[fortuitous]

What is the difference between ddr2 and ddr ram?

I am building a new pc and the motherboard i have suports ddr. can i still use ddr2 ram and what is the advantage to ddr2 over ddr.
thanks Rob

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DDR2 and DDR are not interchangeable. Therefore if you want to use DDR2 memory, you need a motherboard that supports DDR2 memory. You can't put DDR2 memory in a DDR motherboard.

DDR2 memory is essentially a lot faster. Apart from that and the name, it works in the same way as DDR memory.

[Neil Jones]

DDR2 and DDR are not interchangeable. Therefore if you want to use DDR2 memory, you need a motherboard that supports DDR2 memory. You can't put DDR2 memory in a DDR motherboard.

DDR2 memory is essentially a lot faster. Apart from that and the name, it works in the same way as DDR memory.

[mcsmc]

I won't pretend to know a whole lot about the different technologies. However, DDR2 is DDR's successor, meaning DDR2 is the new technology. Therefore, your motherboard will NOT support DDR2 if the manufacturer only says it supports DDR. You would have to provide your specific motherboard make and model number for someone to verify that for you.

DDR2 I BELIEVE is is dual channel, whereas DDR isn't (again, not claiming that as a fact, just going on memory at the moment). Dual channel means using a pair of RAM sticks, they can both work at the same time independently of each other, effectively doubling your RAM efficiency and speed.

You may find THIS article helpful.

[fortuitous]

how much faster is a stick of 1gb ddr2 a 1gb ddr ram

[warriorscot]

Depends on the speed of the DDR2 but its not a huge difference at all especially on AMD systems unless the DDR2 memory is fast and has low latencies itll not be noticeable difference. Differences are large AMD went to DDR2 because its cheaper to produce and thus buy, intel went over earlier because they got a performance boost because the memory controller is on the motherboard and not as good as the AMD one the faster speeds helped it balance that out. The price is the biggest difference more than performance its not a huge thing the biggest performance factor in memory is the size of it and its latency.

[fortuitous]

is it backwards compatible, i.e, if ive got a ddr2 motherboard will i be able to use ddr memory sticks, many thqanks bob

[warriorscot]

Nope DDR motherboards will only take DDR and the same is true for 2 the number of connections/pins is different for DDR and DDR2 so they wont fit in the slots of the others type.

You wouldn't really want to use DDR in DDR2 the performance diff isnt huge but its there and DDR2 is cheaper.