DDR vs. SDRAM

[Gersen]

ok, I'm tired of reading non-informative information, so I'm laying this one at the feet of the experts...

I'm shopping parts for a new system. What are the reasons I would want to avoid DDR memory and use SDRAM?

On the other hand, what are the reasons I should avoid SDRAM and use DDR?

I'll be over here resting my eyes, waitin' to hear from ya...


G
:confused:

[Amedeo602]

DDR uses less voltage (2.5 compared to 3.3) it performs better and it costs nearly the same as SDRAM (even cheaper at certain places).

SDRAM is more mainstream (DDR is still gaining momemtum and popularity) and the motherboards are cheaper (generally speaking).

I prefer DDR myself, and I'd say for a new machine it's the only way to go. But of course, it all depends on what you do with the system. Is it for work, home, gaming, folding, or ???

[ken257]

If I was to build a new machine today it would be a Abit KG7-R with DDR because it is faster and now is priced right. It's time has finally arived.

In the past I have shied away from DDR because my highly overclocked sdram did as well as DDR systems also you have to consider compatibility as I have 7 or 8 machines atmy house that all use pc133.

[bdf24]

Well I noticed a difference going from Sdram to DDR on my system. My bootup time was shortened as well as the overall system performance. Some small stutters in certain games have left and things just feel faster. I probobly would have gotten even more performance if I had a real DDR motherboard though!

[proze]

general consensus being that it's worth the extra sheckles then?

[GuNRocK]

Amedeo602
man i got no clue where u can get DDR cheeper then pc133 sdram but i would love to find out......as far as i nkow 256mb pc133 is about 50$ and DDR is 80% so about30%more money for 5-10% more proformence....as far as i have read and my prices are in Canadian

[Jon]

Featured Memory Modules:
256MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM, 184-pin DIMM More info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $37.79 Buy
128MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM, 184-pin DIMM More info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.79 Buy
128MB PC100 SDRAM, 144-pin SODIMM More info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26.99 Buy
256MB PC133 SDRAM, 168-pin DIMM More info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35.99 Buy

Not even $2US difference as far as Crucial's concerned and the SDRAM 128MB module is even $7US more than DDR!

DDR hasn't lived up to it's hype yet but it still has a slight advantage over SDRAM. More bandwidth and is just as overclockable.

I own 1 DDR system and 5 SDRAM systems (my EDO SIMM system doesn't count) and I won't be getting anymore boards that have SDRAM compatibility. DDR might not be much faster but it IS faster. The boards cost a little more but not that much considering that the boards are better in more aspects than just what type of memory they use.

Basically I belong to the "out with the old...in with new" crowd...although I still like to collect older systems...

[Amedeo602]

www.crucial.com

DDR is slightly more expensive than sdram at the moment, but it was actually cheaper a few weeks ago, so give it time and it'll probably dip back down again

[The Overclocker]

sdram can overclock higher

[oc jason]

yes it can but DDR is faster at a lower FSB thats why its DDR it done need to go as high - also i ve never seen SDRAm at 196FSB like i have seen on PC2400

[bdf24]

Also it seems like a majority of the DDR modules out there will go as high as most Sdram as far as FSB if you install Ram sinks on the chips.

[Alun]

ok. I've got a few questions....

1. What type of system u building. R we talking a cheap system that ur going to o/c to make it fairly good, or are we talking a damn good system that u want to make better? I'm gonna assume the latter.

2. What OS u runnin? Bear in mind that u need to use Win2000Pro to get good use out of 512Meg RAM+

My advise is go for DDR.
If ur gonna overclock the chip, then it prob. won't go to quite the same sort of speed. Use PC2400 and it will do the job anyway.
Either way, even if you can't o/c the chip as much as you would like, the computer will still b faster as DDR gives a big performance boost.

[wildone]

well , I would go with DDR , I almost hit double my sdram performance with ddr in memory benchmarks in sandra , that is a nearly 100 % increase in performance compared to my old sdram , but I am running 256 mb of corsair pc2400 cas 2 memory , anyone who can help me to understand the ddr memory settings completly I would be in your debt , I have just played to get what I have , if I knew what the settings did scientifically I could see what it could really do.
wildone

[Paul -The Mad Hatter]

Originally posted by the overclocker
sdram can overclock higher

yeah but ddr motherboards can oc higher, it does you no good if your mem can hit 180 and your mobo can't do 160.

[Gersen]

I saw a reference to "RAM sinks" in this thread. Do you have to add cooling to DDR??

G

[bdf24]

Originally posted by Gersen
I saw a reference to "RAM sinks" in this thread. Do you have to add cooling to DDR??

G

It's not a must. Just helps if you wanna run higher FSB speeds.