Silly DDR3 vs DDR2 question.

H

Hyperion

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
1,924
I have trawled through THE Memory FAQ, and googled up some benchmarks ... and
didn't see anything that clearly and concisely answers my question.

The Predicament
I am plotting and scheming to shell some heavy wads of my hard-earned green towards
setting my trusty old crate (PIII-1GHz, 512MB SDRAM) to pasture. As far as I can
see DDR3 is the way of the future, but, is currently lazy in terms of both latency and
bandwidth and makes the diamond cartels look honest when it comes to pricing.


In Standard/Buffered memory bandwidth, the P35 (Bearlake) chipset is providing a 16% to
18% improvement in memory bandwidth compared to the P965. This is a significant
improvement. The Unbuffered improvement is smaller, in the range of 4% to 8%. These
bandwidth improvements may or may not translate into improved system performance. We
will examine that in the SuperPi and Gaming benchmarks.
Source


We conclude that memory latency is currently all but identical at the same memory speed
and timings, whether using DDR2 on P965, DDR2 on P35, or DDR3 on P35. DDR2 cannot
yet reach the 1333 speed, while this is an easy target for DDR3. Perhaps higher speed
DDR3 and lower timings will allow DDR3 to break away in latency comparisons.
Source


We were really surprised at the gaming test results. We really did not expect the
bandwidth improvement of P35 to have much impact on gaming results, but Far Cry
showed a 2% to 5% improvement in performance just comparing P35 to P965 under the
same conditions. It really didn't matter whether P35 was running DDR2 or DDR3; the
improvement was essentially the same.
Source


As you can see, DDR3 won over DDR2 between 3% and 19% in the results, more so in
the bandwidth tests - somewhat expected, as after the first word, the rest of the words in
the burst ticks at twice the rate, and shortest burst rate is now 8 transfers, compared to 4
in DDR2. This brings out the DDR3 bandwidth benefit further.
Source


It feels like the release of DDR-3 might be too early to market, it still feels like only
yesterday that DDR-2 had finally concreted its self into the ground as a serious
performance memory option and that you did not need CAS 2 to be fast.
.
.
.
DDR-3 is not for today! DDR-3 is for tomorrow! Price drops, new 333MHz FSB processors
from Intel, X38 chipset, reworked timings, and more speed means that it is eventually
going to be the ultimate choice for enthusiasts. Like it not, if you are a high-end user, you
will be forced to buy DDR-3 memory before much longer.
Source


CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1800 (PC3 14400): $554.00
NewEgg


CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1250 (PC2 10000): $419.99
NewEgg

To me it seems like a 10% performance gain ... for a 30% price hike. :p

So should I hang tight till I can buy my X48 board, Penryn QX9650, G92 SLI GPU topped off
with healthy dollop of decently priced and properly performing DDR3?

How long will that wait be? ;)
 
Hmm i think ddr3 wont kick off till atleast Q3 2008?
 
It is twice the price, for the same performance at the moment. It will most likely take more than a year for the performance to improve to a decent standard and the prices to become acceptable. Don't bother with it at the moment. In fact, why are you even considering spending that much on memory? Unless you have a 625MHz FSB, it is pointless. I doubt you will be virtually forced to use DDR3 in the future.
 
Same story as when DDR2 hit. If you wait for a few months, you'll get higher speeds and lower prices. I plan on waiting, same as you, for the DX48BT2, a Q9450/Q9550, and reasonable DDR3 prices. Right now it's only for bragging rights - but early adopters are what keep things going. :)
 
Thanks Guys! Teh [H] delivers once again! ;)

I shall spend sparingly on the CPU, MOBO, RAM and GPU this time round...
... and instead spend my budget on a decent chassis, 24" LCD, sweet HDDs etc.

Then perhaps check out the scene this time next year for those four items.
 
Yeah, better to have nice underpinnings like cooling, case, monitor, hard drives, keyboard, mouse, PSU, etc... and buy new mobos, cpus, ram, and vid cards when they are great bang for the buck and sorely needed.
AMD chips are extremely cheap right now, and good clocking boards can be had for under 100 bucks. Intel chips cost a bit more but have a bit more juice. Not sure about the boards though (havent researched em). DDR2 is also insanely cheap. 2 gigs of ddr800 cas 4 costs less than 40 bucks AR. Would be cheaper to buy ddr2 now, then buy ddr3 when it becomes cheaper.
Now would be that bang for the buck time.
 
I would definitely go for a DDR2 based system now. For the price of 2 GB of DDR3, you'd have 2 GB of DDR2, a CPU, and motherboard. And if you were upgrading core components again next year, we'll have new CPU sockets anyway, since Intel is moving to LGA1366/LGA1160/LGA1517 (or something) and Quickpath, and AMD is moving to AM3.
 
It would be rather nice if the releases of CPU, RAM and chipsets could somehow be
magically syncronised to mature almost simultaneously before moving to newer tech.

I mean it almost feels like a three-phase power voltage diagram, all the components mature
in effeciency and performance at different times, ergo, it will never really be possible to
assemble a truly mind-numbing system. :(
 
lamboman said:
It is twice the price, for the same performance at the moment.
Unless you have a 625MHz FSB, it is pointless.
Click to expand...
thats it

i'm planing for X48, 9800GTS (or whatever the name was), Q9450
and not interested in DDR3 specially that 500FSB will be like a dream with the Q9450
maybe I'll think of DDR3 if I picked the E8500
though I’m not sure how it will benefit me but maybe I’ll feel its advantages with a chip like E8500 since it can go beyond 500FSB
 
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