DDR boards out in October?!?

[gaarth]

I just read the web news. Aceshardware reports that Asus, Gigabyte and MSI will have DDR boards out in October. What do you guys think?

I just purchased 256 MB PC-133 SDRAM. Wanted to buy a KT7-Raid and a T-Bird. Should I better sell the SDRAM and wait one more month?

 

[Vegito]

I dont think it'll be out fully in october, I mean you might have to wait another month for it to ship out to all the online vendors.

I really do want to upgrade to the next generation chipsets but was wondering if DDR from VIA or others will be as fast as a BX/133 combo ? Anyone know.. also compatiblity issues with new chipsets... I'll kill myself for loading 4-in-1 drivers again...

 

[ogn]

The first DDR boards will be SiS chipsets. I would rank them below VIA. My experiences with them haven't been that great...actually, downright horrible. I hope they got there act together because no one is going to what a low end DDR chipset. The prelim numbers look pretty good and if Asus is willing to make one, it couldn't be that bad. *crossing my fingers*

 

[squirrel dog]

The ddr mo/bos will require ddr ram correct?Is that what rdram is?I see its 258-300+ for 128meg.

 

[gaarth]

forcesho,

that' s what I thought and feared. It is always the same. Until the products are available for endusers there are new product releases.

squirrel dog,

rdram should be the overpriced Rambus crap.

DDR boards require DDR RAM. There might be adapters for PC-133 modules, but then you won' t have the performance of DDR - so it would just be waste of money. The only place I know which mentions it is Crucial. Right now they only sell to developers, but they already list the price. DDR is very confusing. Crucial lists PC-1600 and PC-2100. On Micron' s website they also have DDR266 and DDR200.

 

[squirrel dog]

I see.I assume it will be expensive?The need for pc1600+ ram would be for a really fast bus speed,when will the processor be out for this?

 

I think PC1600 DDR SDRAM operates at a clock of 133MHz * 2 = 266MHz. And that'll come out at the same time that Mustang cored processors (on the AMD side) arrive. Those will have the 266MHz bus, but you also have to take into account that that stuff will work with current Athlons/Durons becuase the memory bus can be clocked independently of the FSB. That's how current Athlons with a 100Mhz DDR FSB have used PC133 memory since the KX133 chipset. PC2100 will run at 166Mhz * 2 = 333MHz.
And DDR SDRAM is the same price as regular SDRAM! You can already buy it. It's basically the same stuff as "regular" with rerouted internals that allow for the DDR-ness (drats, all technical right up to there).

 

[Vegito]

DDR RAM is NOT RDRAM

DDR cost as much as a PC133 SDRAM

RDRAM cost an ARM and a LEG

64MB DDR is around 83bucks - check crucial's website
64MB RDRAM is around 400 or so, maybe lower now.

 

[Lawton]

Hey. As others have said, even if DDR RAM and boards to support it are "released" in October, it will be a while before the items are readily available in the mainstream market. It will also need a bit of seasoning and "maturing" time as well. Save up your cash and buy a new board along with your NV20 128mb 8x AGP card (April or May).

 

[JellyBaby]

I'm with Lawton. Wait until the boards and chipsets have stabilized. By then you'll also have several reviews to weed through. Then you can make an informed decision.

I'd like to know if DDR boards are worth laying out more $$$ for DDR memory. Gotta wait 'til they're out to know for sure. gaarth, if you can wait, why not do so? But if you just bought some SDRAM and are lookin' to get up and running fast, ignore the DDR boards altogether. Something new and better is always 3-6 months away.

 

[gaarth]

It might be a very bad timing, but I can' t wait any more. I have to get rid of my (DON' T LAUGH!) Pentium 233 MMX. In case someone wants to know, this will be my new pc:

Coolermaster ATC-200 / 4 * Panaflo FBA08A12L1A
Enermax EG351P-VE (maybe I exchange the Globe fans with Panaflos)
Abit KT7-Raid
AMD Thunderbird 800 Mhz
Alpha PAL6035 / Adda 60 mm fan
Crucial 256 MB PC-133 SDRAM CL 2
ATI Radeon 64 MB VIVO
2 * IBM DTLA-307030
Pioneer DVD-105SZ
Plextor 1210TA
Hauppauge WinTV Radio
Soundblaster Live! Platinum
Videologic DigiTheater DTS
NEC FP-1370
Microsoft Natural Keyboard
Logitech MouseMan+
HP LaserJet 6MP
Canoscan N1220U or AGFA e50
Zyxel Prestige 314
3Com 3C905C-TX

Who says x-mas is in December?

 

[JellyBaby]

gaarth, hehe looks good. That a total of 60 GB hd space then?

A DDR mainboard will not likely run your Word's spellchecker faster. It will not load AnandTech's web board faster. And you're not gonna notice any speed increases in games, either, unless some miracle is acheived. Guess what I'm saying is you're just fine buying that rig right now.

 

[gaarth]

JellyBaby,

unfortunately it will only be 30 GB, because of Raid. Anyway, this should last for a while.

The more I think about it, the more I feel comfortable with the decision not to wait for DDR boards. It makes more sense to buy DDR boards with AMD' s / Intel' s next generation CPUs and Nvidia' s / ATI' s next generation GPUs. Then I might celebrate x-mas before December again.

 

[ogn]

If you do a RAID0, then you will have 60GB. As for DDR, http://www.bxboards.com has hints that they'll be available at the end of the month.

 

[Mday]

um... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

 

[goog]

To clear things up PC1600 = DDR200 and PC2100 = DDR266.
PC100x2 and PC133x2 in other words.
Crucial.com lists the PC1600, currently for sale to developers only, as being the same price as PC133 SDR and a premium for PC2100 that is reasonable.
The mobos might be the harder to afford part, not to mention a new proc. Anyways the Tbird (socket A) will work in the new DDR boards as will SDRAM (in some not all). Cannot guarantee this but it appears to be the case.
gaarth:
If you get a good price for the SDRAM and can wait and can afford the new stuff then wait if not don't.
---
I assume its better than a BX133 and no one can say about compatibility at this time.
---
AMD 760 appears to be the first chipset out from most recent rumors, not sure about SiS nor do I care.

---
As has been pointed out RDRAM is Rambus
SDRAM is PC 100/133
DDR (double data rate) SDRAM is as noted above.

Bobtist covers some of this and more in an earlier post.

 

[goog]

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/pc/docs/article/20000824/ali.htm

Scroll down and check out the early benches for the ALi Magik chipset Iwill RAID capable board with DDR1600 compared with an MSI KT133 PC133 mobo.
Quake 3 sees about 13% boost and that's with DDR200 not DDR266.
So yeah its worth the wait.
Considering the Athlon chipsets out now I don't think you'd be taking a big risk on buying something new this fall. Time and price which shouldn't be that bad are the main factors.
But finally if you can wait (have a good system now say) do, you'll get better prices and more mature product.
Serial ATA, USB 2.0, AGP8x etc. into next year. Once all this is out I can't see needing anything better for quite sometime.