DDR3 Memory: Technology Explained

Although DDR3 RAM has been out for almost a year, it remains largely unappreciated. The games industry may be practically recession proof, but the rest of us have been feeling the effects for a while now. Unfortunately, this makes it harder for people to justify trying new things. Benchmark Reviews explains why DDR3 memory is well worth the investment for PC gamers.

Many PC gamers are under the misconception that the difference between DDR2 and DDR3 is mere speed.

The worst piece of misinformation I see spread in enthusiast forums is how DDR3 simply picks up speed where DDR2 left off… which is as accurate as saying an airplane picks up where a kite left off. DDR3 does improve upon the previous generation in certain shared areas, and the refined fabrication process has allowed for a more efficient integrated circuit (IC) module. Although DDR3 doesn’t share the same pin connections or key placements, it does still share the DIMM profile and overall appearance. From a technical perspective however, this is where the similarities end.

The article is very technical. To sum up; DDR3 is faster, more energy efficient (conserving up to 32% energy used on system memory) and ideal for overclocking systems. It also comes in chip sets of 512 megs to 8 G. For all the details as well as disadvantages and potential concerns on using DDR3 RAM read the full article on Benchmark Reviews.