DDR3 finally hitting mainstream
It has been a very long time coming, but pricing on DDR3 memory is finally getting to the point where it is just about worth it. The last time I checked on www.newegg.com, 4 gigabytes of DDR3 1333 could be had for around $125. This is still several times the going rate on the older, slower DDR2 standard, with the same amount of DDR2 routinely going for $50 or even $40.
In the grand scheme of things, though, $125 is not that much to spend on system memory, and prices will continue to drop. Also critical is the fact that there are now plenty of DDR3 supporting motherboards available at reasonable prices. Perhaps most importantly, the new line of processors from Intel, the Core i7, will only support DDR3. The Core i7 is Intel’s successor to the Core 2 line of processors, due out later this month. It will be a little while before Core i7s become mainstream, as the early motherboards are all in the $300+ price range. However, rest assured that once there are some good Core i7 motherboards at lower prices, DDR3 will pick up some serious steam.
There are a few reasons why DDR3 has taken so long to become popular. The primary factor that provided momentum to DDR2 and kept DDR3 from taking hold was the pin incompatibility between the 2 formats. While some newer motherboards now have slots for both types of memory, DDR3 memory will not fit in a DDR2 slot.
Also, faster memory speeds generally do not translate to significant performance increases in real world tests. From a gaming perspective, you might see an increase of a few frames per second going from DDR2 800 to DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600. However, this will not hold true forever. Currently, memory speeds are rarely a bottleneck, and so faster speeds won’t help you much. Nonetheless, progress keeps marching on, and eventually DDR2 memory will be slow enough compared to other system components that it will become a problem. This may not be very far down the road.
Of course, the pricing of actual DDR3 memory sticks has also been limiting. Typically, DDR3 memory has costed about 3 times as much as DDR2 memory for quite some time. However, DDR2 now costs about 1/3 what it did 12 or 18 months ago. It is now so cheap that putting 4 gigabytes into even the lowest cost desktops is recommended.
With all these facts in mind, I think we have now reached the turning point. If I were to build a gaming machine today, I would go with DDR3 memory. It is not that expensive, and it will give you a lot more upgradeability options in the future. Of course, I would also probably wait on building anything until Core i7 motherboards come down in price, but that is another story.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’m predicting that, in a year from now, Intel Core i7 CPUs and DDR3-RAM will be standard in any self-assembled rig from $1000 on up. For now they’re too expensive to be worth using (especially the motherboards), but the price should, as always, come down rapidly.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
[...] have previously discussed the release of Intel’s new Core i7 processor and all the changes that it brings. Well, it has been a month, and the new processors and [...]