8 GB DDR2 vs 4 GB DDR3

at what point would it make sense to go with one over the other. Yea obviously high end DDR3 would rock out with its **** out but does 8 GB of DDR2 kick ass too? I mean really kicks ass

I'd rather have 8gb of DDR2, then you could turn off your page file in windows.

aevm is right though, 4gb ddr2 is plenty for gaming, probably overkill if you're using XP.

to me ddr3 hasn't proven itself. most of the time, ddr2 will outperform it, from what i've seen. i'd say get 8gb of ddr2, an x64 operating system, and turn off that annoying paging file in windows...with all 8gb of memory being accessible in winblows...sorry, i meant windows...you dont need it, so your computer doesnt need to use your hard drive for extra memory storage, which will in turn speed up your system. that, and ddr3 will not really reach its performace peak until about late q1 of next year when both amd and intel fully switch over.

if i were you, i'd take advantage of the low ddr2 prices. just my 2 cents

Once Intel removes the FSB and no longer has to deal with the memory timings, DDR3 will show its strength. You see more of a diffrence on a AMD machine than an Intel machine.

So whats the sweet spot here? is it 4 GB of DDR2? I kno some of the boards have 2 slots of DDR2 and 4 slots DDR3 would that be good for future upgrades you think? Or do i need to wait for FSBs to go away? Any good board suggestions are appreciated also if you want to back up DDR2 or DDR3

Some boards have 4 slots of DDR2 and 2 slots of DDR3, like my own GA-P35C-DS3R. Nah, I wouldn't bother. These boards cost more and tend to overclock less well. If they could use DDR2 and DDR3 at the same time I'd love them, but they can't.

Before we give you motherboard suggestions, tell us what you want from the PC. Since you're considering DDR3 at all, I'll assume you have a pretty good budget.

If you want a gaming machine, get yourself a GA-X48-DS4 or Asus P5E Deluxe, then add one or two HD 4850 or HD 4870.

If you're not that interested in games, something like GA-EP43-DS3L or GA-EP45-DS3R or Asus P5Q Pro.

a mobo with a good sound card would be nice to because i want good sound but dont want to spend $90 for good sound

aight sounds good. thanks bro

It means any DDR2 up to 1200 is expected to work. For example DDR2-800 or DDR2-667 should work with a motherboard like that. Yeah, O.C. stands for overclocked. If that bothers you, you can get something based on a more advanced chipset than P43 (e.g. GA-EP45-DS3R, GA-X48-DS4) but they cost more.

You'd have to adjust a bunch of settings in the BIOS, I think. I can't say for sure because I don't have one of those, I just read some reviews.

Anyway, if you're planning to get that kind of RAM then I assume you're serious about overclocking, and in that case you're better off with a P45 instead of the P43. Look at the Asus P5Q Pro for example, or the GA-EP45-DS3R. I like the P5Q Pro more because it has Crossfire, but you don't have to care about that.

You can't change it to DDR3 unless you have one of those weird motherboards like mine, with dual support for DDR2 and DDR3. Also, it's not worth it, the speed improvement would be very small.