DDR2 V's DDR3 Whats The story?

[flyguy737]

Ok I am thinking of changing my motherboard to one that takes DDR3 memory. Now as my CPU is LGA775 Q9400 and I still have my old E8500 as well, the question of changing motherboard to one that takes DDR3 (I use DDR2 now) and buying DDR3 ram will this make any improvements?

What's the story with Dual Channel and Tripple Channel?

What Ram is best? Cosair? Kingston? etc?

It has also been said before that FSX only uses 2 gig of ram but how can that be so when under winxp it shows 3.25 of my 6 gig ram now and runs out of memory under heavy loads like YBBN or Heathrow but under win7 64bit I don't get the OOM's?

So since I can't afford an i7 upgrade at this time I want to go alittle better then I am now so would this new MB and DDR3 benifit me?

Colin

[Phil Manhart]

Ok I am thinking of changing my motherboard to one that takes DDR3 memory. Now as my CPU is LGA775 Q9400 and I still have my old E8500 as well, the question of changing motherboard to one that takes DDR3 (I use DDR2 now) and buying DDR3 ram will this make any improvements?

DDR3 runs at a higher clock speed, meaning it is capable of processing more information in a shorter amount of time. If you want a faster machine, and faster memory performance, then DDR3 is the way to go. DDR2 traditionally clocks in at 1333 at it's highest, while DDR3 is expanding past the 2000 Mhz mark.

What's the story with Dual Channel and Tripple Channel?

Dual Channel means that two sticks of RAM can operate in conjunction with eachother when speaking with the CPU. Triple Channel means three sticks of RAM can. Think of it this way; without operating in Dual Channel, two sticks of RAM would have to take turns when talking to the CPU, effectively halving the speed at which information is passed between the CPU and RAM. The more RAM you can have talking to the CPU at one time, the faster the CPU will be able to process information.

What Ram is best? Cosair? Kingston? etc?

It is best to match RAM with the designated and tested list provided by the motherboard manufacturer. Most manufacturers put this information on their product webpages.

It has also been said before that FSX only uses 2 gig of ram but how can that be so when under winxp it shows 3.25 of my 6 gig ram now and runs out of memory under heavy loads like YBBN or Heathrow but under win7 64bit I don't get the OOM's?

32-bit operating systems can only handle 2GB of RAM effectively. Large Address modifications have allowed programs to use memory above 2GB by tricking the OS into thinking that the RAM that is being used by the OS was never there. For example, if WinXP is using 1GB of RAM in a 4GB system, a program could use a full 2GB because the software thinks that there are 3 GBs of RAM available. Win7 x64 allows use of RAM above 2GB, but like you stated FSX is a 32-bit program that must play by the 32-bit rules. The absence of OOM's in W7 can be attributed to the way that W7 handles and allocates RAM much more efficiently than WinXP.

So since I can't afford an i7 upgrade at this time I want to go alittle better then I am now so would this new MB and DDR3 benifit me?

I would save your money and do a full upgrade to an LGA 1366 (i7) socket motherboard, with the i7 CPU, and Triple Channel DDR3 capabilities. You will probably not see a performance increase with just a new MB and DDR3 RAM because the CPU will not be able to take advantage of them like an i7 does. IMHO, wait until you can afford the whole package, otherwise you will be stuck with the older socket with no headroom for a faster CPU.

Phil

[MarkH]

Ok I am thinking of changing my motherboard to one that takes DDR3 memory. Now as my CPU is LGA775 Q9400 and I still have my old E8500 as well, the question of changing motherboard to one that takes DDR3 (I use DDR2 now) and buying DDR3 ram will this make any improvements?

Minimal improvement - here's a discussion.

[flyguy737]

thanks guys that helps alot