EggXpert

I'll be building a new system as soon as the X38 boards come out next week. I'd like to put 4GB of ram in it but latest and greatest is DDR3 and it costs an a** load. I know they'll be releasing X38 boards that support DDR2, and it's so so much cheaper.

Question: What kind of bear is best?

 Another Question: Is DDR3 worth the extra $$$ for upgradability down the road?

I'm sticking to DDR2 until DDR3 shows a remarkable difference in performance (not to mention price).  From what I've seen/read, DDR3 isn't all it should be at the moment, though I may be proven wrong.  I don't think the difference is worth the cost, but someone else might.

Down the road, if there's a marked improvement, sure it'd be worth the upgrade, but seriously, they're still supporting SDRAM - it's not like DDR2 won't be supported in the future. :)

Hmmm... in that case can I get a quick verification; Motherboards can only support either DDR2 or DDR3, and not both?

Just going on preview sites, I notice Gigabyte sent a blurb out about build a board that will support both, with 2 slots of DDR2 and 2 slots of DDR3, you could use one kind or another, but NOT both at the *Same Time*.

I believe some other board makers are planning along the same lines as well.

What this means is: Resources wil lbe devoted to X38 DDR2 compatability, but if you buy a mobo with DDR2/DDR3 hybrid, expect fewer total usable RAM slots, as half will be for one standard and half for another, and they will not inter-operate.

Archived Link: Abit has a 4 DDR2 and 2 DDR3 solution in the pipeline already.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-2600-view-Intel-X38-mainboard-DDR2-and-DDR3.html
 

Alright, well the idea is to be able to upgrade later without needing to tear down the system. I guess I'll get a DDR3 x38 board and 2GB of the cheapest DDR3 I can find, and overclock it, then upgrade when penryn comes out - good DDR3 should be cheaper by then. Thanks guys

Not a problem. :)  We live for this stuff. :)

O_o did my post just get ignored? I just said you can buy boards with DDR2 and DDR3 support... seems like the solution to darkstar's problem... oh well...

I saw it, cheapo. :)  I guess he wants 4 DDR3s or something?  I don't really know, I haven't kept up with this as well as I'd have liked.

:(

Thanks Larrikin :D U da man...

Basically it is the same situation as when DDR2 first came out.  It took a good 12 months for it to be more mainstream in use and was much more expensive when it came out with no real performance gain.  Now DDR2 clobbers up on DDR, I am going to assume the same for DDR3, that it will take some time to come down in price and to be better utilized (and to lower the latency).

I know when I built I thought about the dual mb's that had 2 slots for DDR2 and 2 slots for DDR3, but I just went with DDR2 as I figured I would up the whole thing instead in a year or so. 

Asus releasing P5K3 Premium with 2gigs of DDR3 built in to the motherboard (non removeable) But cheaper...

Would be interesting to see if they integrate it into other new boards as an optional series board  

CheapAsianGamerGuy:

O_o did my post just get ignored? I just said you can buy boards with DDR2 and DDR3 support... seems like the solution to darkstar's problem... oh well...

 Well I'd like to have 4GB of ram and with a 2x DDR2 and 2x DDR3, I can only do either or. Unless I get a stick of 2GB, but that defeats the perpose of saving money.

Well you can get the DDR2 now or current gen systems and then think about a CPU upgrade and memory upgrade later when DDR3 specs truly make sense from a cost/benefit analysis. It gets you going NOW with the gear available and allows you the flexibility to upgrade without "scrapping your entire system" later. And depending on the board it might have enough DIMM slots. [The ABit has 4x DDR2 and 2x DDR3]. A phased spend (Some now, Some Later) is definately better than an all-at-once spend/shock (everything now or everything later).

Just giving my opinion on the flexibility inherent in that design, take it for what it's worth, just advice... 

Simple answer: DDR2

DDR3 is just way too expensive for the performance. They are not very prominent. If they are, they wouldn't be like $200 for a G

Gigabyte has a board that can do up to 8Gb of DDR2 (4 slots) and it also has 2 DDR3 slots so you could do 2Gb of that instead later as all I've seen are 1Gb modules. So conceivably you'd be able to go to 4Gb of DDR3 once the 2Gb modules come out (if they do...who knows when). The board is the GA-P35C-xxxx (I think DS3R) and it's one I am looking at for putting into a system built locally (they'll customize it as you want). No word from them on a quote yet. They sell it stock with E6850 + 4Gb DDR2-800 on an Intel board with 1333 FSB. The memory can't go any faster (can't put in 1066 DDR2 from what I saw) and not sure on overclocking on that board either. But the gigabyte has some pro/con reviews from end users.

Mike

 

I see someone mentioned Abit does DDR2 or DDR3 as well? Model and opinions on that board? I am stil debating on which route to go. I assume it is dependent on which CPU I go for? I am looking at the following two CPU's, Q6600 (my audio app will utilize all cores) or the E6850. 1066 vs 1333 FSB so the question is DDR2 1066 or DDR3 1066/1333 if I decide to blow an extra ~$200 for 2Gb of DDR3 vs DDR2? And I see a LOT of these boards have FSB 1066 but only DDR2 800 which makes me curious (in another post at least on same issue) as to *why* aren't they running 1066 to match FSB? I would think running memory matched at the FSB would give you the best overall performance vs DDR2 800 with a FSB 1066/1333 CPU. I can't find any threads that talk about the FSB and memory combinations. Point me to them if they are here and I'm that blind I don't see them yet! I'll do a search for FSB and see what comes up.

Mike