DDR2 or DDR3 ???

[sastusbulbas]

I was wondering,

With a budget of £100 to £150 you can get either a DDR2 or DDR3 motherboard.

You can get 4Gb of DDR3 for the same sort of prices as DDR2.

So would you get better performance by choosing DDR3? Or is something like Dominator PC-8500 a better choice?

I was also wondering if matching processor and memory speeds is beneficial?

Say an E7400 with PC-8500 at 1066, or an E8400 with DDR3 at 1333?

Sorry if its a silly noob type thing to ask.

While I am asking, most motherboadrs now seem to have an 8pin connection instead of the old 4pin, would this mean a new PSU would be required?

 

[reflux]

There is very little difference in performance between the two. Also processor and memory speeds don't matter.

You could go for some DDR3 now with the intention of using it in an i7 build, but you will need triple channel and therefore an odd number of sticks.

 

[sastusbulbas]

I am trying not to be tempted by i7.

To be honest I am trying to limit the ceiling at an E8400.

So would I be better off buying a DDR2 motherboard and 4Gb of Dominator PC-8500?

I still don't understand the point of DDR3 for "normal" 775 socket chips? I did think someting like an overclocked E8400 may eek a little more performance out with DDR3, but now I am hearing it performs no better than DDR2 667 "1333 MHz FSB = 333.3 MHz "Real" FSB. 333.3 MHz FSB = DDR667 in memory terms?

I notice stuff like overclocking PC-8500 and people mentioning it's potential, but why? If DDR3 is higher spec would it not give more headroom? Why do motherboard manufacturers bother with 1333mhz on the processor and up to 1600 on the memory capabilities?