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    DDR vs DDR2 memory

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by nix, Sep 14, 2006.

  1. nix

    nix Notebook Consultant

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    I don't know too much about memory so... is 1024MB DDR system memory better than 512MB DDR2 system memory? What's the difference?
     
  2. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

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    The 1024mb will provide better performace than the 512mb DDR2 even though it is faster.

    The speed difference is very little. But as the Newer CPU speeds go up and you are doing heavy video work, You would have Max ram of the DDR2.

    If you are splitting hairs on ram speed it makes no difference in a laptop. If you have a HD slower than 7200 rpm. The HD will be the MAJOR bottle neck.
     
  3. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    DDR2 is about at parity in speed with DDR1. But since you ask that question, you're probably also asking about an AMD vs. an Intel processor. And a Core Duo will wipe the floor with an X2 at the moment, unfortunately.
     
  4. nix

    nix Notebook Consultant

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    Ok thanks,
    Actually i was just wondering whether it woudl be worth the money to upgrade my lappy to 1GB. I probably will, once its performance starts to falter.
     
  5. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    More memory is generally better, regardless of speeds.
    Basically, once you run out of RAM, your computer has to use the pagefile, which is located on the HDD, and is, roughly, 1,000,000 times slower than average RAM.

    The speed difference between different types of RAM is maybe, if we're *really* generous, a factor 2 or so. (And that's only if we compare 333 MHz DDR with something like 800+ MHz DDR2)

    So, having enough RAM to avoid pagefile usage will far outweigh any slight speed difference between RAM types.

    So yeah, upgrading to 1GB will give much better performance than going to 512MB DDR2