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Jerg

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Hi everyone, I'm trying to find some informations over the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 performance. It seems like everyone who is building a new computer lately is still using DDR2, but wouldnt it be better to switch to DDR3 ? Now, I know the price difference is huge between the two, but is it the only reason ?
 

chuckshissle

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As for desktop systems right now, there is no difference in performace. You'll only pay big time for DDR3 and few programs and I doubt any games soon will take advantage of this. As for servers and workstations these new DDR3 will be very good but not for regular pc. We should see some major desktop uses for DDR3 maybe summer next year as motherboard manufacturers and softwares and games developers will be taking advantage with DDR3 higher bandwith.

As for today, the best ram you can get are the DDR2 800 for record lows of around $70-$80. Great for todays desktops and overclocking as well without breaking your bank account.
 

bydesign

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Umm, why would you think that? Servers don't normally us DDR ram in the first place. Unless DDR latency comes way down it's not going to make a difference. GPU's manufactures already figured this out and are moving to DDR4. The motherboard manufactures seem pretty sceptical too as it looks like they are hold off on DDR3 for the X38 because of poor sales.
 

afm813

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Noobie Question- If I upgrade my CPU with a GeForce 8800 GT Video Card with specs that indicates that the Memory Type is GDDR3, can I still use my old DDR2 Memory? Are they compatible or do I need to buy DDR3 Memory only? If you can use DDR2 with a DDR3 graphics/video card, why don't it say they're compatible?
Thanks in advance for any input.
 

descendency

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Your system ram and your graphics card RAM have nothing to do with one another. As long as your motherboard has a port to support the graphics card, it should run fine.

To "prove" this, just look at the modern ATi card, the 4870, which uses GDDR5. DDR5 system RAM is quite a ways off.
 

afm813

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Thank you for the clarification, descendency! :D
 

Kandybar_86

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It's been a few months now: so is DDR3 RAM now worth it? Are there more software that can take advantage of this newer format?
 

theAnimal

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No, and not applicable.
 

begginer

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would it be a good idea to get DDR3 now so the motherboard will be future proof? I will want to have the motherboard for at least 3 years.
 

iamteuton

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For a less-than-genius person (me), if I wanted to use an Nvidia 9800 GT (GDDR3) on my current mobo (667 DDR2) would the card "fit" without any problems on compatibility or performance issues?
 

cromedome

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if you had the the previous replies u would have seen the same question answered :lol:
 

The Iron Mitchell

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I dont see the point in spending threefold the price on DDR3 RAM when you can easily buy DDR2 RAM for ALOT less, plus the overall performance increase is only about %2 - 10 percent depending on the brand :)
 

klink55

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Where is it still a premium price? Newegg's prices on DDR3 (march 2010) is about the same as DDR2 now. What I see is the shift of DDR2 prices increasing and DDR3 prices decreasing.
 
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