DDR All Hype?

[Jakester]

These DDR numbers sites have been showing are pretty crappy. You've got these extremely expensive mobos, somewhat expensive ram, and in some cases worse performance (KT266 vs. KT133a). Is DDR worth it at all? I've heard some people say that it will be more important in the future, how? I'm wondering what kind of software will eventually be able to take advantage of the memory's bandwidth.

 

[SaturnX]

I'm still waiting, as with all new hardware, there are bugs/flaws etc.... in a few years chipsets will be stronger for ddr and such, so it should be extremely powerful. Software will also take complete advantage of the DDR bus, but that's all in the future.

--Mark

 

[CHiMPBizKiT]

I'm perfectly fine with my setup right now, and even browsing all these vendors selling PC2100 RAM, I'm just not that interested. Until something hits really big, I won't be upgrading my baby

 

[Buddha Bart]

Think of it as similar to when intel chips moved from the 66 to the 100mhz front side bus. For a while it didn't make a difference at all, but now it clearly does.

bart

 

[cmaMath13]

I think the comparison with 66MHz fsb and 100MHz fsb is an excellent one! I agree. You see a lot of hype, but the true potential is not yet available or even that big of a difference.

 

[Sugadaddy]

Current AMD CPUs don't have the need for that extra bandwidth. As clock speed goes up, you'll see that it will make a bigger difference...

 

[Vegito]

At least it's hype without cashing in on your wallet like Rambus...

 

[MadRat]

If you work with databases then you will see the memory bandwidth in action.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

DDR just sucks majorly right now... those scores on Anand's latest review have the KT133A beating the crap out of VIA's latest DDR solution in some tests.

DDR has been the biggest letdown since... RAMBUS. I remember back in Q3 1999 - everyone was soooo hyped and ready for DDR. DDR = Dull and DRy.

Maybe newer chipsets will take advantage of the technology...

 

[joohang]

Considering that you are likely able to reuse that PC2100 module in the near future, and with the recent PC133-level prices of Crucial DDR modules, I'd buy DDR.

Palomino (unsure about Thoroughbred) is supposed to be compatible with current motherboards, so it should give you an excellent upgrade path if you build a new system with DDR right now.

 

[LXi]

<<You've got these extremely expensive mobos, somewhat expensive ram>>

Hm... show me how $140 is extreme for a KT266 mobo? And show me how 256MB PC2100 for $98 is expensive.

 

[LXi]

<<Considering that you are likely able to reuse that PC2100 module in the near future, and with the recent PC133-level prices of Crucial DDR modules, I'd buy DDR.>>

Except that faster DDR standards(PC2600) are coming out as we speak, I dont think PC2100 can be long lived like PC133.


<<Palomino (unsure about Thoroughbred) is supposed to be compatible with current motherboards, so it should give you an excellent upgrade path if you build a new system with DDR right now.>>

It will be compatible with KT133A as well, so you still have the same upgrade path.

 

[TimeKeeper]

I wouldn't really blame everything on hardware.......

Just don't know when we will move out of this ancient 32bit OS era..

 

[jeffrey]

ddr memory is your friend. ddr-II will also be your friend. the memory currently does not provide that great of a benefit, but it DOES provide increased performance with an AMD chipset. the price of the memory is just about the same as name brand pc133 memory, crucial has proven that. if you remember the PIII with RDRAM performed worse than SDRAM on the i820 when it was released. regular sdram is on it's way down, but the evolution of it in ddr and ddr-II will leave you with that choice, or with rambus RDRAM. we all know that RDRAM has always cost more and provided little to no benefit. these first two ddr offerings of PC1600 and PC2100 are part of the problem. if amd clocked their fsb at 166/200 double pumped they would have seen bigger performance gains. then we could have bought pc2600/pc3200. 64mb of PC3200 is going into each xbox under a six year deal with micron. if amd can raise their eve-6 bus to the attainable 400mhz effective fsb, then ddr will be there for you. you don't really want to have to buy memory in pairs becuase one channel isn't enough do you??

 

[SiliconVandal]

Currently I don't think its worth it, but in the future I suppose it will dominate.