Thinking of building a DDR3 based system..Wasting my money?

eternity

eternity

eternity

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Hello.

Well, I've been saving for quite while now and want to build a new system. Its been about 3 years since my last major upgrade and I expect it will be that again after this build.

So keeping that in mind I want to get the best I can afford while trying to "furture proof" myself best as I can.

I like the look of the Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48 DD3 Mobo, which needs DDR3.

I'm also getting a 9800GX2 and Q9450 CPU.

Is it a mistake going for DDR3 atm?

I have a budget of around £1200. Already have a 24" monitor.

Thanks for any advice.
 
The way I see it, DDR2 is perfectly adequate for our needs at the moment, is cheap, is reliable, and by the time DDR3 is finally useful, it'll be much cheaper.
 
I wouldn't say that building a DDR3-based system would be a waste of cash. I mean yes it is very overpriced at the moment and for the extra amount you pay you probably don't get anywhere near the amount of extra performance.

The thing is though if you bought that memory now, you'd be kicking yourself in a year's time (maybe even a matter of months) when DDR3 is dropping to the prices which DDR2 are at.

Maybe just get a half decent DDR2 mobo with a good chipset, and then sell that off and upgrade when DDR3 prices start to drop off.
 
2gb of DDR3 doesn't offer any particularly compelling advantages over getting 4-8gb of decent PC6400 (or even PC8000+) for the same price or less. If you really want it because it is the newest then that is up to yourself of course but from what I've seen it isn't hugely better.

This is about on the budget and should offer a pretty decent system.

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10664GK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (E891) £359.99
(£422.99) £359.99
(£422.99)
Asus P5E Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £119.99
(£140.99) £119.99
(£140.99)
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) £78.99
(£92.81) £78.99
(£92.81)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £48.99
(£57.56) £48.99
(£57.56)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Sub Total : £1,018.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £21.00
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £181.98
Total : £1,221.89
 
Would you be willing to wait for Nehalem? :D

I'm in the exact same situation as you (except I haven't upgraded in even longer - see my AWESOME specs below) and I'm going to wait a few more months for Intel's "tock" :D
 
Cheers for the replys.

Like the look of that spec. Sorry should have mentioned I already have a case.

Asus Rampage X48 looks good.

Asus Rampage Formula Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £184.99
(£217.36) £184.99
(£217.36)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10664GK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (E891) £359.99
(£422.99) £359.99
(£422.99)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £48.99
(£57.56) £48.99
(£57.56)
Sub Total : £963.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £170.43
Total : £1,144.32
 
Don't think I can last that long.

Compared with the above spec, heres a DDR3 version.

Asus P5E3 Premium/Wifi@N Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (E891) £359.99
(£422.99) £359.99
(£422.99)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £48.99
(£57.56) £48.99
(£57.56)
OCZ 4GB DDR3 PC3-10666C6 1333MHz ReaperX (2x2GB) Dual Channel DDR3 (OCZ3RPX1333EB4GK) £249.99
(£293.74) £249.99
(£293.74)
Sub Total : £1,173.94
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £207.18
Total : £1,391.07
 
2GB of branded PC6200 was about £140 last March.

I have the invoice for build for a family member here and Corsair XMS2 (non DHX)was that price.

I am soon going DDR3 on a 790I Ultra I hope.
 
shaffaaf27 said:
last year, DDR2 PC6400 was arouund £100 and everyone was loving it, but now that DDR3 is £!00 no one wants it???

WTF?
Click to expand...

'Cause, uh, 2GB of DDR2 PC2-6400 is £25 and 2GB of DDR3 is around four times the cost. Also, DDR3 will probably drop like that at some stage, so buying it now is a bit silly when you can save all that cash.

Ah well, at least it's not my money.
 
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