Rambus v DDR

Hi there.

I am a newbie to ram tech but i have been in the market for a new motherboard. I had the choice between Rambus and DDR and everyone that i have spoken to says that DDR is the better of the 2.

I also heard that Rambus runs in a serial configuration where DDR runs in a parallel configuration. What that means is, if you have 1 stick of Rambus memory and 3 open slots, you'll have to complete the circut with "dummy" ram in the remaining 3 slots. However... I don't know that as fact yet, so look into it before you believe it.

If you want to see the performance differences that convinced me that DDR400 is worthy, have a look at the following Tom's Hardware articles:

<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20020720/index.ht..." target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20020720/index.ht...;/A>
and
<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021204/index.ht..." target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/20021204/index.ht...;/A>

Note that the Rambus board is always at the top of the list but also pay attention to the fact that the DDR400 board is only a few frames per second behind the Rambus board and in some cases out performs the Rambus board.

I hope this puts you on the road to a conclusion
Cheers

If you go yo use 1GB setting go for DDR but not PC3200.

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.

rdram is the best performer as of now until the sis655 chipset hits the street....so I would have to say go with pc3200 and wait on the new sis655 mobos

one more thing....you will not see much performance difference at all between using 512mb of ram and 1gb of ram unless you are doing something such as video capture etc..

what do you mean go for DDR but not pc3200?

This is going to be part of an entire comp purchase off cyberpowerinc.com

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by BlueHornet on 01/30/03 03:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

PC1066 is still the fastest out. Unless you are overclocking then going with PC3200 is a waste of time for the P4. The only chipsets that support it is the SIS 648 and Via's P4X400 chipsets. The 648 chipset despite the review has several problems running stable. Also if you could even find a via chipset your dealing with something that is unsupported. It's not reccommended.

I think what Juin means is that you shouldn't bother with PC3200 when using a Intel chipset as they only support PC2700.

If your looking to save a few bucks go with PC2700, unless you want the absolute fastest stuff out there (Mainly for bragging rights) then DDR is a better choice. Save the extra wad of cash and use it to get a faster video card. (Unless gaming aint your thing.)

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

SIS have the 648 and 655 chipsets which both support DDR400.

Motherboard manufacturors to have a look at that use these chipsets are <A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/" target="_new"> MSI </A> and <A HREF="http://gigabyte.com.tw/" target="_new"> Gigabyte </A>

MSI have the 648 MAX which is a pretty decent board.

Gigabyte have the:
GA-8SQ667 (SIS 648)
GA-8SG800 (SIS 648)

GA-8SQ800 (SIS 655)
GA-8SQ800 Ultra (SIS 655) LAN+GigaRaid
GA-8SQ800 Ultra 2 (SIS 655) Gigabit LAN

The 8SQ series all support DDR400 as well as Dual DDR which helps you use the full potential of the DDR400 memory giving you a bandwidth of 6.40 GBytes/sec as opposed to 4.00 GBytes/sec on a standard DDR400 board.

You can't compare DDR400 to PC800, you have to compare it to PC1066. Comparing it to the slower memory was THG's way of lying to you.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

PC1066 is definately faster right now.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

I agree that PC 1066 is faster. but in the first review in my first post, it compared DDR400 to both PC 800 and PC 1066.

But as i said... im a newbie to ramm tech so i could have been lead blindly, but for "now on paper" and price value i personally would stick with Dual DDR400. If there are any sites you know of that could convince me otherwise please let me know as i haven't purchased my Motherboard yet so i would like to get more info about it before i buy it.

Thanks

I don't think it's cheaper, but DDR400 probably has a little more future in it.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

RAmbus Pc1066 is fater and more stable compare to Pc3200.

Price for 256 stick is about the same but rdram will come with 1 year warrentie.When come to 512 stick price skyrocket for RDRAM as I850 is to old to support bigger module.

Pc3200 standart are changing right now so i dont mean the older Pc3200 will be fully compatible with the real PC3200.

SIS 655 is not faster that granite bay even put with PC2700 (if you use a lot of memory granite bay become faster made for workstation personal guess).PC 3200 is unstable in most of the case when using more that 1 module and also over 512MB it becoming unstable will crash more often as a RDRAM systemes almost never crash 1/year or less as long as you keep your windows clear of thing like kazaa.PC 2700 is solid as the will move to XEON sooner in less that 1 year.

SO it get the same thing

at 512 or 256 mb use RDRAM for max performace

at 1GB use DDR 2700 as PC3200 is mean only for gamer and the like that tweak systemes to the max RDRAM price simply to high.


It will be good if you can give use the software it will run

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.

for gaming, graphics/rendering programs, net downloading/uploading programs-ftp, I want to multitask like a beast, thx.

peace,
-=<font color=blue>i3lue}{orneT</font color=blue>=-

-bump-

peace,
-=<font color=blue>i3lue}{orneT</font color=blue>=-

for gaming, graphics/rendering programs, net downloading/uploading programs-ftp, I want to multitask like a beast

On a massive rendering and massive file under photoshop RDRAM can helpful also under autocad RDRAM is killer.Sientific workload rdram is also killer.

gaming game game graphic graphic graphic carte.The ram will help but most of the game dont use all the power that RDRAM can give

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.