Dead RAM and DDR2 vs DDR3

James_p

James_p

James_p

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Joined
7 Mar 2007
Posts
123
Hi,

One of my Crucial Ballistix sticks has just given up on me - system error beeps and resets - and for me to RMA it I have to send both of my sticks back. I'm thinking this might be a good time to make the jump to DDR3 but I need some advise. I'm currently running the following setup:

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R v1
Intel E2180 @ 3200MHz
2x Crucial Ballistix 6400 1gb

I can have the following memory configurations 4x DDR2 or 2 x DDR3. However, the gigabyte Memory Support List states the mobo can only support sticks up to DDR3-1333 1GB. (user manual say DDR3 supports up to 4GB system memory so I'm a little confused here)

OcUK don't appear to stock 1GB so is it worth me just sticking with DDR2? I don't do much gaming any more, mainly down to my spec, but I was thinking of stepping up to 4GB (running WIN7 x64).

What you think? Thanks
 
Memory type doesn't make much of a difference... sure, there's faster speeds but at the cost of a higher CAS. You do realise you would have to get a new motherboard, and probably new CPU as well?
 
Typical DDR2 is 800MHz with CL5. Typical DDR3 is 1333MHz with CL9.

Lower the CAS the better. It kind of balances out, which is why 1600MHz with CL7 is probably the best balance.

DDR3 does not fit in DDR2 slots, and if it did it wouldn't work.
 
My mobo has 6 slots. 4 DDR2 and 2 DDR3 but as it's an old board I can't do anything higher than 1333MHz. That's why I'm not sure if I should just get some cheap DDR2 until I make a new system, which isn't an option at the moment.
 
Well if you're RMAing it doesn't that mean you get them back in working order? It probably won't take that long, if you're after something to just make it work until then it's probably not going to arrive before your old sticks come back...
 
Are you sure you have to send back both sticks? When one of my (crucial) matched pair went belly up, I only had to send the broken one back meaning I could hobble along on limited ram in the meantime

btw, my experience with the crucial rma process was fantastic - I sent on the Monday and got the replacement on the Wednesday
 
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