DDR2 VS DDR 3 Difference

B&W · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:15

Hi Guys

quick question, im using my Computer for gaming only

would there be a difference between 4GB DDR2 and 4GB DDR3 memory in gaming with a Q660.

regards
B&W

Hagar · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:20

Very little but if the choice is buying both new, get DDR3

Plec · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:34

If you already own the 4Gb DDR2 you could probably sell it for around the same price as new DDR3.

B&W · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:36

nkata said:
Very little but if the choice is buying both new, get DDR3

not really a big choice because if i want DDR3 its 125 pound for a new motherboard, but if i wanto to keep the ddr2 ram i can get the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L for 35 pounds and keep my RAM.

good choice?

Admiral Huddy · 6 Jun 2011 at 14:45

If you intend to keep your Q6600 then the only benefit is you coould aim for higher bus speeds.. but we are talking extreme speeds. DDR3 effectively has a better throughput so youl could run the RAM at a higher frequency but this won't improve performance by much.

I ran both DDR2 and DDR3 on my old P5KC motherboard and benchmarks should little or no difference. However, i always suspected a flaky controller on this board so who knows. Bottom line.. stickto what you have for the moment and upgrade the whole lot when you can.

B&W · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:02

Admiral Huddy said:
If you intend to keep your Q6600 then the only benefit is you coould aim for higher bus speeds.. but we are talking extreme speeds. DDR3 effectively has a better throughput so youl could run the RAM at a higher frequency but this won't improve performance by much.

I ran both DDR2 and DDR3 on my old P5KC motherboard and benchmarks should little or no difference. However, i always suspected a flaky controller on this board so who knows. Bottom line.. stickto what you have for the moment and upgrade the whole lot when you can.

ye i really want to keep my Q660, just want to overclock it to 3.0 + ghz with the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-221-GI

only thing is, when is the DDR2 4GB RAM going to go down in price, its expensive, even more so than the DDR3, which is stupid.

Admiral Huddy · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:38

What RAM do you currently have?

Orcvader · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:39

B&W said:
yonly thing is, when is the DDR2 4GB RAM going to go down in price, its expensive, even more so than the DDR3, which is stupid.

It won't go down in price anymore. Rather it'll just keep going up, since they're not being made anymore. Hence in the future DDR2 RAM will become quite valuable. I would recommend stick with DDR2 unless you plan a full CPU/MB upgrade.

B&W · 6 Jun 2011 at 15:40

Admiral Huddy said:
What RAM do you currently have?

normal Purple coat DDR2 2GB RAM.

JamesM · 6 Jun 2011 at 16:06

Perhaps hold out for a few more months before upgrading the CPU, mobo and memory? Seems a shame to be buying more DDR2 when if you come to upgrading you'll have to get rid for DDR3.

Admiral Huddy · 6 Jun 2011 at 16:32

B&W said:
DDR2 2GB RAM.

Do you know the frequency? Run CPU-Z / memory tab to find out if you don't know.

B&W · 6 Jun 2011 at 16:48

Admiral Huddy said:
Do you know the frequency? Run CPU-Z / memory tab to find out if you don't know.

dram frequency : 266.1 mhz
FSB: DRAM 1.1

im going to be upgrading this ram soon anyway but what does this mean and is it a decent pair of ram?

Hagar · 6 Jun 2011 at 17:07

B&W said:
dram frequency : 266.1 mhz
FSB: DRAM 1.1

im going to be upgrading this ram soon anyway but what does this mean and is it a decent pair of ram?

DDR2 PC2 - 4200 I think, runs at 533MHz (2 x 266.7) fairly boggo standard.