DDR2 or DDR3???

I'm getting ready to build a new PC using an AMD 955be and need to figure out what MB to get. So in order to make my decision, I need to figure out whether or not going to DDR3 instead of DD2 is worth the extra $. I plan to mainly use it for web browsing, Photoshop, and some gaming (*mainly game on consoles).

Sorry if this seems like a noob question, but hey, I am a noob. This will be my first attempt at building a system myself, so any input you my have is very appreciated.

Theres no difference performance wise between ddr2 and ddr3. However, for future upgradability you should go with ddr3. Its cheap enough. Newegg has 6gb of OCZ for $69.99 after $20 rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-20227381

Use promo code EMCLSMX33

I dont know who told you that but 1.5v is between 1.5 and 1.7..............................

Go to the 955 product page and look the combo's with motherboard, you can save quite a bit that way.

Yeah, well you just use two of them.

I disagree. AMD stated that DDR3 gives their CPUs about a 5% speed increase. However, would the average user be able to appreciate that difference? Probably not.

The problem that we have been faced with for the past several years is that each new generation of ram wipes out it's performance increase with higher latency times. I think the first quantium leap in ram speed will occur when DDR5 ram is available for motherboards.

I still respectfully disagree. There are performance increases. Why would all of these companies go through all of the trouble of introducing DDR3 if there was no peformance benefit over DDR2? I realize it creates a selling opportunity for uneducated consumers, but there has to be a reason beyond that.

DDR2 800 is 3% faster than DDR2 533. I can provide several references / links to support this claim. Yes the latencies do double but there are minor speed increases.

Look at AMDs power point. They contribute DDR3 1333 to increasing the speed of their Phenom II processors over the previous generation.

Here is the article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 114-3.html

Were not talking about "All those companies", were talking about current AMD AM3 processors.

I've seen the tests from several different reviewers. Theres no performance difference with AM3 using DDR3 over DDR2. Tell yourself what you want.

From Maximum PC article DDR2 vs DDR3 (with AM3)

"From media encoding to games, DDR3 had no impact on performance over DDR2. Even in synthetic memory benchmarks that push ram to its limits we didnt see DDR3 make a case for itself. PC mark vantage which stresses application workloads actually saw a slight DECREASE in performance over DDR2. Only in the synthetic gaming test, 3dmark vantage did DDR3 pull ahead by a slight advantage."

AMD is introducing quad channel memory next year along with an additional HT link and additional cache.
We'll see what that brings to the table and how it compares to Intel's Tri-channel configuration.

Well it will debut on the server side I'm sure.

Yeah I guess they only have 4 slots huh? Well I just thought it was a good price, even if you only needed 2 sticks.