Is DDR2 still hot?

Liamalxd

Liamalxd

Liamalxd

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I own a (if-i-say-so-myself) beautiful DDR2 system.

Specs:
CPU - AMD ATHLON X2 6400+ 3.2GHZ DUAL CORE.
MEM - 4GB DDR2 800MHZ DUAL CHANNEL RAM.
HDD - 500GB SATA 7200RPM SEAGATE HDD.
GPU - ASUS EAH5870 1GB GDDR5.
PSU - 700W ICUTE PSU.

(i get about 12975 points in 3Dmark06)

It may not be the best available but it provides me with maxed out settings on several games including borderlands, bioshock 2, modern warfare 2 etc.

My question is this, is DDR2 really outdated? in terms of new products yes, since DDR3 is out, but in terms of performance. my system proves you can own a very good gaming rig using DDR2. despite most people using DDR3 these days.

lately i have been tempted to invest in a DDR3, quad core phenom system. but for the money and effort i'm on the verge of sticking with my current system, is the upgrade really worth it if all i will gain is about 10-15fps?
 
What model is your motherboard, you may be able to upgrade to quad without changing the board and memory, but if your not getting any slow downs ect then I see no reason to spend money :)
 
I think in terms of ram, as long as your still not on ddr1, there is no real performance boost in terms of gaming.

Unless your looking to upgrade your system if its struggling, there is no need to spend the money. I'm in the same situation - gonna see if i can make it last until xmas 2012!
 
the best thing you could spend ya money on is a new cpu depending on your mobo i would go for a x2 550 on a budget ( as i've just got it to 965 spec by unlocking the core's and putting it to 3.4 and that got a cpu score 14277 with a stock 4870 x2 or if you dont want teh risk get a 955 (all depending on mobo that is and when bulldozer come out you COULD upgrade ya mobo and ram to ddr3 and have the option of bulldozer later on ;)
 
RJC said:
AMD new range of cpu's, hopefully being launch over the next few months.
Click to expand...

I think next few months is a little optimistic? Sandy Bridge is early 2011 and afaik Bulldozer will be after that possibly later on in 2011. It certainly won't be anytime this year...
 
Well I did not know needed to be precise with exact dates and times.
Being October next week few months could / can take you into Jan, least it gives a rough figure.
 
Have you noticed any games not being GPU-limited? Anything you know maxes out both cores of your cpu? Or uses all available memory bandwidth from DDR2? If not...then why bother. My spec is in sig (albeit cpu is not overclocked now as I don't see any point) and it does everything I need fine...could do with a better GPU obviously, but as far as CPU and RAM goes I'm not limited...plays back 1920x1080 h264 fine, latest games are GPU limited, never need more than 2GB of RAM...it's tempting to upgrade all the time with shiny new stuff coming out but...the only thing I could logically justify to myself is an SSD or a GTX460 (which probably won't max out Crysis 2 so I'm waiting anyway lol)

I say you'd see more change simply getting an SSD as OS/app drive than going quad and DDR3.
 
The main difference between DDR3 and DDR2 is that DDR3 has half the core memory speed of DDR2 (and again of standard DDR). However, the data is transferred across the bus at twice the speed.

This is done by increasing the width of the memory’s prefetch buffer to 8 bits wide as opposed to 4 bits wide of DDR2 (2 bits for DDR). The net result produces the same bandwidth but since DDR3 operates with a lower clock speed and therefore less power consumption, there is plenty of headroom for greater bandwidths. The offset for this is increased latency timings. This is why you see newer CPU with a relatively lower bus speed to what they used to be.

So in answer to your question is no there is no benefit.
 
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