DDR3 vs DDR2, which is better?

Question

Which is better to get, 2 gigs ddr3 or 4 gigs ddr2? Also, is ddr3 worth getting? Will it help with gaming?

Answer 1

Disregard what the previous person said about DDR2 vs. "DDR4".  2 gigs of DDR4 would not theoretically be equivalent to 4 gigs of DDR2.  DDR3 has a lower latency than DDR2, therefore will run faster.  Getting 4 gigs of DDR2 would also mean you would have to get a motherboard that supports it, which would mean your PC would be outdated sooner.  Depending on what you need it for, I would go with 3 gigs of DDR3 personally.  The 4 gigs of DDR2 would initially be faster and cheaper, but you would eventially have to upgrade to DDR3 or DDR4 when it comes out (assuming it will), requiring you to buy a new motherboard and maybe a new CPU.  So if you want faster and cheaper for right now and have to upgrade later, go with the 4 gigs DDR2.  Also, the RAM is faster when you get it in multiple channels, so try to get 4 indivitual DIMMs of 1 gig each.

Answer 2

Yeah, at similar RAM amounts, DDR3 beats DDR2.

However, more RAM is better than more RAM read/write bandwidth, which is what DDR3 has over DDR2.

Also, DDR2 has lower latencies :). I'm still on DDR1 with an socket 939 opteron 170.

Answer 3

I'd go for the 4GB of DDR2.  Now if there 'were' DDR4, then 2GB of it should be equivilent to 4GB of DDR2, but there's not. :)  It'll be cheaper and should out perform the smaller amount of DDR3.

Answer 4

4 gigs ddr2

Answer 5

You'll only see a noticeable difference between DDR3 and DDR2 when you're looking at video card memory (where the difference is huge). If you're talking about system RAM, DDR3 isn't worth the higher price.

So yeah, 4gb of DDR2 is better.