DDR2 vs. DDR3

H

hammocksleeper

n00b
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Jan 3, 2008
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OK Question is:

8600GT 256MB DDR3 or 8600GT 512MB DDR2

they cost exactly the same ($100). and you are building this computer to play CoD4. which is the better choice? - and NO you cannot change the budget which is $100.

If it helps, here is the rest of the computer:
ore 2 duo 2.2ghz (maybe overclocked)
2GB DDR2-800 RAM
SATA 7200rpm 16MB cache buffer hard drive
Dunno what resolution I would be playing at, normal resolution? Most likely looking at a 17" or 19" screen.

thanks guys for reading my first post!
 
what speeds does the ddr2 board run a compared to the ddr3 one?

And to be honest I didn't even think they put ddr2 on vidcards anymore.

I have a 5600 with ddr2 on it, to give you an idea of how long its been being used.
 
If I had to choose I would go with the 8600GT 512MB ddr2. Can't hurt to have more memory on comparible series cards.
 
There is no way in hell the GDDR2 card will beat the GDDR3 one.


The memory bandwidth on the GDDR2 8600GT is only 10.8GB/s.
The memory bandwidth on the GDDR3 8600GT is 22.4GB/s.

Believe me when I say this, the 8600GT with GDDR2 is garbage. It is a decent GPU bottlenecked horribly by a tiny memory bandwidth.

If you are playing older games like DOOM 3 or Quake 4, then I might say go with the 512MB model (@ Ultra settings). But COD4, forget it. By the time the settings are up high enough to eat up 512MB the GPU will be far too overloaded to get decent frames.

If you want to get an 8600GT with 512MB GDDR3, I would recommend either the ASUS models (SILENT or fan) for around $140 at newegg or the EVGA or BFGTech models (which will cost considerably more). Since you said you can't go over $100, get the 256MB model, it will be faster for the settings the 8600GT can run at.
 
Also keep in mind that GDDR2 and GDDR3 are completely different than DDR2 and DDR3 that we use in our PCs for memory, so the terms shouldn't be used interchangeably.
 
GDDR2 was an acceptable trade-off in terms of price/performance back in the GeForce 7 series / ATI x1000 series days, but today it is left in the dust by the lowest-end GDDR3.

GDDR2 tops-out at 800 MHz, while most GDDR3 is clocked at 1.4 GHz or faster today. Never sacrifice half your memory bandwidth for double the memory, you'll come out a loser.
 
defaultluser said:
GDDR2 was an acceptable trade-off in terms of price/performance back in the GeForce 7 series / ATI x1000 series days, but today it is left in the dust by the lowest-end GDDR3.

GDDR2 tops-out at 800 MHz, while most GDDR3 is clocked at 1.4 GHz or faster today. Never sacrifice half your memory bandwidth for double the memory, you'll come out a loser.
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Yep, you simply will not see any improvement. If I were you, I would look at some other card for gaming, 8600gt is not that great, I have had a few of those, even in SLI.
 
aFive said:
Yep, you simply will not see any improvement. If I were you, I would look at some other card for gaming, 8600gt is not that great, I have had a few of those, even in SLI.
Click to expand...

It depends on the games being played. Like I said in my above post, it also depends on the game. An 8600GT 512MB GDDR2 can easily play DOOM 3 @ ultra settings (which requires 512MB on a graphics card) with good frame rates. However, in todays games, by the time the 512MB on the card is eaten up, the GPU would be so overloaded the games would be unplayable (low frame rates).

Heh, the card in my sig runs Quake II like a champ @ max settings! :p
 
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