DDR2 or DDR3

[arthursmedley]

My system; Win7 64bit, E8400@3.6ghz and 4 gigs ddr2 memory on a Gigabyte P35 mobo.

Just recently one of my sticks of OCZ 1gig DDR2 ram failed. My board does have two slots for DDR3 ram and I'm wondering whether to go to DDR3, either 2x2gigs or 2x4gigs or just replace my failed DDR2 (I'll let you know whether they honour the 'lifetime guarantee'.

I'm wondering what kind of benefit I'd get, especially as I run RoF and CoD?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[arthursmedley]

My system; Win7 64bit, E8400@3.6ghz and 4 gigs ddr2 memory on a Gigabyte P35 mobo.

Just recently one of my sticks of OCZ 1gig DDR2 ram failed. My board does have two slots for DDR3 ram and I'm wondering whether to go to DDR3, either 2x2gigs or 2x4gigs or just replace my failed DDR2 (I'll let you know whether they honour the 'lifetime guarantee'.

I'm wondering what kind of benefit I'd get, especially as I run RoF and CoD?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[MAXMHZ1959]

I doubt OCZ will replace the failed stick. Not for free anyway.

I would go for DDR3 2x4GB. It will probably be cheaper/GB than DDR2.

The increased memory size should be noticible in Cliffs of Dover, and Win7 should become more responsive too.

CoD loads a lot of textures into memory. Once you have more memory it can pre-load more and texture transfer should become less noticible during playtime. A DX11 graphics card with more than 1 GB fast RAM (higher DDR type) and wide bus access (number of bits >=256) will help a lot too.



In general fast timings will be much less noticed than going for a higher DDRx specification. timing values like CAS, RAS etc. only become important when overclocking. Make sure you go for dual channel (insert the sticks in the right sockets). Clean the sockets out before you insert the new sticks if you have not done so in a while. A clean tooth brush or wooden toothpick comes in handy here.
You can also use canned air to blow out dirt and dust if the sockets are not too dirty.

Before removing the old, and inserting the new RAM, set BIOS to do extended memory check on POST, and set the memory type etc. to automatic or to the timings/type of the new RAM.

Running memtest86 for half a day on the new RAM can not hurt.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I agree, even if OCZ replaces it I would ebay the DDR2 and grab 2x4 DDR3, that's the standard these days and has become fairly cheap. Conversely, as DDR2 is phased out of mainstream it's rising in price.

[arthursmedley]

Thanks for the advice guys. DDR3 it shall be http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/25.gif