Opinions on DDR2/DDR3 mobos?

Gogl

Gogl

Gogl

Associate
Joined
15 Apr 2008
Posts
1,240
Hey there, I've been waiting to upgrade for so long that I figured I could wait to see what these new GPUs bring, even if it's just a drop in the price of existing hardware.

As I plan to keep my next build for a while, I had said I'd prefer to go for a DDR3 over a DDR2 mobo, and just make do with a couple of cheap DDR3 sticks until the price drops. But having seen something like the MSI X48C Platinum, I thought that this would be ideal.

Anyone got any thoughts on combined DDR2/DDR3 mobos? Are there any downsides to using these dual RAM mobos?

Planned components change all the time, so heaven know what I'll be looking at come next month, but if anyone was curious the chip I have my eye on at the mo is the X3350, not just for gaming. And I do hope to overclock.

Cheers.
 
I have had the x48c Platinum for a couple of weeks now, very happy with it! Not done much overclocking, but my system is rock solid at 400 fsb with stock voltages.

The only minor (and it is minor at this time) niggle is that I have not been able to use "Live Update" in Vista HP-64, it hangs while searching for updates. This application does need Dot Net 2.0, but I presumed that the 3.0 version that comes with Vista is backwards compatable?
 
generally combo mobos don't perform quite as well as boards tuned for only 1 RAM type.
Also, they typically have 4 DDR2 & only 2 DDR3 slots - given current pricing & anticipated future RAM demands it would probably be better if they had 2 DDR2 slots & 4 DDR3.
 
Thank guys, I couldn't agree more about the RAM slots, though that particular board's specs state:

- Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600 SDRAM, 8GB Max
- Supports two unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 667/800 SDRAM, 4GB Max

That's right isn't it?

I'm assuming BUFF that the lack of performance you speak of means that they often don't overclock as well?

So if you do end up overclocking yours UTmaniac, be sure to let us know how you get on with it. It's still probably top of my list, but if it's OCing potential sucks I'll keep looking.

Thanks again chaps.
 
Well here are my experiences with DDR2/3 Mobos.

Me and my friends bought PC's within 3 months of each other, we all went on these DDR2/3 Mobo's.

I had the Gigabyte DS3R, which failed on me by going into a constant cycle of reboots.. it would turn on and before it even got chance to post it would reboot again.

My 2 friends bought the Asus P5KC, the first one set on fire.. one of the capacitors next to the CPU socket went up in flames. a few weeks after my other friends P5KC failed, but this time it froze at the BIOS screen and gradually got worse until you had to have 8 attempts just for it to post, even when you did eventually get into windows it would just get the BSOD after a few minutes.

So now i'm not too fussed over these DDR2/3 mobos, and i'm sure you see why.
 
Thanks JimAroo, I'll bare that in mind, while I don't want to have to fork out more money for a new mobo in six months time to enable me to switch to DDR3, I certainly don't want to have one go up in smoke. I'll keep an eye out for reliability issues.
 
JimAroo said:
I had the Gigabyte DS3R, which failed on me by going into a constant cycle of reboots.. it would turn on and before it even got chance to post it would reboot again.
Click to expand...

thats a cpu problem. it happened to me on a p35t-dq6 with a e2200 and a q6600 cpu. had to use a e6400 to flash bios to latest version and then all was fine afterwards.
 
stick with ddr2 boards now and worry about ddr3 when the performance is there and the price isn't as high.

combo boards suck .....to put it bluntly.
 
Not had any problems with my Asus P5KC. Running my Q6600 @ 3.4Ghz

However, I wish I'd gone for the Asus P5K prem as the P5KC doesn't support RAID 5. No intel RAID controller and running memory higher than PC8000 is a bit flaky.
 
That's very good to hear about the stability/performance Huddy. I have to say though, I've no idea why one would affect the other (intel RAID controller/memory).

This is because I'm clueless as opposed to having reason to doubt it.

Btw, that sig made me laugh! :D
 
I've installed 3 P5KCs and all worked fine and overclocked nicely. However, when i installed P5K Prem for a client last month, I was a little green with envy.. Great board, good features, full RAID (which he wanted RAID - 5) and took the PC8500 no problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom