DDR-400 vs DDR2-667

[crashingmedic]

Hey everyone. I'm upgrading my pc and using my old components in my wife's pc. My wife's new pc build will look like this...

Antec 500 watt ps
ASROCK 4Core-Dual-VSTA mb
Pentium D 940 3.2Ghz (not oc)
2GB DDR-400 or 2GB DDR-667
EVGA 8600GTS 512mb or EVGA 7900GT 256mb (unsure which I want to get)
2 WD IDE hd (160 & 320GB)
Windows XP Pro

My delima is this...

This pc is mainly for my wife's teaching applications (not resource heavy at all), internet browsing and some light gaming for my sons (some of the new games like Transformers but not many others).

I am unsure if using the 2GB of DDR-400 is going to hinder the video cards and CPU's performance in these games. My pc has the 2GB DDR-667 and a 7900 GS 512. Transformers runs great and the the boys like it a lot.

If I get the 8600gts the new video card will be an upgrade from my 7900gs 512mb. If I get the 7900GT 256mb it will be about the same or perhaps a little bit of a downgrade. Will there be a big difference in the system's performance when using the ddr vs ddr2?

Thanks...EWB

 

[g-paw]

You really don't have a choice of running DDR or DDR2 RAM, it depends on what the mobo takes. The RAM should be fine for that machine. I assume that board has a PCIe x16 slot. As for the video card check this out. If it were me, I'd put the new video card in my machine and give her the old one. Advantage of being the builder
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/04/best_cards_february_2008/

 

[akhilles]

If you're not running Vista, go with 7900GT that will beat out the 8600. If you are, get the new 9600GT which is sub $200 for decent performance. You don't even have to install video driver, just drop it in.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1058&model2=711&chart=317

 

[Wolfshadw]

You're not going to see much of a difference at all going from DDR400 to DDR2-667. I wouldn't bother. (and g-paw, the board accepts both DDR and DDR2). I'm running my 8800GTS-640 on 2 Gig of DDR-400 RAM and easily hit 60FPS in the game I play (City of Heroes).

-Wolf sends

 

[crashingmedic]

Thanks everyone! I'm running XP pro 32 bit in both machines.

Is the 7900 gt going to be faster due to the 256 bit ddr3 vs the 128 bit dd3 in the 8600gts? If so...I get it and will be going with the 7900 card.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[crashingmedic]

Oh...one last question...

Since I'm running xp pro and not vista will there a benefit of getting the new 9600 vs the 7900 card? The ASROCK board it will be going in is pcie x4 (not x16). It's basically a bridge board I got last year so I could upgrade over time and still use my old compenants.

 

[crashingmedic]

Sorry...one more question...

Does the video cards memory matter a whole lot? The 7900 GS card I have is 512mb. I'm thinking of getting a 256 mb card for my wife's pc. It only has a 20.1" acer lcd and I don't plan on multiple monitors for that pc. Just curious...

 

[Mondoman]

I'd strongly suggest selling (or dumping) the Asrock board. It's based on a 3rd-tier VIA chipset that doesn't have the robustness and performance of an Intel or even an nVidia chipset & drivers, the main PCI-express slot is "fake" in the sense that it's only a 4x slot, not a standard 16x slot, and so forth. The "fake" PCI-express slot won't be good for video cards. Sell the DDR RAM on ebay (it's worth more than DDR2 now) and buy a nice new P35-based MB for $80 and 2GB (to start with) DDR2 RAM. You'll end up with a MB that's high-quality and robust, with updated drivers and BIOSes, that will allow future updates to 45nm quad-core CPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 64-bit OSs. For $80 you can get the GA-P35-DS3L (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059) and for $33 (after rebate) you can get 2x1GB of high-quality Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590).

 

[akhilles]

PCI-E x4 is going to bottleneck the gpu, regardless of which gpu. Most boards support x16.

Yup, you can get 9600GT for XP. Just update directx & nvidia driver to latest. It'll be faster than 7900GT.

I agree with Mondoman on dumping the Asrock. It's a good transitional board, but not good for getting the most out of your parts. newegg had ABIT IP35-E for $60 after rebate. If you look around, you might find similiar deals.

 

[crashingmedic]

Thanks guys! I'll get to work on your suggestions and sell the ASROCK board and ddr. I appreciate your help...EWB

 

[Guest]

i was wondering the same question, only that i want to buy the gt 7300 wich has 512mb and ddr2 and i want to put it on my pc that works with ddr 400, it will be ok if i make the change or it will blow my computer?