Is DDR worth it?

[peach]

<font color=blue>Basically I am at a crossroads, explained in deeper detail below, where I can at semi-great expense switch to a better board and DDR, but that ALONE being the upgrade - Is DDR truly worth the performance upgrade?

Here's the deal. I am about to get a replacement for my Abit KT7A-RAID board, which has been fantastic for me but was hit by lightening, and well, who can fault her for not surviving that, and I was thinking of what to do.

Should I:
A: Get exact replacement: Total cost - s/h of ~$25.
B: Get ASUS A7A266 (which I hear great things about) for cost difference of $9 + $30 restocking fee of my other board + $25 s/h + $70 new Crucial 256 Micron PC2100 RAM (what do I do with the 750mb of PC133 Micron?)+ RAID controller which can be from $30 - $75. Total cost from ~$170 to >$200 depending on RAID controller.

Reasons to ugrade to ASUS: 1. better board, 2. faster RAM, 3. possibly faster controller.

1. Well, as gret as ASUS is, this Abits been a fantastic board - no complaints.

2. The aforementioned question: DDR is obviously better, but HOW much better - I am looking for an overall percentage increase.

3. I am not sure that the Highpoint controller sucks as bad as everyone keeps saying it does. (See thread in other components. Also see comparison here <A HREF="http://www.xbitlabs.com/storage/ata100-roundup.html" target="_new">http://www.xbitlabs.com/storage/ata100-roundup.html</A>.)


Faster RAM may be great and all, but is it worth ~$150? What do you think? Personally I am serious thinking about sticking with the Abit.


😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[igottaknife]

wow lightning... cool

you still want RAID and still love Abit wait a week or 2 for the KG7-RAID from Abit, but wait til it is at least reviewed.

Your Signature Sucks

 

[Guest]

if faced with NEEDING to upgrade your mobo/processor and ram, definately go with a ddr ram solution. it provides around 10-15% increase in performance and costs around the same as sdram. however, in your situation i would go with the cost of replacing your mobo.....wait to do the complete upgrade for another time. its not worth the extra cash.....just my thoughts.

ignore everything i say

 

[peach]

<font color=blue>Thanx knife, but it wasn't really so much of Abit vs. Asus thing as it was a $ vs. DDR thing. If I swap boards with the vendor there is no restocking fee plus I <i>already</i> have the ram (and quite a bit too - I do a lot of CAD). The KG7 is certainly an option, but I think I will go with antivirus and stick with the same. I am not sure I would even get a <i>total</i> performance upgrade of 10%.

😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>