780i/DDR2 vs 790i/DDR3

mremulator · 30 Apr 2008 at 19:41

Been trying to decide all week whether to go for 790i mobo (Asus Striker 2) and DDR3 2000MHz (Super Talent) or 780i mobo (EVGA/XFX) and DDR2 800MHz (Crucial).

I hear the Asus Striker 2 runs MUCH cooler even without the Fusion NB block plumbed in (which I will be). Also the DDR3 2000MHz is meant to be like **** of a shovel.

The only other choice I have to make is Q6600, Q9450 or E8400.

Choices choices.

Please star out all swear words - Zefan.

Smirnoff · 30 Apr 2008 at 20:07

I'd go for the EVGA 790i over the Striker, If your looking to overclock get a E8400 or Q6600 as the Q9450 is a poor clocker.

Urban Reflex · 30 Apr 2008 at 20:22

I'm running an air cooled Striker II Extreme with an E8400. Pure bliss. OCZ Platinum DDR3 1333Mhz works fine with the board.

mremulator · 1 May 2008 at 08:26

So I'm not wasting my money then? The 790i/DDR3 combo is a faster option?

Urban Reflex · 1 May 2008 at 09:34

To be honest it depends how much you're willing to spend and how future proof you want your rig to be. I went with DDR3 over DDR2 because, while there isn't much difference at the moment (thus me havin only 2GB of only 1333Mhz RAM), DDR3 is clearly the way forward. If you buy DDR2 now sure you'll save a lot of money, but I'm pretty sure you'll see better performance with the 2000Mhz 99924 (or whatever they are) DDR3 modules that are out now, if you're willing to pay the premium.

Ultimately though, whether the performance difference is worth the extra cash is not my place to say. As an aside, I do hear the 790i has less problems than the 780i motherboards in terms of reliability.

mremulator · 1 May 2008 at 10:43

Urban Reflex said:
To be honest it depends how much you're willing to spend and how future proof you want your rig to be. I went with DDR3 over DDR2 because, while there isn't much difference at the moment (thus me havin only 2GB of only 1333Mhz RAM), DDR3 is clearly the way forward. If you buy DDR2 now sure you'll save a lot of money, but I'm pretty sure you'll see better performance with the 2000Mhz 99924 (or whatever they are) DDR3 modules that are out now, if you're willing to pay the premium.

Ultimately though, whether the performance difference is worth the extra cash is not my place to say. As an aside, I do hear the 790i has less problems than the 780i motherboards in terms of reliability.

I'd buy the 2000MHz DD3 modules in a heartbeat... HOWEVER, getting that 500MHz FSB is another matter. Apparently you have to start fiddling with the mobo voltages above 475MHz? In addition, there is no guarantee that the CPU will allow such a relatively high FSB. This is why I'm now thinking about a 780i mobo and fast DDR2 yet again.

Also people are reporting data corruption with the 790i chipset. :eek:

errata · 1 May 2008 at 13:06

If you spend the same amount of money on a ddr vs a ddr3 system is there any perfomance difference ?