DDR2 v. DDR3

Ok, so all of a sudden I hear a bunch of enthusiasts bragging about their DDR3 RAM and how it is so much better than DDR2. Could someone perhaps explain exactly what makes DDR3 better?

From what I know it increases data transfer speeds and it helps battery life due to its reduced voltage (I believe its down to 1.5V from 1.8V in DDR2)

Also, If a laptop comes with DDR2, can you upgrade by easily switching out the memory boards without any problem, or does the laptop have to be specifically built for DDR3 RAM?

 

Needs to be built specifically for DDR3 Ram...I think there maybe a different pinout as well.

 

If you have a discrete graphics card there is no difference since even DDR2 in dual channel surpasses the fastest CPU FSB today.

If you have integrated graphics then DDR3 will help alittle but only in 3D games.

The only CPU that can benefit from DDR3 are ones with the memory controller on the CPU dye.

 

DDR3 is so much better than DDR2. Bandwidth is doubled at the same frequency. However, there is no performance benefit because DDR2 isn't slowing anything down as is. Only if the memory bandwidth was bottlenecking performance would it make a difference, but this doesn't happen.

 

On paper it's better, but in actual real life situation, it's non noticeable. There just isn't any performance benefit of having DDR3 RAM at this point except for IGPs as stated by iGrim.

Only reason you might want some is for future upgrades once DDR3 becomes more standard.

 

What they said. It just another reason that manufactures use to make you spend your money and buy a new laptop from them.

 

Wow guys, thanks for the info and fast responses, really useful.

So is the rumor that it extends battery life false?

 

Well theoretically it would, but it's an insignificant amount. RAM is hardly power-hungry enough to make it impact battery life a lot. Now, say if you undervolt your CPU, which is far more hungry, you'd get a few minutes, but with -0.3V of RAM, no not really.

 

Yes these differences would be meaningless, since the true power hog is the screen. Nearly half of the operation energy goes to the display.

Ain't that the truth. On the other hand, "papa does need a new pair of shoes."

 

Sure you are not talking about DDR5? Last time I checked DDR3 can get higher clocks than DDR2 and that is about it. At the same frequency they should perform about the same.

 

Yes, I'm sure. Check again.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=1

Don't see mention of a doubling of bandwidth due to wider signal path at the same frequencies (benchmarks are similar too, if it was twice as wide it will be significantly faster). On the other hand DDR5 is twice as wide as DDR3 and DDR2.

 

Yes, DDR3's bandwidth is double the frequency. It's the same for DDR2. That's why it's called DDR SDRAM in the first place. DDR - double data rate.

DDR3 only have higher clock frequencies, a bit higher timings and lower voltage. In some cases, DDR2 ram might even be faster than DDR3 ram. E.g. DDR2 1066mhz with CL6 timing is faster than DDR3 1066mhz with CL8 timing.

 

Couldn't be worded any better.

 

There seems to be many different opinions whether DDR3 is better.
But I have to agree with Trottel about this. It's not really that much better.

 

Doesn't seem like there are different opinions. It's just worded differently. Everyone here has basically said that DDR3 is better in theory but in real life performance it yields no difference compared to DDR2, except in Intel's IGP performance.