Ddr2 and ddr3 memory heat emission

[Nashsafc]

How much less heat does say ddr3 1333mhz 9-9-9-24 compared to ddr2 800mhz 5-5-5-18 give out? Less voltage doesn't necessarilly mean less heat all the time? But by how much is ddr3 better at conserving power and giving of less heat than ddr2 for the performance. I know that ddr3 runs from 1.6 volts and ddr2 from 1.8volts. I'd like some graphs if possible showing competative results between ddr3 and ddr2 memory for heat emission and power consumption. Thanks in advance.

 

[canadian69]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ddr3_13.html

 

[Nashsafc]

so it is only very slightly more power conserving then. So only makes the slightest difference and ddr2 certainly shouldn't really put any more load on the power supply then. What about heat emissions. There's no results on that.

 

[canadian69]

I couldn't find specific benchmarks for that, but lower wattage = less power = less heat. Thermodynamics. I do find it curious tho that the high end DDR3 memories come with heat diffusion and thermal sensors, which would seem less important. Maybe the packages need to shed heat faster than DDR2 or I am missing something.

 

[Nashsafc]

I thought i saw a review looking at ddr2 memory heat. DDR2 800mhz came at 33 degrees load and ddr2 1066mhz came at 54 degrees at load. Partly why i was not sure aobut ddr2 1066mhz memory. What is the maximum heat allowance for ddr2 memory anyway, and is temperature not really an issue with memory modules, even when overclocking. I suppose ddr2 has a lot shorter a life span than ddr3 because of higher heat emissions is that so? Also higher power consumption linked to higher heat emissions can't necessarilly be true, i mean i thought it must be, but looking at the GTS 250 and the ATI 4850, the GTS 250 is cooler at idle and load compared to the ATI 4850, and the ATI 4850 uses 40 watts less than the GTS 250. I think both cards had the same heatsink on as well.

 

[canadian69]

Well, the type of fabrication technology, frequencies and any number of other factors will be variables contributing to power consumption and heat generation. Just because a video card runs cooler than an older video card even at higher watts doesn't negate the laws of thermodynamics.

There are cooling systems for memory, esp for overclockers. most memory I handle on a day to day basis usually has either nothing or a heat diffuser plate on it. I don't normally worry about memory temperatures. Maybe I should start.

 

[Nashsafc]

do those include for ddr3 as well seeing how they consume less power and heat up less? Although i can't overclock my ddr2 800mhz ram anyway. Perhaps anyway editting the timings would be a better option. But i don't really need to overclock my memory and the performance increase is miniscule so i'm ok. I just want to know what i'm missing out on not having ddr3 memory. I have an am3 processor so not that ddr3 would be impossible to upgrade on. But seeing how i have a bought a ddr2 motherboard already and ddr2 memory it woulldn't be a sensible option to upgrade to ddr3.

 

[canadian69]

What about the specific marriage between your processor and DDR2 vs. DDR3? Would your processor perform better with DDR3? I guess not all Phenom processors support DDR3, but I am wondering if it is important to the ones that do?

I dont have much experience with AMD.

 

[Nashsafc]

yes it does, but the ddr3 ram has to be clocked about 266mhz higher to be at the same speed (because of higher latencies), although ultimately i know ddr3 ram is faster than ddr2 ram because it goes all the way up to 2000mhz where ddr2 stops at 1066mhz. But my main question is how much less heat does ddr3 ram emmit compared to ddr2 and how much more cooler is it.

 

[canadian69]

I think I have figured out a way to benchmark this. A liquid crystal strip thermometer. One from a reptile aquarium would have the proper temperature ranges and it would slip right in between the DIMMs. LOL.

 

[Nashsafc]

oh you mean it is very hard to benchmark ram temperatures because they don't have their own thermal sensors? Sorry about that i forgot to take that into account. Ok apart from that, do you think it would be possible for me to change the latencies of my corsair ddr2 800mhz from 5-5-5-18 to 4-4-4-12. Or are there any other timings that are between cl5 and cl4 like 5-4-4-15 or something? Would i be able to achieve those latencies by setting the ddr voltage to 2.1? It's best you see to ask before you go into the actual overclock or even try to test the timings because too much voltage, or many attempts to get the right voltage is risky, and it's a good idea to get some expert advice first you see at least an estimate to the closest voltage needed to achieve the overclock. Even adding small voltage increase to small changes in timings is risky is it not, because many attempts changing the voltage slightly and failing can add towards harming the ram?

 

[Poisoner]

yes it does, but the ddr3 ram has to be clocked about 266mhz higher to be at the same speed (because of higher latencies), .

Understand what you are talking about before you talk about it. DDR3 has twice the theoretical bandwith as DDR2 at the same speed. Also, if you admit that ram speed has little impact then why are you so concerned with temperature and voltage? Just get a ram cooler and be done with it.

 

[Nashsafc]

Ofcourse i know what i'm talking about after reading many reviews from anandtech and xbitlabs. i'm comparing the technology. I'm thinking about games mainly, but you generally get the idea. I'm sure it is usually true that ddr2 800mhz is faster at gaming 5-5-5-15 than ddr3 800mhz probably 6-6-6 something. ddr3 1066mhz is as fast as ddr2 800mhz. i looked at many reviews and saw that ddr2 1066mhz 5-5-5-15 is as fast or only about 1 FPS slower in some games or even 1 FPS faster in some other games than ddr3 1333mhz 9-9-9-24. It's just that i havn't really seen any results on temperature differences, and few power consumption differences, they're interesting to look at. ddr3 ram now is great because the prices have come down soo much, i mean where i live i can buy ddr3 1333mhz for the same price as ddr2 800mhz. i know that the main advantage of ddr3 is these three thngs; less power consumption and less heat emissison, and ultimately much higher frequencies, i think this is only why ddr3 is better, as well as good price.

 

[Poisoner]

9-9-9-24 at 1333mhz are *** timings. I just changed the ratio in my BIOS and added a little voltage and I got 9-9-9-25 at 1534mhz. Thats without tuning anything.

You should get whatever ram your motherboard takes. If you need a new mobo to uses ddr3 then it probably won't be worth it unless your upgrading more than just the ram itself. I myself use an Athlon II X4 620 with 2gb ddr3 on an asus M4A79XTD EVO. My max overclock that I managed to get into the OS with was at 3510mhz at 1.5v. My ram is just BS crucial 1066mhz, which I usually adjust the ratio lower so I can maximize my reference clock.

 

[Nashsafc]

none of the athlon ii series are black edition though? it's a good job i have a phenom ii 720 meaning that i don't have to touch the FSB and can get an easy 3.2ghz overclock from it. Adjusted my ddr2 800mhz ram from 5-5-5-18-22 to 5-5-5-15-20 lol, not that it would actually make any difference. But i did a test with passmark and compared it to the original timings and the second results were noticably better. Anyway do you think i could set my timings even lower than that with added voltage? These 5-5-5-15 timings will probably give me about 1 FPS more in games or 0.5 of a framerate i think. But what does it matter when i have a ATI HD 4870 (512mb) on a 1280x1024 max resolution lol, i mean FPS increase is not noticable at all.