4gb DDR3.... or 6gb DDR2?

[100Core]

Building a new rig and the motherboard I'm going with (GA-EP45C-UD3R) supports 4 dimms of DDR2 and 2 dimms of DDR3. Should I go with 6 or 8 gb of DDR2-1066, or 4gb of DDR3-1600? Would there be pros/cons for both?

Im not sure what relevant information I could give regarding this decision. Ill just list the rig components.

Windows7
Q9550
EP45C-UD3R
IntelX25-M 80gb (OS/apps)
Samsung 1tb 7200rpm (storage)


I apologize if this topic is redundant for this forum, I couldnt find a clear answer anywhere!
Thanks for your help!

 

[n7]

Why are you getting a motherboard that does both DDR3/DDR2...

Actually, why are you getting a new system at all? Especially why s775...

You need a second one to your system in your signature, or are you upgrading?

You should be looking i7 IMO...

 

[100Core]

its for a friend.

im going with 775 because my budget is 1000, and i think he will benefit more from the Intel SSD. Hes not a gamer and doesn't do video editing or other intensive processes. I posted a thread within the last week asking whether I should go i7 or SSD, and I decided on SSD

Im getting this mobo, because its very well priced for having DDR3 support.

 

[theAnimal]

The difference between DDR2 & 3 is next to nothing on S775.

Why spend $1000 on a PC that won't do gaming or anything intensive?

 

[rarebear]

I would go with the DDR2 as it is much cheaper and I think I read that DDR3 doesnt have the same bang for buck..

As far as 775 vs i7 I think spending $200-$250 for a chip and mobo is a much better deal than spending $400 or $600

IMHO I have not read that i7s are that smoking hot to spend x2+ as much...

 

[TemjinGold]

Originally posted by: 100Core
its for a friend.

im going with 775 because my budget is 1000, and i think he will benefit more from the Intel SSD. Hes not a gamer and doesn't do video editing or other intensive processes. I posted a thread within the last week asking whether I should go i7 or SSD, and I decided on SSD

Im getting this mobo, because its very well priced for having DDR3 support.

If he does nothing intensive, there's really no reason to get DDR3 support at all. DDR3 will not be noticeably faster and by the time more than the 6-8 gigs of ram you can get him now isn't enough, ram will the least of his problems. And unless he's made of money, the real world difference he would see between a good modern 7200 rpm HD and an Intel SSD will likely not be worth the fact that the latter costs 4-5 times as much for ~1/8th the capacity. It's his money and he can spend it however he wants but there really is no good reason from an economical standpoint to spend anything over $400-$500 if even that much for his purposes.

 

[Eureka]

Geez I'm planning to get a full gaming rig for $600... $1000 is overkill.

And DDR2 with more ram is probably the better deal. In fact, just stick with 4gb DDR2... you can get it for like $30 AR.

 

[Nathelion]

Thumbs up for DDR2 and a regular hard drive... it does the job.

 

[sxr7171]

I agree with the SSD. That right now is the single biggest bottleneck in any system. But why split hairs about RAM? That is the littlest difference in actual perceived performance for the money. Besides, I know of few people who even use more than 4GB RAM. I mean I have 4GB and my peak commit charge has never hit 2GB. Never.

So 4GB is nice number and DDR2 is fine.

The SSD however - he will thank you when he sees how fast his new system runs. If anything spend the extra money on a second storage drive. 1TB = $80.