DDR3 comes shy into the scene

[Micutzu]

No, it's not like with the CPU's. Not even like with the VGA's. When a new type of RAM appears it's usually too expensive and can't even match the top performers of the previous generation. No boom, no hype, the next gen just enters very shy into the market and as the volume increases and the technology develops it just moves upfront and replaces the old stuff as a performance leader. So don't expect to get your hats blown off in the next few posts because it won't happen.

So, what are we exactly talking about ? Some kind of comparation, as fair as it gets, between DDR2 memory and the DDR3 newcomers. The testing platforms ... will definetely not be limiting the results , for DDR3 the Asus P5K3 Deluxe proved to be a good match and DDR2 was paired with one of the few i965 motherboards that can keep up with the P35'ers, the abit AB9 QuadGT.

Setup

DDR3 platform: Asus P5K3 Deluxe + Kingston KVR1066D3N7K2/2G (Elpida chips)
DDR2 platform: abit AB9 QuadGT + TEAM Xtreem TXDD2048M1200HC5DC (Micron D9GKX)

Intel E6700 + Asetek Vapochill LS
EVGA 8800Ultra SuperClocked
Seventeam ST-600EAD


Right, the DDR3's are lowend and DDR2 and top notch performers ... even if the prices would fool you. Relax, i didn't walk the Xtreem's into the park with no muzzle and leash, the settings i've used are reasonable for any average DDR2.

The tests won't make things clear for everybody, i can tell you this right now, especially as i've mostly ran sinthetic benchmarks; to be honest, this is the best way you could see a consistent difference, as in real life the memory performance is not THAT important. The Lobby High test from 3DM2001 is still a very good indicator of memory performance (mostly latency), and SiSoft Sandra Lite XI SP2 and Everest 2006 are already too well known for me to say anything else about them. The CPU ran at two different frequencies (3.6Ghz and 4.0Ghz) just to point out any scaling; VGA drivers were 158.19 set on performance and with LOD = 4.9. VGA clocks were the default 8800Ultra SuperClocked ones, 655/1125, and the PCI-e bus was at 120Mhz.

The timings for DDR3 can be seen in the images below, and for DDR2 i've used 4-4-4-10 2T with tRFC = 20.