# 8GB of DDR2 1066Mhz or 4GB of DDR3 1333Mhz



## Duekay (Jun 17, 2008)

I am wanting to find out if ill see more performance from 4GB of DDR3 1333Mhz or 8GB of DDR2 1066Mhz. 

The DDR3 with 4 GB cost $70 more than the 8GB of DDR2

Im running Windows XP 64-bit if any one was wondering 

Thanks

Dave


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## Exceededgoku (Jun 17, 2008)

Without doubt I would buy the DDR2! Price/performance DDR2 wins hands down... DDR3 isn't good enough yet to warrant the price difference.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 17, 2008)

Size of memory translates to the ability to run more programs at once.  Frequency of memory translates to speed.

Don't forget to look at the timings.  You have a link or part numbers to the RAM you had in mind?


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## JRMBelgium (Jun 17, 2008)

You have XP, the performance difference isn't going to be much.

But once you upgrade to Vista X64, the 8GB will come in handy. Everything boots so much faster thanks to superfetch.


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## Easy Rhino (Jun 17, 2008)

like danishdevil said, the ram timings are important. i bet that ddr3 is around 8-9 CL and the ddr is prolly around 5.


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## Mussels (Jun 17, 2008)

my advice would be simple: ram speed is most important when OCing.

1066 means 533 FSB, 1333 means 666 when using 1:1 divider (the lowest many modern motherboards will go)

The most important thing being... you have a DDR2 motherboard. you cant use DDR3 anyway.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 17, 2008)

Easy Rhino said:


> like danishdevil said, the ram timings are important. i bet that ddr3 is around 8-9 CL and the ddr is prolly around 5.



Keep in mind, that performance is equal at higher MHz with a looser timings as compared to a lower MHz with a tighter timings.  Intel systems like bandwidth, and AMD systems seem to like tighter timings.

So, DDR3 at CL9 sounds bad, right?  What if it's running at 2GHz?


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## HTC (Jun 17, 2008)

Mussels said:


> my advice would be simple: ram speed is most important when OCing.
> 
> 1066 means 533 FSB, 1333 means 666 when using 1:1 divider (the lowest many modern motherboards will go)
> 
> *The most important thing being... you have a DDR2 motherboard. you cant use DDR3 anyway.*



Enough said.

Unless, ofc, you have plans for a DDR3 motherboard, in which case, there's still some discussion to be had ...


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## Sasqui (Jun 17, 2008)

Here's some real world numbers (right from TPU reviews ):

DDR3-1333 CL8
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Aeneon/XTune_DDR3_1333_2GB/3.html

Peak read* 8633 *MB/S @CL8 @ 751 Memory bus

DDR2-800 CL4
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400_Reaper_X/3.html

Peak read* 8592* MB/S @CL4 @ 461 Memory bus

Not a huge difference until you get into much higher and costlier DDR3 memory.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 17, 2008)

Or you get the right kit of $150 DDR3 and OC the balls out of it


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## WarEagleAU (Jun 17, 2008)

haha GSKILL FTW :rockout !


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## Duekay (Jun 19, 2008)

Jelle Mees said:


> You have XP, the performance difference isn't going to be much.
> 
> But once you upgrade to Vista X64, the 8GB will come in handy. Everything boots so much faster thanks to superfetch.



I got XP 64bit, so thats way im going for the 8gig


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## Duekay (Jun 19, 2008)

Mussels said:


> my advice would be simple: ram speed is most important when OCing.
> 
> 1066 means 533 FSB, 1333 means 666 when using 1:1 divider (the lowest many modern motherboards will go)
> 
> The most important thing being... you have a DDR2 motherboard. you cant use DDR3 anyway.



My mobo will run it as long as they are right on the asus web site, 
they said: 

The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR3 1066MHz/DDR2 800. Due to the tuning by ASUS exclusive technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR3 1333/DDR2 1066MHz.


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## Mussels (Jun 19, 2008)

the chipset doesnt mean the motherboard.

You list a P5K-VM

http://asus.com/search.aspx?searchitem=1&searchkey=P5K-VM

This link says



			
				asus said:
			
		

> - Support Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-core CPU
> - Intel LGA775 Platform
> - Intel® G33 chipset
> - Dual-channel DDR2 1066/800/667 MHz
> ...



no DDR3 support mentioned. only DDR2 Later down the page it also mentions 'native DDR2 support' but again no mention of DDR3

Either we arent talking about the motherboard in your system specs, or you looked up the wrong one.


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## Duekay (Jun 19, 2008)

Mussels said:


> the chipset doesnt mean the motherboard.
> 
> You list a P5K-VM
> 
> ...



Lol now i see were you coming from, yea that is strange there must be different boards for different country's,- http://au.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=542&l4=0&model=1690&modelmenu=2


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## Vagike (Jun 19, 2008)

Duekay said:


> Lol now i see were you coming from, yea that is strange there must be different boards for different country's,- http://au.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=542&l4=0&model=1690&modelmenu=2



In the first 4 lines of the motherboard overview specs it says DDR2. I have seen that chipset used on DDR3 motherboards, but that board is *NOT* DDR3 compliant.

P5K-VM 

ASUS Super Memspeed Technology Enhances Memory Speed 
- Support Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-core CPU
- Intel LGA775 Platform
- Intel® G33 chipset
- *Dual-channel DDR2 1066/800/667 MHz *
- 2x1394
- 12xUSB 2.0
- All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Compatible with all FSB1333/1066/800/533MHz CPUs except Quad Core  




"The chipset officially supports the memory frequency up to DDR3 1066MHz/DDR2 800. Due to the tuning by ASUS exclusive technology, this motherboard natively supports up to DDR3 1333/DDR2 1066MHz. Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL" -ASUS


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## Mussels (Jun 19, 2008)

i tend to not use the asus au site, as it lags horribly for me... odd, especially since i'm australian too.

ok after it eventually loaded, i see what confused you. The CHIPSET can use DDR2 or DDR3 - however, this motherboard can only use DDR2. Notice how at the top, it only mentions DDR2?

The asterisk and mentioning DDR3 is a mistake on the webstite - another reason to check the alternate ones, and not just say with the .au version.

For your future reference, DDR2 and DDR3 slots are physically different - if it did have them, it would clearly label two slots for DDR2 and two for DDR3... and you wouldnt be able to run 4x DDR2 sticks anyway, if it was a combo board.


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## Duekay (Jun 19, 2008)

Mussels said:


> i tend to not use the asus au site, as it lags horribly for me... odd, especially since i'm australian too.
> 
> ok after it eventually loaded, i see what confused you. The CHIPSET can use DDR2 or DDR3 - however, this motherboard can only use DDR2. Notice how at the top, it only mentions DDR2?
> 
> ...



Thanks man, I really didn't know what was going on there.

good thing i didn't buy the DDR3 today lol, well this makes things a lot easer with the choice  
What brand would you go for, Corsair, G.Skill, Geil, Kingston, OCZ or Team, i have been eying up the OCZ Platinum PC8500


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## DanishDevil (Jun 19, 2008)

OCZ's RMA process is really great, and they make good RAM, but some isn't that great for overclocking.

Corsair can be good, but expensive.  G.Skill has some really nice budget overclockers, and I love my new DDR3 from them.  Geil, meh.  Kingston, overpriced.  Team is really overclocker's ram, but you pay the price for it.

If you're getting 4x2GB, get some G.Skills to save some money.  I figure you're not doing extreme OCing anyway, because anything but 2x1GB with DDR2 will impede your max OC.  

Two of these would do:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166


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## Mussels (Jun 19, 2008)

to be honest, look for stock clocks as opposed to gaining an OC. i have cheap 1100MHz samsung generic ram that cost me $50 a stick, yet i see people paying more for OCZ ram that wont even do 900MHz at the same timings i can do 1000.

Go for warranty and stock clocks, as opposed to timings or brand name.


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## JRMBelgium (Jun 19, 2008)

Duekay said:


> I got XP 64bit, so thats way im going for the 8gig



I really doubt that Xp will use up more then 4GB ram. Vista knows how to handle RAM very well, but XP uses a lot more virtual memory ( someone correct me if I am rong ).


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## Duekay (Jun 20, 2008)

Jelle Mees said:


> I really doubt that Xp will use up more then 4GB ram. Vista knows how to handle RAM very well, but XP uses a lot more virtual memory ( someone correct me if I am rong ).



Well that sucks, i just got XP 64bit for the reason of taking advantage of getting extra Ram


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## CrackerJack (Jun 20, 2008)

XP 64-bit will handle it fine. But one question. What do you do that needs or you wanting 8gb?


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## JRMBelgium (Jun 20, 2008)

CrackerJack said:


> XP 64-bit will handle it fine. But one question. What do you do that needs or you wanting 8gb?



When I say "handle it" I mean utilize it. Vista will use all of it, XP will only use RAM when needed. That's one of the few good things about Vista.


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## Duekay (Jun 20, 2008)

CrackerJack said:


> XP 64-bit will handle it fine. But one question. What do you do that needs or you wanting 8gb?



I write music with this pup, i use heaps of samples and audio clips and she just cant really get anywhere with only 2 gig

All the new synth/samplers use the Ram just as much as the CPU, They take a Wav sample and use modulators and effect to modify the signal.

The more Ram i have the more of these high end demanding synths i can run at once, along with a nice fast CPU for processing powerful and complex algorithms.


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## JRMBelgium (Jun 20, 2008)

Duekay said:


> I write music with this pup, i use heaps of samples and audio clips and she just cant really get anywhere with only 2 gig
> 
> All the new synth/samplers use the Ram just as much as the CPU, They take a Wav sample and use modulators and effect to modify the signal.
> 
> The more Ram i have the more of these high end demanding synths i can run at once, along with a nice fast CPU for processing powerful and complex algorithms.



Then defenitly go for the 8GB man, becides, it's future proof.


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## Duekay (Jun 20, 2008)

Jelle Mees said:


> When I say "handle it" I mean utilize it. Vista will use all of it, XP will only use RAM when needed. That's one of the few good things about Vista.



Im going to wait another 6-12 months before i upgrade to Vista, i just want to make sure all my  Hardware has Vista 64bit Drivers (still cant find a few drivers for XP 64bit).


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## CrackerJack (Jun 20, 2008)

More than likely the program your using is only a x32 program. So it's only going use 2.25gb, 3gb if your lucky. But if there is a x64 version of the program then you'll be able to use most or all of the 8gb.

Vista uses about 25% of the ram for my video cards. The most depending programs, use mostly just cpu power. For example Adobe will only use 2.25gb of ram. It doesn't matter if you have 16gb of ram. But it will use a 100% of the cpu. And only ~46% of the memory, in my case. (6GB)

Between Vista and XP, There's little difference in speed when it comes encoding.


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## Duekay (Jun 20, 2008)

CrackerJack said:


> More than likely the program your using is only a x32 program. So it's only going use 2.25gb, 3gb if your lucky. But if there is a x64 version of the program then you'll be able to use most or all of the 8gb.
> 
> Vista uses about 25% of the ram for my video cards. The most depending programs, use mostly just cpu power. For example Adobe will only use 2.25gb of ram. It doesn't matter if you have 16gb of ram. But it will use a 100% of the cpu. And only ~46% of the memory, in my case. (6GB)
> 
> Between Vista and XP, There's little difference in speed when it comes encoding.



Cheers That makes sense


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## Duekay (Jun 25, 2008)

Crunch Time for  DDR2 4G (2x2G) PC2-8500 1066Mhz 

would anyone have any idea's what i would get the best Compatibility/Performance from

-Corsair Dominator $230      
-G.Skill Heatspreader $210        
-G.Skill  $185
-GeiL $180
-Team Dark $170
-OCZ Platinum $165
-OCZ Reaper $192

Thanks


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 25, 2008)

guys i think we talk about too much ram, so if he try the 4g ddr3, what is a programs or games he need use 8g or even 4g, only if he have server he can take high ram size, and he increase the 4g in future in he want


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## Mussels (Jun 25, 2008)

hayder.master said:


> guys i think we talk about too much ram, so if he try the 4g ddr3, what is a programs or games he need use 8g or even 4g, only if he have server he can take high ram size, and he increase the 4g in future in he want



hayder - we learned later on his motherboard cant even take DDR3. It only works in DDR2. He is now choosing what DDR2 kit to buy.


Duekay: i'd go for the kits with the highest stock MHz and lowest stock voltages, and then look at warranty if any came up equal.


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## kyle2020 (Jun 25, 2008)

Mussels said:


> hayder - we learned later on his motherboard cant even take DDR3. It only works in DDR2. He is now choosing what DDR2 kit to buy.
> 
> 
> Duekay: i'd go for the kits with the highest stock MHz and lowest stock voltages, and then look at warranty if any came up equal.



+1 on that - have you considered a crucial kit by the way? I have always noticed people recommend G.Skill RAM, you cant get it over here, is it good?


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 29, 2008)

Mussels said:


> hayder - we learned later on his motherboard cant even take DDR3. It only works in DDR2. He is now choosing what DDR2 kit to buy.
> 
> 
> sorry mussels, i think his mobo take both ddr2 and ddr3 you know there is some mobo's support that, ok i reply for him


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## Hayder_Master (Jun 29, 2008)

try crosair 2*2g 1066, i think it is best one


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## Duekay (Jul 1, 2008)

hayder.master said:


> try crosair 2*2g 1066, i think it is best one


Thanks, I am going to go with the crosair and just start off with the 4gig kit then get another if i have the need for it.

Also im thinking of replacing my mobo with a P5E-DELUXE and the crosair ram should work fine in there too im guessing 

thanks every one

ez dave


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## JRMBelgium (Jul 1, 2008)

Currently stressing Crucial DDR2 BallistiX TRACER PC8500 memory at 1Ghz with timings 4-4-4-4 at 2.26v.
I'll let you know how low I can go with the timings. I was satisfied when I reached 4-4-4-8 but it's still stable at 4-4-4-4 so far. I can start testing 4-4-4-3 in about 10 minutes.


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## Duekay (Jul 1, 2008)

Jelle Mees said:


> Currently stressing Crucial DDR2 BallistiX TRACER PC8500 memory at 1Ghz with timings 4-4-4-4 at 2.26v.
> I'll let you know how low I can go with the timings. I was satisfied when I reached 4-4-4-8 but it's still stable at 4-4-4-4 so far. I can start testing 4-4-4-3 in about 10 minutes.



cool thanks


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