Related Articles

It's a hot summers' day and where better a place to spend it than at the drag strips. The heat of the blackened asphalt, the deafening sounds, and those intoxicating fumes. Two cars enter the gate; one running at 800 horse power, the other at 1333 horse power. When they launch off the line, the 800 HP dragster has a .44412 second gate time, while the 1333 HP beast takes .99924 seconds to get moving. Who are you going to bet on?

Yeah, it's an odd analogy, but that's the hindrance of DDR3 memory right now. Better overall speed doesn't negate lower response time. We certainly did see those results with the Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 motherboard and its somewhat lackluster handling of DDR3 memory. Don't get me wrong though; the Gigabyte QUAD6 is quite the impressive piece of hardware.

For starters, this has to be one of the best implementations of the Intel P35 chipset I have yet to see. The design itself is solid with features galore. The bundle isn't half bad either.

Though I can't help but frown for the DDR3 memory support. Yes, DDR3 does have that faster 1333 MHz speed rating, but that performance is significantly hampered by the higher latencies. Simply put; DDR2 4-4-4-12/2T 1066 MHz will beat DDR3 9-9-9-24/2T 1333 MHz to pieces. Unless DDR3 can mature in speeds to the point where latencies are less of an issue, then DDR2 will continue to win.

With that said, I'll say emphatically that I don't hate DDR3, I just think it has to mature a little bit more. Give it one year and we'll start to see DDR3 memory modules that will rival the very best DDR2 DIMMs. Another year after that and DDR3 will be king, providing that those high latencies get a lot lower. Four years from now and most people won't even know what DDR2 is or where to get it.

The Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 6-QUAD motherboard s nice, though I would like to pit it against its DDR2 equivalent, the Gigabyte GA-P35DQ6. That could really tells us something about DDR3 memory.

And for the final question; does the $250 bucks USD price tag warrant a purchase?

A resounding maybe is the answer. Considering that DDR3 memory sells for about $100 USD per 512MB, two gigs work will cost you around $400 dollars plus. Considering that DDR2 is about half the price, with ten times the selection, and better overclocking capabilities, I know where my had earned dollars would go.