DDR3 worth it?

[Dragonclaw]

My mate is going to build a new PC soon but we don't know if it should be with DDR3 or DDR2. I know it is dependant on what Mobo etc. Would there be any noticeable benefits in going the DDR3 route?

[oolon]

Good question, DDR3 has greater latency than DDR2 however it has much higher bandwidth. So single random addresses in memory will be a bit slower however if you want a large data block that will be faster. As systems are requiring more and more memory, something that can throw chunks of it around faster is better in my book.

[Terbinator]

What path is he going down becuase the Intel Core i7 only supports DDR3. Where as the AMD AM2/AM3 support DDR2/3 (DDR3 for AM3 only) as well as the Core 2 chips which support both DDR2/3

[Dragonclaw]

I think it will be AMD

[Terbinator]

I think it will be AMD

Probably best going for an AM3 motherboard and DDr3 then i should think. Hope this helps

[Vimeous]

Future pricing.
DDR2 will only get more expensive now the balance has shifted towards DDR3.

[simonw]

DDR3 prices are close to DDR2 these days, and you would also have the advantage of reusing the DDR3 sticks for your next motherboard upgrade.

[DanceswithUnix]

Future pricing.
DDR2 will only get more expensive now the balance has shifted towards DDR3.

+1

In the future you might want to upgrade that box to 16GB as a mid-life tweak from the 4GB/8GB you build it with now. Will be nice to have the option.

I'm sure I saw some benchies recently that gave a slight nod to DDR3 for performance as well, which makes sense as the technology has had time to mature.

[mac124]

Probably best going for an AM3 motherboard and DDr3 then i should think. Hope this helps

+2, especially if starting from scratch. I would also advise against looking at 775 as its more or less obsolete now so building a new system based on it is pretty pointless, imho.

[Dragonclaw]

Ok so DDR3 then. Cheers for help.

[Pob255]

Depends on requirements and budget.
As has been said different motherboards/cpu's are limited depending on which you get.
DDR2 can be got pritty cheap now, although DDR3 has come down alot and esp for larger amounts of memory it's a better option.

For socket 775 you can get ddr3 motherboards but there's no real improvement with ddr3
For socket AM3 you're looking at DDR3 and it's a reasonable improvement over AM2+ with DDR2
For socket 1366 and i7 cpu it's ddr3 only


EDIT: One thing to note, socket 1366 and i7 cpu uses tripple channel, so you want to buy sets of 3 or 6 sticks, AM3 & CPU use double channel so you want to buy sets of 2 or 4 sticks