Memory

[Pope]

Which is best: 4 GB DDR2 or 2 GB DDR3 ?

 

And how recent must my motherboard be to support DDR3?

 

Also, is there any limit to the amount of memory in a pc, other than available slots? Say I have 4 slots, two of which already have 1 GB DDR2, can I just add 2x2 GB DDR2, or 2x1 GB DDR3 in the other slots?

Edited November 1, 2008 by Pope

[Deraldin]

Which is best: 4 GB DDR2 or 2 GB DDR3 ?

 

And how recent must my motherboard be to support DDR3?

 

Also, is there any limit to the amount of memory in a pc, other than available slots? Say I have 4 slots, two of which already have 1 GB DDR2, can I just add 2x2 GB DDR2, or 2x1 GB DDR3 in the other slots?

 

1. 4GB of DDR2 will be better than 2GB of DDR3. There just isn't enough of a speed difference between them to make up for the difference in capacity.

 

2. Exact dates are hard to pin down, but if you had a model number it would be easy enough to tell what it supports.

 

3. For the most part the only limit would be the number of slots. Some boards can be a little unstable when overclocking with 4 sticks, but under normal circumstances you shouldn't have much of a problem. You can't mix DDR2 with DDR3 though.

[mkreku]

The big speed difference from DDR3 will come when the X58 motherboards come. I think they allow three channels of DDR3. Or so I imagine.

[Pope]

Ok thanks.

 

So there is no problem filling my 4 slots with 2x1 GB DDR2 @ 667Mhz and 2x2 GB DDR2 @ 1066Mhz ?

Edited November 1, 2008 by Pope

[Pope]

Also, is the difference in performance between 800 MHz and 1066 MHz worth the difference in price?

 

2GB @ 800MHz costs €26, @ 1066Mhz €48. So it's almost double, but it's still cheap.

Edited November 1, 2008 by Pope

[Deraldin]

Ok thanks.

 

So there is no problem filling my 4 slots with 2x1 GB DDR2 @ 667Mhz and 2x2 GB DDR2 @ 1066Mhz ?

Shouldn't be. Just make sure you put them in the right slots to keep them in dual channel mode.

 

Also, is the difference in performance between 800 MHz and 1066 MHz worth the difference in price?

 

2GB @ 800MHz costs

[samm]

1066 isn't supported on all Mobos anyway, would be easier to tell if we knew what mainboard you have Anyway, I'd stick with what Deraldin said last.

 

What mkreku said is only relevant for Nehalem boards (X58 is a chipset supporting them), and there, the interesting thing really is the triple channel mode, and not ddr3, as only ddr3 1066 (which is slower than ddr2 1066) is officially supported. And for triple channel to be used you'd naturally have to have 3 or 6 sticks of memory. All in all, let's worry about these things once Nehalem, its mainboards and ddr3 are available at an affordable price