Difference between DDR2 and DDR3 cards

Asked By anonymous 7060 points N/A Posted on - 04/22/2011

What is the difference between a DDR2 and a DDR3 memory card and can it be used interchangeably from one platform to another?

 

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Answered By shiv kumar 0 points N/A #79212

Difference between DDR2 and DDR3 cards

First let me tell the full form of DDR. It means, Double Data Rate which helps to double the transfer per cycle. One way to understand the differences between DDR2 & DDR3 Memory card is to define them separately, so here we go:

In early stages DDR2 looked like it lost the war against DDR because of better latency than DDR2 and also was not too bad on bandwidth but due to the processors DDR2 stood tall in front of DDR & never looked back.

 

DDR2: We can say DDR2 as second generation memory which is a further improvement on DDR. Speed of DDR ends at 400 MHZ max while speed of DDR2 begins at 400 MHZ . So for better speed we can say to use DDR2 which can provide you the speed of 532 MHZ.

 

FEATURES: DDR2 memory BUS width is 64-bits. DDR2 memory has 240 pins.

 

DDR3: While DDR3 can be said as third generation of DDR memory, its speed is much higher than DDR2 and start with speed of 2000 MHZ. So consumes less electricity than DDR2.

 

DDR2 & DDR3 Memory card SIMILARITIES: Both DDR & DDR3 Memory card size can vary from 128 MB to 2 GB its a size for personal use may grow size more than 2 GB.

 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DDR2 & DDR3:

1. DDR3 has lower power consumption feature than DDR2.
2. DDR3 has lower operating temperatures than DDR2.
3. Operating voltage of DDR3 is 1.5v while DDR2 has 1.8v.
4. DDR3 produces lower heat than DDR2.
5. DDR3 uses "FLY -BY" technology while DDR2 uses " T-BRANCHES".
6. DDR3 uses Address & signal lines on single line so balancing & uses automatic signal time delay.
7. DDR3 uses 8 -internal banks while DDR2 uses 4-internal bank means more internal bank helps to reduce access latency.

DDR3 HAS DRAWBACKS AS WELL:

1. DDR3 memory is more costly than DDR2.
2. DDR3 socket is not compatible with DDR2 sockets so requires new motherboard.
3. DDR3 designed to prevent mounting older DDR2.

Can it be used interchangeably from one platform to another?

P35 motherboards support DDR2 & DDR3:

1. ASUS P5K3 Deluxe by intel P35 chipset fully support DDR3 memory while ASUS P5K based on same chipset support DDR2.
2. They are same board with little difference supports different memory type.
3. So if we compare DDR2 & DDR3 in P35 performance & speed wise there is no difference between them.

DDR3 shows great deal of promise so it is best if your looking for performance.

1. So it is better to choose P35 chipset over P965 as it has better memory performance but definitely one issue remain is cost.
2. So if looking for speed so go for DDR2 if performance is key than choose DDR3.
3. But when the price will dip DDR3 is no doubt is best .

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• Posted on - 05/09/2011
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Answered By evelyndnell 10 points N/A #79213

Difference between DDR2 and DDR3 cards

Thank you Shiv Kumar,

You really helped me to clear my doubts regarding the RAM. I am planning to buy a new pc and i am very confused about the features of DDR3 ram. This post really helped me to clear my doubts about the features of it.

Really helpful.

Thank you so much techyv.com

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• Posted on - 06/17/2012
• Question Category: Misc Hardware