DDR2 1200 PC8800 who uses it and why

[TenPc]

What is really known about DDR2 1200mhz ram and would it be any good, really?Any thoughts or opinions?

 

[itzdanielp]

Homework assignment?

DDR3 was released in mainstream systems back in 2007, and DDR2 was phased out fairly quickly. So any system that is still using DDR2 is going to be old.

1200MHz DDR2 would be hot, power hungry, and wouldn't really give any noticeable performance boost.

 

[TenPc]

Cool reply, it is in relation to a Question I'm trying to figure out.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1623619/pci-slots-problem.html#10496244

Not really just about the DDR2 1200 but those ram types that require overclocking to reach their advertised speeds.

 

[itzdanielp]

Ah, I am starting to understand.

First off it seems (unintentionally I'm sure) that you are grouping all RAM into "DDR" where there are currently 3 very different technologies and soon to be a 4th.

I will try to answer your question using the current generation of RAM, DDR3.

The default speed of RAM is actually linked to the CPU. First and second Gen i series intel ran by default at 1333MHz, 3rd gen i series runs by default at 1600MHz. The MB sets these speeds, depending on other hardware.

This is why I can go out right now and buy a 2400MHz RAM kit, and drop it in a Sandy Bridge (second Gen i5) boot it up, and it will be running at 1333MHz. In order to increase it to the rated specs we need to OC it, which is easy now that XMP profiles are included that have all the settings. You just choose which one you want.

 

[TenPc]

In relation to that other thread, could overclocked ram actually impact on the video card performance?

 

[itzdanielp]

Not really. It can impact the entire system performance, but it won't impact the GPU exclusively.

Also, on the other thread, the user mentioned he started having the problem while he was not overclocking it. He was using it at 800MHz (400MHz dual channel) which is the default for his chipset. Just because the MB is capable of 1200MHz (or 1100MHz) doesn't mean he was using it at those speeds.