AM2 to wait or not to wait

[Nitestick]

kazama what do you mean?

 

[Brtnboarder495]

Sorry I really have to disagree

current information suggests that the new memory controller is struggling with DDR2 support and that what has been developed so far only roughly equals current performance if not slightly lower

Yea okay, it's a glitch, it'll get fixed ... no crap DDR2 isn't outperforming DDR by a large margin, DDR2 is finally making a big debut this summer and this is the year it'll finally pull ahead of DDR. Just give time for DDR2 timings to get lower, and it'll blow DDR away.

spending a lot of money on the latest technology based on faith is a big gamble, for anyone doubting me google "p4 willamette"

Fair enough, so wait if you don't want to gamble. Seems like the benchmarks can't be lying though and they show solid performance.

3. pricing will no doubt be higher than equivelant s939 cpu's

As all new technology is over its preceding technology ...

AM2 is only really a revision of current technology to include DDR2

And the HTT has been moved from 200mhz to 333mhz, the CPUs are supposed to run cooler, and this socket will pave way for new CPUs. I'd be shocked if AMD produced "new" CPU designs for Socket 754 and 939 after 2006, look at their roadmap.

DDR2 latencies are hideous and so far have shown unimpressive performance with the info floating around about AM2

Again, the technology hasn't matured enough. Give it time. I'd bet DDR2 should get significantly faster by June 6th, memory companies want to sell their product too, there is a reason AMD waited so long to transition to DDR2.

why wait for something that could quite possibly be a flop rather than build something on proven technology currently available

Because when the current technology isn't supported in a year or two and you want a new, faster and more efficient CPU you can't upgrade because you chose a legacy technology

again on DDR2: the AMD memory controller does not rely heavily on memory bandwidth so i believe that even once the controller has been improved it won't provide a significant performance boost

Okay?

 

[Flanker]

Don't be an idiot man. They're right. And what was with the "Okay?"? You don't know what they're talking about do you? Thats perfectly correct, the AMD memory controller DOES NOT rely on memory bandwidth. If you knew what you were talking about you would know that faster memory speeds (AKA: DDR2) increases the memory bandwidth, which Athlon 64 processors don't need. The result; miniscule performance increase (or no performance increase, apparently).

 

[gaara]

Again, the technology hasn't matured enough. Give it time. I'd bet DDR2 should get significantly faster by June 6th, memory companies want to sell their product too, there is a reason AMD waited so long to transition to DDR2.

While it is true that DDR2 is slowly maturing and getting to be better...it's always been a poor platform and there's no avoiding the fact that there will be a lot of bumps involved in improving it that can lead to some very large and costly issues

Look at video cards...you'll find almost no cards with GDDR2 as the card manufacturers were able to recognise the issues with it and found a much easier solution was to simply move forward to GDDR3 and leave value cards with GDDR1...same basic concept should apply here

As I said earlier, DDR3 and XDR are much better alternatives and while they may be a bit pricey...when you look at what they're claiming and the early test chips from guys like Samsung and rambus they look very promising

 

[Nitestick]

thanks for the backup guys . so gaara could this be made a temporary sticky until AM2?

 

[gaara]

I will stick it for now...I'm not sure I entirely like the idea but this may help ease some of the repetetive questions

Just keep it updated or something, and make sure that people are aware that this is an opinionated question and there isn't a right or wrong answer

 

[Nitestick]

thank you gaara . i will keep it updated with any points for or against. you're right because i do have my mind made up not to wait but i will add anything that is logocal for either argument.

edit: so if anyone has anything to add please put it in a way where i can just copy your response

 

[idiotec]

Since DDR2 is a big part of this debate, I thought this to be relevant. While there is not comfirmed source in the thread, these guys typically have 'inside information.' Interesting stuff nonetheless.

The discussion is regarding 'next gen DDR2.' Talk of DDR2 1000 at Cas 3

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91005

 

[gaara]

bah screw that DDR1000 crap...gimme some XDR8000

http://www.rambus.com/products/xdr/xdr2.aspx

 

[idiotec]

bah screw that DDR1000 crap...gimme some XDR8000

http://www.rambus.com/products/xdr/xdr2.aspx

I'll take it!