DDR worth it?¿?

[agissi]

I have a bit of a question.....Im upgrading right now to a XP2100, and purchased 512MBs of pc133 to go with that. It cost me $40. 512MB of DDR is 3x that cost....but how will it affect my performance? Like a great deal, to where its notice able when using my PC, or a fair bit where I'll get 5+FPS than using my PC133. I never really thought DDR was worth it, just because its 2x as much when buying a 256MB stick, and 3x as much when buying a 512MB stick...It just doesnt seem like the memory clock being 2x faster is really going to help...its ram, not a CPU. I know it plays a key part to diliver data to the cpu, but still, would pc133 be just fine? Im starting to regret getting the 512mb pc133, and thinking I should have got 256MB DDR for $20 more...

<PS>
This is my 100th Post!

 

[MrGaribaldi]

I didn't upgrade to DDR until late november this year for the same reasons you state...
But now that I've upgraded I've noticed quite the difference... Not just in games, but in windows too...
It "feels" more responsive...

If I were you, I'd go for 256mb DDR now, and get another 256mb later...


.02$

 

[NV30]

You may also need a new motherboard to switch to DDR.

 

[palmboy5]

not always, some mother boards have both...

but you did say "may"

 

[newumbrella]

Greatly depends on wut motherboard and chipset you have....but generally u'll see 20-30% performance increase, provided you have a good chipset...

 

[iss]

I used to think that DDR wasnt worth the extra price either after trying it out on a machine I built for my wife I never going back to PC133. but to each his own I made sure not to convince my brother of the superiority of DDR until AFTER he bounght my old MOBO, chip and 512MB PC133

 

[Vehementi]

Originally posted by NV30
You may also need a new motherboard to switch to DDR.

Yeah he has a K7S5A which he should really upgrade that has support for either DDR or SDR.

Yeah I would say DDR. PC133 is dead, dude.

Todays applications ( especially Windows ) are designed for high-bandwidth memory systems, and PC133 is gonna cause a serious bottleneck, especially with a FSB of 266 and a memory bus of 133 :dead:

DUDE YOU'RE GETTING A DDR!

<PS>
This is my 1901st post, I think...

 

[agissi]

Acutally "dude" - Im not getting DDR. I just purchased my PC133(and no, its not dead, its everywhere). Im on a budget, and Im not spending more of my money(Im spliting the cost of this PC with my little bro, $212 each). I wish I could, but its a bit late. My new mobo that I will be using is a Gigabye GA7ZXE ...Which doesnt have DDR slots(I thought it did, and I already ordered it )But come to think of this, wouldnt I be better of not bothering with DDR now? Cause I can wait for DDR2 and get that, while saving myself the $100 now. Now, If I had a P4, I would defently get DDR, I know P4 really depends on the RAM. But Im using an XP, is this less the case? Only bad thing is, I want more responce....I want to click on a Word document, and it go 'BOOM', and show up within a sec or two. And my PC isnt too responsive right now. However I am on a K7S5A, which is the cheepest thing on the market. I really wish I got the MSI Turbo2, just cause I bet it would be better than this gigabyte mobo I ordered. Oh well, Im a goof. The T2 was same price and had free 2-Day air! :blackeye: Im dumb.

PS
Thanx for all the replys!

 

[iss]

"However I am on a K7S5A, which is the cheepest thing on the market."

the K7S5A is only "cheap" in price it is an excellent board and I would rather have it than any MSI board.

 

[agissi]

really? I thought MSI made really good boards(I thought they are but there with ASUS, Abit...). You think that so?

 

[Vehementi]

Both MSI and ECS make crappy, worthless, cheap boards. I hate them.

However, Gigabyte makes some good boards, like the 7INXP and the 7VAXP, but they're still mid-range.

Then there's the A's. ASUS, and ABit. They make the best boards. Everything else bows to their presence. ASUS' A7N8x and A7V8x both slaughter all who resist, make prisoners of the rest, loot by rite of the sword, and thank their god to the sound of cannon. ASUS is the best, and ABit is content to feed on the scraps.

:evil:

 

[agissi]

I defently have to agree, Asus is King. But I cant really afford $100+ boards. =/

 

[iss]

I would not buy most ECS boards but the K7S5A is an exception it has proven to be a good stable board.

I have never owned a MSI board I have several friends that have had them and they always had problems. gigabyte's record has been a bit spotty but their current boards are pretty good I am running the 7VRX boards in two machines now.

any future boards I get for AMD chips are going to be Nforce2 based boards via chipsets have always been buggy.

 

[MrGaribaldi]

Originally posted by ---agissi---
Which doesnt have DDR slots(I thought it did, and I already ordered it )But come to think of this, wouldnt I be better of not bothering with DDR now? Cause I can wait for DDR2 and get that, while saving myself the $100 now. Now, If I had a P4, I would defently get DDR, I know P4 really depends on the RAM. But Im using an XP, is this less the case? Only bad thing is, I want more responce....I want to click on a Word document, and it go 'BOOM', and show up within a sec or two.

The only reason I can see for waiting for QDR(Quad data rate) (NOT DDR2[) is that DDR would see a price drop....

The XP is also memory bound, though not as bad as the p4...

The only reason to get QDR is being bleeding edge, which often leads to more problems than most users wants...

If you seriously wants Word to load in an instant, get serial ata drives, use the latest DDR (ddr400), defragment every day, and oc your cpu with liquid nitrogen.... Word isn't only dependent on ram, but cpu and how fragmented your drive is...

DDR is expensive, but not that expensive...This is especially true if you shop around a bit, and go for the "slowest" DDR available.. If you do this, you'll still see a difference when compared to pc133....

 

[agissi]

I can get 256Mbs of "slowest",genric DDR, for $20 more than it costs to ge 512MBs of 133. My idea of buying RAM isnt spending $80-120 on it...but I guess that'll have to change. My CPU was $100. Maybe I should skip the cpu, and get the ddr? what do you think of that....pretty smart eh? Im good at these things

 

[palmboy5]

I would just stay with PC133...

but thats just me, and actually non of my PCs are above PC133...

i suck dont i....:grinthumb

 

[agissi]

right on my broda...:grinthumb PC133 it is!

 

[Didou]

A friend of mine went from a Duron 800mhz to an AthlonXP 1700+ ( on the same board you have ) & allthough the system is much faster then before, it's not showing its maximum potential. Keep the PC133 for now, but upgrade to DDR once the prices have gone down.

PS. MSI makes some of the greatest boards out there. They have the best stability/performance ratio. They'd rather have a board a tad slower then an ASUS or the likes but it's not likely to reboot every 30 minutes.

 

[agissi]

Man, people have some real diffrent oppionions around here! I want to upgrade to DDR as soon as possible. I'll just give it some time. Thanks guys, your input is great!!>:grinthumb

 

[Nick]

k7t266 pro2 is a great MSI board... I've had it for awhile now ever since my gigabyte fried and I love it.

 

[agissi]

Alrighty guys - Since it appears people are still reading and posting to this thread I just thought I'd add, that I bought a 256MB stick of DDR2700 And got an Asus A7V8x (not Deluxe).

PS:
Nick, I have the same moniter as you...its nice eh?:grinthumb I like it, considering it was $300