Widescreen Gaming Forum

i went for Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 XMS2 Dominator Memory Xtreme in the end...

the only problem with Corsair is they dont have a UK RMA base... The closest one is in Holland

In terms of brand, Corsair, OCZ, Crucial, and Mushkin are my preferred manufacturers.

Because you have an E8400 though, you get maximum speed compatibility with DDR3 (10600MHz) modules. This isn't a crucial factor (I run an E8500 with PC6400 modules 'cause I'm cheap) but I thought I'd mention it if you have the mulah for DDR3. This is due to the fact that processors from Intel based on the Core technology, when run together with memory with similar speeds to the processor's FSB, theoretically don't experience latency that you would get with unsynchronized speeds between memory and FSB.

Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_2_Duo#Motherboard_compatibility if you want to know more.

Same thing with AMD X2's back in the day of 939. AT least thats what I remember.

Reviews I read suggest ddr3 is equal performance to ddr2 only quite a bit more costly.

The only gain right now from a ddr3 system is less heat/power usage.

If ddr3 and ddr2 had comparable pricing ddr3 would win, right now, it's just not worth it.

In the older generations 1:1 vs asynchronous might have mattered. Right now though, the 0.001% difference is hardly worth the cost.

Yep, DDR3 is horribly expensive - although it's come down quite a bit from the price it was. Still, even so, it's not worth the cost when the performance is taken into account... unless you're doing something really bandwidth intensive, DDR3 makes no difference... oh, and DDR3 motherboards usually cost more than an otherwise-identical DDR2 board...

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2330074,00.asp

Have a quick read of this article if interested. To be honest, I've gotten a little wary of ExtremeTech recently. They really seem to have dropped in quality. :( But this article seems OK.

my board handles DDR3 as well but DR3 ram is still a bit expensive