Board supports DDR3 and DDR2, should I 'upgrade'?

MissChief

MissChief

MissChief

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My Gigabyte P35 board supports DDR2 as well as DDR3 and I currently have 4 1Gb DDR2 sticks in there. Would I see any benefit in changing that to 2x2GB DDR3 sticks? I do want to upgrade at some point to i5 or i7 but you'll be talking the end of next year, maybe even 2012 by which time DDR3 will probably be cheap as chips but DDR3 prices are pretty good atm, would I see any noticable difference?

I'm not too keen on OC'ing the E8400 I have as every previous attempt has resulted in a non boot, CMOS reset scenario. Thoughts?
 
In real world applications you will in all likelihood not notice any difference at all. It is only in benchmarking or in particular media rendering applications that there is real benefit. So I shall leave you to draw your own conclusion.
 
I doubt you notice any day to day performance increase other than in benchmarks.
I would wait untill your ready to upgrade.
 
as already mentioned i wouldn't bother upgrading too ddr3.

as for your overclocking, have you managed to overclock it even a little bit and have it stable, have you checked the website too see if they have a better bios for the processor ?
 
The advantage of using ddr2 (800?) with then e8400 is you can simply up the host frequency to 400mhz but set the memory multiplier as 2x meaning you can over-clockings the cpu without over-clocking the ram. The advantage being it's idiot proof since the only thing you have to tinker with is the voltage and all you have to watch is the cpu temp and voltage.

Btw, we're on bios 12 for these boards and that's what will show up if you use @BIOS, but the site goes 10, 11, 13. Would seem to be a typo to me but I never checked since @BIOS has always been easier.

Edit: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/intel_core_2_duo_e8400_overclocking_guide,1.html
 
Well i followed that guide although some of the functions like changing the memory timings weren't available. I upped for core to the suggested frequency and saved, and nada happened. Chip still running at 3Ghz. meh I'm happy enough with it!
 
In my experience, I have RARELY seen good stability/compatibility/performance from the dual memory mode boards. Other than you possibly benefitting from higher density memory, such as 2 x 4GB modules, I'd suggest you stay away from DDR3 on that board.
 
This thread just happens to be something that I randomly thought about again for the first time in ages on my MSI X48c Platinum system...

I've had 2x2GB of Corsair DDR2 cas5 (DHX? The ones with the "fins" that was available back in Easter 2008 or was it 2007) running at 800MHz, since I put this system together around what was a brand new Q9300 at the time (which has always been tempremental about overclocking even to 400MHz unless I dropped the multiplier a notch or to).

This instability which Yellowbeard talks about has definitely run true for me, if I ever tried to push the performance, which made me wonder if DDR3 might be worth a shot now that prices for DDR3 have tumbled relative to when I put this system together? The hybrid motherboard might even run better!

Given that the X48c officially supports 1600MHz for DDR3, do you think this "upgrade" would only be worth doing if I was to get some low cas-rated DDR3... cas7?
 
If you are going to 8GB, it may be OK assuming your board likes the DDR3. If you are only going to change from DDR2 to DDR3 and stay with 4GB total, then no. It's a pointless expenditure.
 
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