick with some fast DDR.

To save us both time, assume I know EVERYTHING :tongue: