Overclocker Cafe - DDR1 vs. DDR2 - What's it mean to you?

DDR vs. DDR2 - What it means to you.

Overclocking

Since there is little change in performance running both the DDR and DDR2 modules at stock speeds, what kind of overclock are we going to get out of our DDR2? While we tried to overclock the DDR, we didn't get more than about 2 or 3 MHz out of it due to it's very tight timings. I would have loved to loosen the timings, but our Gigabyte motherboard (IMO - a piece of junk) had no options for the memory timings in the BIOS. However, we were able to push the DDR2 quite far and keep it stable.

We got the memory up to a whopping 607MHz which pushed our processor all the way up to 3.2GHz from it's base of 2.8GHz before the motherboard crapped out. Granted this is well below what the rated speed of the memory is, but I'm betting that once we get a better motherboard in with some serious overclocking headroom, we'll see the memory really shine.

Conclusions

When you get right down to it, for today's performance the differences between using DDR and DDR2 at 533MHz, there is little to no difference. Where DDR2 will shine, is in it's overclocking potential and the promise of future applications making use of it's enhanced speed and bandwidth. As when DDR was first introduced over SDRAM, it will be a while before these advantages are fully realized, but DDR2 will be sure to come into it's own sooner rather than later. Right now, there is no reason to upgrade your existing system based solely on DDR2. However, having said that, if you are already thinking it's time to upgrade, I would definitely recommend going with a DDR2 platform for future expandability not to mention it's overclocking potential.

We have every intention of revisiting this question in the future again once we get our hands on a better motherboard for further testing. Plus, I'm sure with a more stable board, we can reach some serious overclocks with this memory. So be sure to stay tuned in the near future for more information and articles following the progression of DDR2 and what it can mean for you.

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