Ddr 3 Step Up?

[Nick42]

Hi

IS Ddr 3 memory a big step up compered to Ddr2?

At the mo i am running 1066 ddr2 but thinking of upgrading to ddr3 pc12800 so wondering if i would see any difference or just save my money & stick with the ddr2 for now.

Thanks for any advice cheers Nick..

[RawZ]

I wouldn't say its a big step up, just an upgrade to the newer version. Yes theres a negligible speed difference in real time between your average sticks of DDR2 & 3, but you wouldn't notice it day to day. I have a spare system running DDR2 667 and my current has DDR3 2250Mhz lol. Prices are roughly the same so it wouldn't make sence to buy DDR2 if your after RAM. If your upgarding your whole system, then DDR3 of course.

[Nick42]

Thanks

Its just that i am not sure which to get a ddr2 motherboard to use corrent mem or go for a am3 motherboard & get ddr3 mem cant make my mind up.. cheers

[RDRUNR]

I wouldn't say its a big step up, just an upgrade to the newer version. Yes theres a negligible speed difference in real time between your average sticks of DDR2 & 3, but you wouldn't notice it day to day. I have a spare system running DDR2 667 and my current has DDR3 2250Mhz lol. Prices are roughly the same so it wouldn't make sence to buy DDR2 if your after RAM. If your upgarding your whole system, then DDR3 of course.

Other than O/C'ability of the DDR3, DDR3 2250 must be faster than DDR2 667 in real life tasks...no?

[Tolmandary]

It's not just the memory upgrade you need to factor in. When moving from a DDR2 system to a DDR3 system there are chipset improvements to consider that are simply not available on DDR2 systems.

As for the difference, clock speeds are faster on DDR3 but latency (CAS) is generally higher, although performance DDR3 offers some very nice low latencies along with high clock speeds. For some applications, especially gaming, I still consider low latency to be of more value than a small increase in clock speed. It's always difficult to say exactly what benefit you gain from clock speed is lost to higher latency, but I'm sure there are many discussions around on this topic.

[Nick42]

I made the move

I have got myself a DDr3 system so when i get it up & running will see how it comperes to what i have now looking forward to the results..

[RDRUNR]

I made the move

I have got myself a DDr3 system so when i get it up & running will see how it comperes to what i have now looking forward to the results..

Looking forward to seeing the results there. :D

[coiler]

AM3 CPU's are better suited to DDR3 memory for which they were designed.

Running an AM3 cpu in am2+ board with DDR2 will give a performance hit under heavy load.