X-bit labs

DDR3 SDRAM: Revolution or Evolution? (page 8)

Category: Memory

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

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

I doubt that you are positively surprised with the results demonstrated by platforms with different memory types in gaming applications. DDR3 SDRAM doesn’t have any revolutionary effect – it is just another evolutionary step in memory technology, so we shouldn’t really expect it to bring any impressive performance bursts. Moreover, the system with DDR3 SDRAM runs slower than the one with DDR2 SDRAM even if both memory types work at the same frequency and with the same timings. However, this lag is not very big: if we compare the results of DDR2-800 and DDR3-800 with 5-5-5 timings, the difference will be less than 1%.

As for the faster DDR3 SDRAM models, DDR3-1333 with 7-7-7-18 timings can only outperform DDR2-1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings, but will still lose to DDR2-1066 with 4-4-4-12 timings. DDR3-1066 can only compete with DDR2-800 with not the best latency settings of 4-4-4-12.

The benchmark created using the oldest strategy game shows the same results as the contemporary 3D games we have just discussed.