RAM requirements

[9999rob]

I have Elements 18 with Windows 10 pro

I have 4gb of ddr3 ram which is max for the current motherboard.

However alternatively the motherboard could take a max 8gb of DDR2 6400 - but not in conjunction with DDR3.

As I wish to up the RAM as 4gb isn't really very successful with 18, can anyone give an opinion on whether ditching the 4gb DDR3 and replacing with 8gb DDR2 would be okay from a spec aspect?

Many thanks

[Sahil.Chawla]

Hi Rob,

DDR2 & DDR3 are completely different technologies, the DDR2 version of RAM can only go upto 800MHz speed, however, DDR3 version can go upto 1600MHz, this means if you had 2 computers with nearly identical specs, but one used 4GB of DDR3–1600MHz, and the other used 8GB of DDR2–800MHz, the DDR3 rig would win in both bench-marking and real-world applications.

Regards,
Sahil

[9999rob]

Thank you, this got me thinking and perhaps I need to refine my question.

First of all using an Intel e6850 cpu we probably don't get the full benefit of ddr3 over ddr2, would be better with Q6600/9550 cpus (used copies are quite inexpensive)

Secondly looking at benchmarks for ddr3 over ddr2 analysis, I have found the advantage is approx 8% on average over different apps. You may more about how E18 performs across the two........

So assuming that ddr2 is slower on Elements 18, the question is would we get any advantage in E!8 with having more ram albeit the slower ddr2? 

The alternative which is financially less attractive is to upgrade the mobo, cpu and ram (& reinstall win 10!, etc etc).

Of course in summary we would upgrade the whole rig at some point, but changing the ram, is it a cost effective short to middle term solution?

Thanks again....

[Sahil.Chawla · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing more information, as you're using the Intel e6850 cpu, there will not be much difference in the performance.
You can get the 8GB DDR2 RAM, as you'll be able to use more apps simultaneously because of more memory.