Let's Talk: Is it time for DDR3?

[Proximon]

Starting the last week or so, DDR2 prices have risen, while DDR3 prices have dropped. Case in point:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 CAS 7 $60 free shipping

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) CAS 5 $65 no free shipping.

Comparable RAM but the DDR2 actually costs MORE.

Surely, this means buying an AM3 board for a Phenom II now makes perfect sense.

What about LGA 775?

Here we have the most popular P45 board currently, in both DDR2 and DDR3 flavors:
Gigabyte UD3Ps

So, why not? As was mentioned in a thread tonight... what if you want to upgrade to 8GB in the future? Will you pay a premium for obsolete DDR2?

 

[Outlander_04]

You are right . DDR3 is todays RAM

I guess we were spoiled for a while by the cheap DDR2 that was being dumped on the market as DDR3 became mainstream

[ having said that I wouldnt bother with ddr3 on a c2d or c2q build , but with Pll its the sensible choice ]
just watch the timings ... some ddr3 isnt worth it at any price

 

[nerrawg]

Good observation Proximon - looks like DDR3 is becoming the mainstream standard now. I'm gonna make sure to take that into consideration from now on. As for bothering to use DDR3 in a c2d or c2q build - looks like Proximon's references make a good argument for that as well. After all, if the DDR3 board is only $10 more and the RAM is cheaper, why not get DDR3? Then you can transfer it to your core i5 build when you get there...

 

[Proximon]

Are they truly comparable boards? I think so. After all, the P45 chipset already has DDR3 capability built in... It's not much more than a different BIOS version and a different physical memory slot.

I'm really talking here because I'm an old fart and resistant to change... I need more agreement

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I agree that the DDR3 era has begun. We knew it would happen as soon as both Intel and AMD released CPU's with DDR3 support. I think I'll pick up another 4GB DDR2 kit for my computer before the prices go through the roof. I've started playing with virtual machines, so the more RAM the better!

 

[Kill@dor]

That's interesting...

Luckily i still have 4x1GB DDR2 800

 

[Outlander_04]

Good observation Proximon - looks like DDR3 is becoming the mainstream standard now. I'm gonna make sure to take that into consideration from now on. As for bothering to use DDR3 in a c2d or c2q build - looks like Proximon's references make a good argument for that as well. After all, if the DDR3 board is only $10 more and the RAM is cheaper, why not get DDR3? Then you can transfer it to your core i5 build when you get there...

People building computers tend to use them for 3 years or more , maybe with upgrades but often not . If you build a C2d or c2q system today by the time its 3 years old ddr3 will be in the process of being replaced by [ presumably ] DDR4
Combine that with the 775 platform not gaining benefits from faster RAM the way Phenom and i7 do and I think thats a compelling argument to use ddr2 on a socket 775 build UNLESS ddr3 is cheaper

 

[Proximon]

I don't know about you guys, but I ended up moving from 2 to 4 GB of RAM in about 2 years. If in two years 8 GB is a good upgrade, then DDR3 would be the way to go today.

If there's a new RAM standard in 4 years though, it's not going to make much difference today.