DDR2 or DDR3?

R

Rigabear

New Member
Hello, I'm looking into buying a new computer (for high spec gaming) but unfortunately I'm a bit lost when it comes to all this talk of memory.

At the moment, I can either afford:
8192MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
Or
3GB 1333MHz Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM

Simply put, which will I get better performance out of? If the DDR2 is superior, how much DDR3 would I need for the opposite to be true? Or does the DDR3 trump the DDR2 because of the need for 'future proofing'?

Perhaps more importantly, are there any inherent flaws in asking this question? Should I be looking for something else?

Thanks in advance.

(Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere - my search-fu is weak)
 
I would personally stick with DDR2 RAM for the time being. When you have low amounts of RAM, speed of the RAM has a much lower impact on performance than does the actual capacity. You might see a higher performance increase by having 8GB of memory and being able to disable the page file. Also considering the fact that you could probably buy 8GB of DDR2 for less than the average price of a 3GB DDR3 set, and the fact that DDR2 motherboards are much cheaper than DDR3 motherboards. Just my two cents.
 
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+1 to kookoo, but you really need to ask yourself, "Do I need this much RAM?". Even using a system for high-end gaming, you will probably never use the whole 8 Gb unless you were, say, playing a game, listening to music, and burning a CD at the same time, which you'd more than likely still hit the ceiling with the CPU not the RAM. I'd say get at least 6 Gb with the DDR3 setup or you could just go with 4 Gb for the DDR2 setup and put the money elsewhere. I only say 6 Gb for the DDR3 because, to my understanding, DDR3 runs in 3 Gb increments. Just my 2 cents as well though.
 
Bob692006 said:
+1 to kookoo, but you really need to ask yourself, "Do I need this much RAM?". Even using a system for high-end gaming, you will probably never use the whole 8 Gb unless you were, say, playing a game, listening to music, and burning a CD at the same time, which you'd more than likely still hit the ceiling with the CPU not the RAM. I'd say get at least 6GB with the DDR3 setup or you could just go with 4 Gb for the DDR2 setup and put the money elsewhere. I only say 6 Gb for the DDR3 because, to my understanding, DDR3 runs in 3 Gb increments. Just my 2 cents as well though.
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I agree, 8GB is realistically unnecessary, but you can only run 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB on a dual channel setup. If you were intent on disabling the paging file, 4GB would probably be pushing it, again depending on how many processes you are running. Performance aside, 4GB DDR2 would definitely go well if the paging file is enabled, and would probably only run you $30.

6GB of DDR3 would be the ideal amount, but not for $100 :P
 
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