RAM DDR2 up to DDR3?? questions...

subbytna · 18 Apr 2010 at 16:27

I'm looking to get a new MOBO to get my Q9550 intel up to a decent overclock but at the min it's got DDR2 going with it. If I buy a new mobo that will take the 9550 chip and can take DDR3 ram....what sort of DDR3 should I be looking at?

price in mind is about 80-100 budget? ideas??

reflux · 18 Apr 2010 at 16:30

Tbh there's no point in getting DDR3 unless you have to, ie with a Core i7 setup. But if you have to have it, get CAS 8 or 9 1600mhz stuff.

thingemajib · 18 Apr 2010 at 16:48

sometimes 1333mhz cas 7 is a bit cheaper, and generally they will work at 1600mhz cas 9 anyways (and vice versa),

but yeah, you will see next to no difference in performance whatsoever (unless you're going from eg. 1gig > 4gig)

subbytna · 18 Apr 2010 at 19:06

I've got 4 gig of fairly ****ty DDR2 "cheapo" stuff just now that won't OC very much as it's really not great....

Would DDR 2 work in a mobo that advertises DDR3 useage?

What DDR2 would be a good buy then?

555BUK · 18 Apr 2010 at 19:25

DDR2 ram will not work within a DDR3 only motherboard and visa-versa. There are a few older 775 motherboards which accecpt both types, but they will have 2xDDR2 and 2xDDR3 dedicated slots (4 total) which will not work when mixed. DDR2 and DDR3 use a different physical slot and layout so they are incompatable.

You will see vitually no performance increases upgrading from DDR2 to DDR3. The same applies will apply if you buy faster DDR2 RAM. Only buy more ram if you need higher capacity (2GB to 4GB or 4GB to 8GB). You can spend 4x as much money for premium RAM, but you will probably see just a few percent increase in applications (if you are very lucky).