Difference between DDR3 and DDR5 graphics cards.

[Bubun Karmakar]

I do really want to know the difference between a ddr3 GPU and ddr5 GPU.

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

I do really want to know the difference between a ddr3 GPU and ddr5 GPU.

Both have to do with memory bandwidths. The short answer is that GDDR5 results in faster memory bandwidth than DDR3.

The longer answer is that GDDR5 is the more recent type of double data ram, the "G" standing for "graphics", and is just for graphics cards. I can't remember exactly how much, but I think it's roughly twice as fast as DDR3. Don't quote me on that part, but what I do know is how this all plays into memory bandwidth for your video memory.

The formula for memory bandwidth is given by the following: Memory Clock * Bus Width * DDR multiplier. This is how fast a graphics card can access and exchange information with its pool of video memory. The memory clock is seen on most graphics cards technical info and can be equated to a car's speed limit on a highway. The bus width is also see on graphics cards and you'll usually see them as something like "128 bit" or "256 bit" graphics cards. This is the number of information channels that data can go through between a GPU and it's VRAM so it can be equated as the number of lanes on a highway. Lastly there's the DDR3 or GDDR5, which I'd say can be equated to the interval between when the next car in a lanecan travel. For example lets pretend that DDR3 only lets 1 car into each lane every 5 seconds while GDDR5 allows 1 car through each lane every 2.5 seconds. Clearly GDDR5 would allow more cars through in the end. A rough analogy, but it still works. Anyway, these all factor in to produce your memory bandwidth.

Memory bandwidth is important to ensuring that your graphics card is able to make use of its VRAM. For example, if everything in 2 graphics cards are the same except for the VRAM capacity and type, which would be better? Well if one was 1 GB of GDDR5, while the other was 2 GB of DDR3, the 1 GB of GDDR5 would be better because it'd be able to make more efficient use of its pool of memory. Similarly, it can get complex if you're looking at 2 GPU's and one has 1 GB of GDDR5 but with a 200 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit bus width, but the other has 1 GB of DDR3 but with a 400 MHz memory clock and a 256 bus width. In that case, the DDR3 would win.

 

[Bubun Karmakar]

I do really want to know the difference between a ddr3 GPU and ddr5 GPU.

Both have to do with memory bandwidths. The short answer is that GDDR5 results in faster memory bandwidth than DDR3.

The longer answer is that GDDR5 is the more recent type of double data ram, the "G" standing for "graphics", and is just for graphics cards. I can't remember exactly how much, but I think it's roughly twice as fast as DDR3. Don't quote me on that part, but what I do know is how this all plays into memory bandwidth for your video memory.

The formula for memory bandwidth is given by the following: Memory Clock * Bus Width * DDR multiplier. This is how fast a graphics card can access and exchange information with its pool of video memory. The memory clock is seen on most graphics cards technical info and can be equated to a car's speed limit on a highway. The bus width is also see on graphics cards and you'll usually see them as something like "128 bit" or "256 bit" graphics cards. This is the number of information channels that data can go through between a GPU and it's VRAM so it can be equated as the number of lanes on a highway. Lastly there's the DDR3 or GDDR5, which I'd say can be equated to the interval between when the next car in a lanecan travel. For example lets pretend that DDR3 only lets 1 car into each lane every 5 seconds while GDDR5 allows 1 car through each lane every 2.5 seconds. Clearly GDDR5 would allow more cars through in the end. A rough analogy, but it still works. Anyway, these all factor in to produce your memory bandwidth.

Memory bandwidth is important to ensuring that your graphics card is able to make use of its VRAM. For example, if everything in 2 graphics cards are the same except for the VRAM capacity and type, which would be better? Well if one was 1 GB of GDDR5, while the other was 2 GB of DDR3, the 1 GB of GDDR5 would be better because it'd be able to make more efficient use of its pool of memory. Similarly, it can get complex if you're looking at 2 GPU's and one has 1 GB of GDDR5 but with a 200 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit bus width, but the other has 1 GB of DDR3 but with a 400 MHz memory clock and a 256 bus width. In that case, the DDR3 would win.

So, can I run a GeForce DDR5 GPU on my Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Motherboard?

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

I do really want to know the difference between a ddr3 GPU and ddr5 GPU.

Both have to do with memory bandwidths. The short answer is that GDDR5 results in faster memory bandwidth than DDR3.

The longer answer is that GDDR5 is the more recent type of double data ram, the "G" standing for "graphics", and is just for graphics cards. I can't remember exactly how much, but I think it's roughly twice as fast as DDR3. Don't quote me on that part, but what I do know is how this all plays into memory bandwidth for your video memory.

The formula for memory bandwidth is given by the following: Memory Clock * Bus Width * DDR multiplier. This is how fast a graphics card can access and exchange information with its pool of video memory. The memory clock is seen on most graphics cards technical info and can be equated to a car's speed limit on a highway. The bus width is also see on graphics cards and you'll usually see them as something like "128 bit" or "256 bit" graphics cards. This is the number of information channels that data can go through between a GPU and it's VRAM so it can be equated as the number of lanes on a highway. Lastly there's the DDR3 or GDDR5, which I'd say can be equated to the interval between when the next car in a lanecan travel. For example lets pretend that DDR3 only lets 1 car into each lane every 5 seconds while GDDR5 allows 1 car through each lane every 2.5 seconds. Clearly GDDR5 would allow more cars through in the end. A rough analogy, but it still works. Anyway, these all factor in to produce your memory bandwidth.

Memory bandwidth is important to ensuring that your graphics card is able to make use of its VRAM. For example, if everything in 2 graphics cards are the same except for the VRAM capacity and type, which would be better? Well if one was 1 GB of GDDR5, while the other was 2 GB of DDR3, the 1 GB of GDDR5 would be better because it'd be able to make more efficient use of its pool of memory. Similarly, it can get complex if you're looking at 2 GPU's and one has 1 GB of GDDR5 but with a 200 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit bus width, but the other has 1 GB of DDR3 but with a 400 MHz memory clock and a 256 bus width. In that case, the DDR3 would win.

So, can I run a GeForce DDR5 GPU on my Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Motherboard?

There's no such thing as a motherboard that can't handle a GPU with GDDR5, it's only about whether or not your motherboard can handle your graphics card through its PCIe compatibility. As for video memory, VRAM doesn't have any direct communication with your motherboard, CPU or RAM. It just has direct communication with the graphics card it's built into and that's it.

PCIe compatibility is something else. PCIe slots just enable graphic cards to communicate with motherboard, the RAM, and the CPU at some speed. PCIe 3.0 currently has the greatest speed, but it's also dependent on the number of channels you have. For now though, your PCIe 2.0 x16 slots will handle all cards rated at PCIe 3.0 x16 without performance loss because I don't believe any GPU currently has the ability to communicate faster than PCIe 2.0 will allow.

 

[Bubun Karmakar]

okay, so what GPU should I go for? A ddr3 or ddr5, I have budget issues though. The best graphic card under 5.5k anything that would support Battlefield 4 at a midum-to-high graphic.

I wanted this HD 6850 GigaByte Edition but it costs too much.. http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1413&gid2=793&compare=radeon-hd-6670-sapphire-1gb-ddr3-vs-radeon-hd-6850-gigabyte-edition

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

okay, so what GPU should I go for? A ddr3 or ddr5, I have budget issues though. The best graphic card under 5.5k anything that would support Battlefield 4 at a midum-to-high graphic.

Well I think I pretty well explained the GDDR5 is clearly the faster one assuming that the DDR3 you're comparing it against is the same. Not that it matters, as you won't find any medium or high end GPUs that don't use GDDR5 nowadays. In fact, everything you find, even entry level cards, are all GDDR5 because it's just faster so you don't have to do any math to figure out if a card manufactured by "X" with DDR3 on it will have the same performance as another card manufactured by "Y" with GDDR5 on it. Besides, even if you did have to compare two cards like that, you just look at the memory bandwidth which is shown by every retailer. That's the only thing that matters aside from VRAM capacity in the end.

As for suggesting a card to you...well, I don't know which country you live in so I'm not sure what currency 5,500 would be in.

 

[Bubun Karmakar]

okay, so what GPU should I go for? A ddr3 or ddr5, I have budget issues though. The best graphic card under 5.5k anything that would support Battlefield 4 at a midum-to-high graphic.

Well I think I pretty well explained the GDDR5 is clearly the faster one assuming that the DDR3 you're comparing it against is the same. Not that it matters, as you won't find any medium or high end GPUs that don't use GDDR5 nowadays. In fact, everything you find, even entry level cards, are all GDDR5 because it's just faster so you don't have to do any math to figure out if a card manufactured by "X" with DDR3 on it will have the same performance as another card manufactured by "Y" with GDDR5 on it. Besides, even if you did have to compare two cards like that, you just look at the memory bandwidth which is shown by every retailer. That's the only thing that matters aside from VRAM capacity in the end.

As for suggesting a card to you...well, I don't know which country you live in so I'm not sure what currency 5,500 would be in.

Thank you for the help buddy.
I'm from India. Anyways, thanks for helping me out with this DDR5 and DDR3 concept.

 

[Deus Gladiorum]

okay, so what GPU should I go for? A ddr3 or ddr5, I have budget issues though. The best graphic card under 5.5k anything that would support Battlefield 4 at a midum-to-high graphic.

Well I think I pretty well explained the GDDR5 is clearly the faster one assuming that the DDR3 you're comparing it against is the same. Not that it matters, as you won't find any medium or high end GPUs that don't use GDDR5 nowadays. In fact, everything you find, even entry level cards, are all GDDR5 because it's just faster so you don't have to do any math to figure out if a card manufactured by "X" with DDR3 on it will have the same performance as another card manufactured by "Y" with GDDR5 on it. Besides, even if you did have to compare two cards like that, you just look at the memory bandwidth which is shown by every retailer. That's the only thing that matters aside from VRAM capacity in the end.

As for suggesting a card to you...well, I don't know which country you live in so I'm not sure what currency 5,500 would be in.

Thank you for the help buddy.
I'm from India. Anyways, thanks for helping me out with this DDR5 and DDR3 concept.

Unfortunately, it seems you need to spend at least 10k if you want an ok graphics card, and for a really good upper mid range one you'll want to spend around 24,000. The prices are actually less expensive in the US. I don't know what your current build is, but if it's worse than the Radeon HD 7750 you may want to aim for that. It's 7,000 approximately, but it's a good entry level card.

Here's how it runs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM-IEwOEtL8

 

[Bubun Karmakar]

okay, so what GPU should I go for? A ddr3 or ddr5, I have budget issues though. The best graphic card under 5.5k anything that would support Battlefield 4 at a midum-to-high graphic.

Well I think I pretty well explained the GDDR5 is clearly the faster one assuming that the DDR3 you're comparing it against is the same. Not that it matters, as you won't find any medium or high end GPUs that don't use GDDR5 nowadays. In fact, everything you find, even entry level cards, are all GDDR5 because it's just faster so you don't have to do any math to figure out if a card manufactured by "X" with DDR3 on it will have the same performance as another card manufactured by "Y" with GDDR5 on it. Besides, even if you did have to compare two cards like that, you just look at the memory bandwidth which is shown by every retailer. That's the only thing that matters aside from VRAM capacity in the end.

As for suggesting a card to you...well, I don't know which country you live in so I'm not sure what currency 5,500 would be in.

Thank you for the help buddy.
I'm from India. Anyways, thanks for helping me out with this DDR5 and DDR3 concept.

Unfortunately, it seems you need to spend at least 10k if you want an ok graphics card, and for a really good upper mid range one you'll want to spend around 24,000. The prices are actually less expensive in the US. I don't know what your current build is, but if it's worse than the Radeon HD 7750 you may want to aim for that. It's 7,000 approximately, but it's a good entry level card.

Here's how it runs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM-IEwOEtL8

My current build is a total crap.
That's why I'm planning to buy a new gaming-PC.

 

[rohitvarier]

i am buying a gfx for csgo to iprove my csgo performance which 1 would be bettr - amd hd 6670 2gbddr3 (128bit , 800mHz) or amd hd 6670 1gbddr5 (128bit,810 Mhz).

 

[coolyo]

I do really want to know the difference between a ddr3 GPU and ddr5 GPU.

well gddr5 or ddr5 is faster than ddr3 cuz its has no lag i replace my ddr3 gt 630 to ddr5 it was fast though with the palit version but graphic cards are all the same and nvidia was giving some brands like asus or palit some of their graphic cards ddr5 or ddr3