RAM Selection: Which one??? Help!!!

[Tanker135]

Hello all. I have not keep up with the techonology lately and getting lost at many type of memory under "Weekly Memory Price" under ANANDTECH site.

I know what's the PC100, PC133 and PC150 are, but other type mentioned there such as PC2100 DDR, PC1600 DDR, PC800 RDRAM and VC133 I do not have clue.

Can anyone explain or at least tell me the site/link (I prefer one site explain them all instead of go to several different links)where I can find the info?

Also how does this affect the selection of the mother board? I just know these memory only can used on a particular type of board, right?

 

[lifeguard1999]

DDR = Double Data Rate. It is a 184 pin type of memory, so it is not compatible with PC100/PC133/PC150. For Pentium 3 systems, DDR shows little to no improvement over PC133. For Athlon systems, there is some improvement if you have the motherboard to support it. There is no Pentium 4 chipset available, yet. The 1600/2100 refers to the bandwidth that is available. 1600 = 1.6 Gbytes/sec. 2100 = 2.1 Gbytes/sec. Thus, higher is better.

VC133 = Virtual Channel memory. It is pin compatible with PC100/133/150, but may not be supported by all motherboards.

RDRAM = Rambus. Bad company. Good technology. It is not pin compatible with PC100/133/150. It shows little to no improvement over PC133 for Pentium 3 systems. It is not available on Athlon systems. It is the only available memory for Pentium 4 systems for now.