X-bit labs

DDR3 SDRAM: Revolution or Evolution? (page 12)

Category: Memory

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 07/09/2007 | 05:50 PM ]

For example, in most gaming tests our overclocker platform with DDR3 SDRAM runs almost as fast as a similar platform with DDR2-950, but nevertheless loses dramatically to a platform with DDR2-1188.

So, it appears that high memory bandwidth is not that important for overclocked platforms. In other words, DDR3 SDRAM will hardly be able to change overclockers’ preferences. They mostly value the modules’ ability to operate synchronously with the FSB in abroad frequency range, because contemporary chipsets do not support any dividers that could lower the memory frequency. The hunt for higher SDRAM frequency results into such tiny performance improvement that can be neglected altogether. No wonder. Dual-channel memory subsystem working at the FSB frequency delivers twice the bandwidth, which turns out more than enough for any practical tasks.

Summing up I would like to conclude that the new DDR3 didn’t really show off during overclocking. Now we will just wait for faster DDR3 modifications to come out, because then the situation may change. So stay tuned!