How do you tell if you have GDDR3 or DDR2 on video card? (x1700 mobility)

I should be receiving my ASUS A8JP from newegg today(or tomorrow ) and I've read that depending on the memory, it will bench higher/lower. It doesn't say on the newegg what the speed is... Can I look it up in settings or system info?

Thanks.

 

You should be able to tell the difference, by noting the frequency of the memory. If it is higher than about 800 MHz then it is probably GDDR3. I'm not absolutely sure about this boundary frequency of 800 MHz.

 

I thought GDDR3 was not launched yet

 

GDDR3 isn't a finalized spec yet, I don't think. Not for system memory at least. Graphics manufacturers have taken a pre-release version of the DDR3 spec and made it GDDR3 (Graphical DDR3) for use in video cards.

 

Wow fast replies. Thanks guys/... gals ???

 

GDDR3 has existed for years. The Geforce 6 series used it, as did the Radeon x800's.

DDR3 has not been launched though. I think the spec has been finalized a while ago (not 100% sure), but no motherboards support it, and no one are manufacturing it yet (other than test/development samples)

As Pitabred said, GDDR is pretty much "pre-release" versions of the official DDR specs. They take the semi-finalized specs, modify them a bit to suit graphics cards better, and run with that. That lets them use the memory a long time before the spec is finalized. (GDDR2 was used for years before Intel started using DDR2. And as I said, GDDR3 has been used for two years or more, and we won't see a DDR3 motherboard for the next year or so at least.)

 

Oh I see..I always wondered what the difference between GDDR3 and DDR3 actually was. Thanks Jalf

 

I'm almost certain that the A8Jp comes with DDR2 memory. I've seen pictures of the modules, I forgot whether it was the A8Js or A8Jp, but it was DDR2 memory. The A8Js and A8Jp tend to use the same type anyways. I believe ASUS only uses GDDR3 in their higher models like the W3J and W2J.

If I'm not mistaken the memory in both the A8Js and A8Jp is clocked below 400MHz which pretty much guarantees it's DDR2 memory being using. The first tier GDDR3 modules are 500MHz ones which is why the W3J which runs it's memory at 450MHz gets it.

If comparing directly between GDDR3 and DDR2, GDDR3 should be faster since there are optimizations toward graphics usage and to increase bandwidth. GDDR3 is also more power efficient than DDR2.

For interest, Apple tends to use GDDR3 rated for up to 700MHz in their MacBook Pros, the same type that is used in the desktop X1950Pro. They no doubt are downclocking it to save power.

 

Wow, I didn't realize cards were still using DDR2 for the graphics. I thought they were all GDDR3 now. Shows how much I know.

Doesn't the desktop x1950 use GDDR4?

 

my ram comes stock at 400 but can clock to 497.

It is ddr2 the ddr3 goes to 600.


when you get your machine you will be the first english speaking owner we have heard from so why dont you tell us?
The large panel in the back comes right off and the single board gpu is right there easy to see, next to the fan thats over the cpu.

you can tell us the numbers we can probably tell exactly what the ram is.

The only other score of the x1700 here on nbr had stock samsun x60 had a score that was barely lower than a stock lg s1 with the same cpu and a x1600.

So your stock scores should be around 4200 05 3dmark and 1800 06 3dmark just like a x1600

 

There are a few mid-range cards that use DDR2. It was never really popular (Geforce 5 used it. 4 used DDR and 6 used DDR3. And since then, only the occasional mid/low-end card has used it because it's a bit cheaper from time to time)

 

yea the x1950xtx uses gddr4, and it has ridiculous clock speeds because of it (2000mhz on the memory @ stock).

 

The X1950XTX uses GDDR4, but the X1950Pro uses GDDR3. I was talking about the latter before which uses the RV570 core.

In terms of DDR2 usage, people seem to be confusing GDDR2 and DDR2. GDDR2 wasn't very popular, because nVidia used it too early in it's infancy and got burned so everyone avoided it like a plague even after it matured. DDR2 on the other hand is very popular in mid-low end graphics cards because of it's common low-cost nature as regular RAM.

 

The X1950XTX has insane memory clocks! 2000Mhz! Anything over 2000Mhz is considered GDDR4?

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread but this never seemed to be clearly resolved. I was at ATI/AMD's site and saw this

So does this mean that the X1700 is using GDDR3? Or just that it could be using any the DDR/DDR2/GDDR3 options?

 

it means it can use all three, what you wind up with is whatever the company decides to slap on

 

bother, well that does not help. I wonder which one the A8jp uses?