DDR3 modules available for purchase

[D_o_S]

Akiba PC Hotline has pictures of DDR3 memory sticks that can be purchased in Japan. The price for a 1GB stick is ~$350.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[ex_reven]

Akiba PC Hotline has pictures of DDR3 memory sticks that can be purchased in Japan.

Yaaay we can finally buy photos of RAM!
Kidding...DDR3 sounds awesome, but the initial few releases of it will probably overrated.

It'll be cool to see how the technology progresses though. Low latency DDR3 is gonna pwn

 

[regan1985]

what uses ddr3 tho?? can it be used on ddr2 amd and intels??

 

[Misiowiec]

what uses ddr3 tho?? can it be used on ddr2 amd and intels??

Well, there's no actual performance benefit of DDR3 over DDR2 at the moment so it's a bit of a marketing gimmick, but eventually it will of course surpass DDR2. It's a bit like when DDR2 was released to replace DDR memory - it was faster on paper, yes, but the latency was so much higher that there was little real-life benefit.

Also, DDR3 motherboards will be compatible with DDR2 for a while, otherwise no-one would buy them.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Right on there Misi. It uses the same pin configuration, just set to a lower voltage. Eventually, its speeds and will outpace the DDR2 speeds, but, time will tell.

 

[overcast]

Well, there's no actual performance benefit of DDR3 over DDR2 at the moment so it's a bit of a marketing gimmick, but eventually it will of course surpass DDR2. It's a bit like when DDR2 was released to replace DDR memory - it was faster on paper, yes, but the latency was so much higher that there was little real-life benefit.

Also, DDR3 motherboards will be compatible with DDR2 for a while, otherwise no-one would buy them.

There is still little real life benefit of DDR2 over DDR - if any at all. Look at 939 to AM2. Super low latency DDR smokes DDR2 anyday.

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

Something definatly interesting about this is the new chip packaging.

 

[L|NK|N]

gotta love how fast tech is advancing..

 

[jocksteeluk]

Also, DDR3 motherboards will be compatible with DDR2 for a while, otherwise no-one would buy them.

DDr3 is meant to have a different notch position making it incompatible but no doubt the early batch of boards will feature both ddr2 & 3 memory slots.

 

[Misiowiec]

DDr3 is meant to have a different notch position making it incompatible but no doubt the early batch of boards will feature both ddr2 & 3 memory slots.

Hmm, yeah I guess that's how they'll do it. Now I know something new

 

[Misiowiec]

There is still little real life benefit of DDR2 over DDR - if any at all. Look at 939 to AM2. Super low latency DDR smokes DDR2 anyday.

Absolutely right, but for many applications high throughput is more important than latency. Games, for instance, really love high throughput whereas e.g. video encoding or compression benefits from low latency. In a perfect world you'd have both of course...

 

[WarEagleAU]

Agreed Misi. And really, everyone here wants more horsepower for their games which is a good thing . I forgot about the notch deal, but Im sure they will make something that will work on the current DDR2 slots. Did you all see those Gigabyte boards? They look awesome. I Cant wait to see if any come out for AM2 that supports DDR3.

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

Agreed Misi. And really, everyone here wants more horsepower for their games which is a good thing . I forgot about the notch deal, but Im sure they will make something that will work on the current DDR2 slots. Did you all see those Gigabyte boards? They look awesome. I Cant wait to see if any come out for AM2 that supports DDR3.

Voltage differences would make this a nightmare, this isnt gonna happen.

 

[kwchang007]

Voltage differences would make this a nightmare, this isnt gonna happen.

well since the physical connectors are different, isn't it possible that the chipset could only send the correct voltages to the ddr3 slots, while it sends the ddr2 voltages to the ddr2 slots. and aren't ddr2 and ddr stock voltages different? and they have boards that can support both

 

[zekrahminator]

I'll stick with DDR2 800, thanks, especially considering it's $105 for a good 2GB kit.

 

[XooM]

IDIOTS. Realize that your DDR400 latencies of 2-2-2 translate to DDR2-800 latencies of 4-4-4. Not so "super tight and great for games" any more, now are they? Timings are measured in clock cycles, not an absolute quantity of time. LOADS of DDR2 has tighter timings than any DDR, while also having WAY more bandwidth. Super low latency DDR is average latency DDR2 these days.