DDR3 VS DDR2?

[misternumberone]

Ok, so I have a choice. I can go with either an X48 DDR3 solution or an X38 DDR2 solution. The northbridge minor FSB capablity difference does not matter as the CPU is going to be a QX9650 either way and neither board can do over 1333 Mhz RAM with that CPU. The catch is that with the X38 board I'm going to possibly be able to use dual Radeon HD 4890s in CrossFireX but with the X48 DDR3 board I only can use 1 4890(board has Dell Hell OEM S**t about the GPUs) If I sacrifice DDR3 for the better GPU horsepower will it be worth it? Oh also the X38 board is identical to the X48 other than the RAM slots, a slightly different PCI slot configuration and it has more SATA ports, a 39-pin floppy and some SAS ports. Note: Please don't just tell me to scrap the lot and get something better/newer because this is an experimental project to try to figure out why dell is so s***ty.

 

[moocow]

Get whatever is cheaper.

And I can tell you why Dell boards are so terrible.

They're locked down as far as bios features and overclocking. They are also pretty much all around made cheaply.


Side note.

Hey, you're like 15mins away from me

 

[Evilsizer]

personally would go with the X48 with DDR3, ram prices are pretty cheap now for more GB ddr3. since your tied down on ocing but from what i recall the QX's will have unlocked multi's. it will pretty much top out with what the board is giving it as far as oc'ing goes, i do no think you will have any ocing options in the bios.

if you just leave it at stock speeds, neither is going to be all that different performance wise. X48 is just a fixed X38 as there were some issues with 45nm cpus on x38.

 

[misternumberone]

personally would go with the X48 with DDR3, ram prices are pretty cheap now for more GB ddr3. since your tied down on ocing but from what i recall the QX's will have unlocked multi's. it will pretty much top out with what the board is giving it as far as oc'ing goes, i do no think you will have any ocing options in the bios.

if you just leave it at stock speeds, neither is going to be all that different performance wise. X48 is just a fixed X38 as there were some issues with 45nm cpus on x38.

I have a secret method for overclocking Dells but, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore! Also, I've ordered the X38 board already and the X48 one is in my rig below. I just wondered if I should order some nice 2x4 DDR2-1066 or something for it instead of my crappy 2x1 GB of PC2-4200 I have laying around now. I'm going to be doing some testing on this board towards the intent of deciphering some of Dell's weird OEM s**t that's been implemented on my X48 board, and if the results are favorable I considered replacing my X48 with this for the dual HD 4890s.

 

[Bobnova]

I smell a padmod and setfsb

 

[Redstone]

I have a secret method for overclocking Dells but, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore!.

What's the point of keeping that to yourself?

 

[Cigarsmoker]

My secret to OCing Dell is......don't buy Dell.

I'd go for DDR3 not only for the cheaper price but the board, chipset and features are likely better.

 

[misternumberone]

Yeah, setFSB.

 

[Bobnova]

Oh get into padmods too, then it's even more fun and you can go a lot further with the extra voltage

 

[misternumberone]

Oh get into padmods too, then it's even more fun and you can go a lot further with the extra voltage

Wellll I don't think my QX9650 has any moddable pads...

 

[misternumberone]

And, you all seem to be forgetting that the X38 can do two HD 4890s while the X48 can only do one... The X38's also compatible with Quadro SLI for some reason.

 

[Bobnova]

All 775 CPUs can be padmodded, that's the glory of it


If you game a lot and have a high enough resolution monitor a second 4890 will help. At 1680x1050 I found a single 4890 to be fine for me, but that was some years ago.

 

[misternumberone]

If I remove the northbridge from my X48 board and place it on the X38 board will it work? Because I have an OC on it now that relies on the chipset's capability of doing over 333 Mhz. Or does intel actually use different northbridges for the DDR3 and DDR2 versions of things? I really have no idea how they manged to make their L30 and L40 series chipsets capable of both DDR2 AND DDR3...

 

[misternumberone]

All 775 CPUs can be padmodded, that's the glory of it


If you game a lot and have a high enough resolution monitor a second 4890 will help. At 1680x1050 I found a single 4890 to be fine for me, but that was some years ago.

I don't think I want to risk padmodding for overvolting until I get all the caps on my whole mobo replaced with japs someday...