I found DDR2 very confusing as there are so many speeds and there isn't really a performance standard like there was for DDR1 (400MHz 2-2-2-5). So, I thought I'd try and help people out. Also 'good' DDR2 seems to be going up in price.
PS this is a work in progress, and if people can help that would be appreciated.

US Prices
Sub $100
1GB Kit
G.SKILL 533MHz 1GB $90
G.SKILL 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
2GB Kit
Not Possible?
$101-$149
1GB Kit
TeamGroup Xtreem 1GB $137 - Pretty much the BEST 1GB you could buy. This stuff uses Micron D9GMH which is used in a lot of performance DDR2 800. It'll normally easily do 1000MHz 4-4-4-4 and higher.
1 Gb Kit DDR2 (2 x 512) 3-3-3-8 667 Mhz - TXDD1024M667HC3DC-M by: Team
Or
Crucial Technology Ballistix 1GB
Crucial Technology Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
2GB Kit
Impossible Again?
$150-$199
1GB Kit
I'd recommend the TeamGroup again. $150+ is too much for 1GB in my opinion. Or, you could get this version.
1 Gb Kit DDR (2x512Mb) 4-4-4-10 800Mhz - TXDD1024M800HC4 by: Team -
2GB Kit
U]$200-$249[/U][/B]
2GB Kit
OCZ Platinum REV2 800MHz $215 AR ($240)
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
$250-$299 a good price band for DDR2.
2GB Kit
TeamGroup is the order of the day again.
667MHz 3-3-3-8 $255
2 Gb Kit DDR2 (2 x 1Gb) 3-3-3-8 667 Mhz - TXDD2048M667HC3DC-M by: Team
800MHz 4-4-4-10 $261
2 Gb Kit DDR2 (2x 1Gb) 4-4-4-10 800Mhz - TXDD2048M800HC4DC by: Team -
Or
G.Skill HZ 800MHz $289.99 - The price difference isn't really worth it IMO, as both TeamGroup and G.Skill use the Same IC.
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
Or
Crucial Ballistix 667MHz 2GB $280
Crucial Technology Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
$300+
Similar to the $250+ but this memory comes 'Pre-Binned' at higher speeds (1000MHz+), which takes the fun out of over clocking it yourself...

UK Prices
Sub £75
1GB Kit
Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-5400C4 TwinX £76
Overclockers UK Corsair XMS2
Corsair® 1024MB TwinX XMS 5400 DDR2 Memory Kit (2 x 512MB) available at Micro Direct Ltd UK
2GB Kit
This isn’t going to happen.
£75-£109
1GB Kit
Crucial Technology Ballistix 1GB £94
Overclockers UK Ballistix Kits
TeamGroup Xtreem 800MHz 4-4-4-10 £96
1Gb Team DDR2 PC2-6400 Xtreem Micron 4-4-4-10 Dual Channel kit – Memory-Configurator.co.uk
G.Skill HZ 800MHz 4-4-4-12 £99
1Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 HZ Series Dual Channel kit – Memory-Configurator.co.uk
2GB Kit
Help?
£110-£159
1GB Kit
Stick with the TeamGroup or G.Skill
2GB Kit
Crucial Ballistix 667MHz 2GB £159 Crucial also use good Micron IC’s so this RAM is very scaleable
Overclockers UK Ballistix Kits
£160-£210 - Lots of good Choices here
2GB Kit
SuperTalent 800MHz 4-4-3-8 £165.95 – Zaltan Seal of Approval.
T800UX2GC4 800MHz 2GB Low Latency DDR2 Ultra High Performance Dual Channel memory kit for enthusiasts and gamers. - Powerchargers | SuperTalent Memory | USB Chargers | iPod Chargers | Internal UPS | Skype Phones | Memory | Network Adapters
G.Skill 2GB HZ £169-£206
Kustom PCs G.Skill 2Gb HZ DDRII Black Alu PC6400
Overclockers UK G.Skill
£210+
See $300+…


NOTE 1 - AM2 users need to make sure you find if your the RAM is compatitable with your motherboard, thanks godfoot
NOTE 2 - eascarface recommends checking for sales in Fry's and other stores
NOTE 3 - Expect better DDR2 soon, as I believe DDR2 3-3-3-8 will become the new standard, TeamGroup is about to release some
NOTE 4 - Added some Crucial Kits to the US listing

Awesome guide Zaltan! As for 2GB DDR2 memory every so often Fry's will have a $40 rebate on the OCZ DDR2 800 Platinum model that will ussually bring it down to around $130ish here in the US.

Quote: Originally Posted by eascarface Awesome guide Zaltan! As for 2GB DDR2 memory every so often Fry's will have a $40 rebate on the OCZ DDR2 800 Platinum model that will ussually bring it down to around $130ish here in the US.

Thanks for the input, I'll look into that.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Thanks for the input, I'll look into that.

Not a bad guide....but you really should offer links to other ram that tests well...
OCZ and Crucial Ballistix comes to mind.
I own ddr2 in both flavors and they both kick serious a$$

Some people dont mind paying a little extra for a name they trust.
Not saying your choices are bad...Cause I am a big GSkill fan.

Dont forget about Value Ram either, Kingston Comes to Mind, but others offer value ram, such as Corsair.

Quote: Originally Posted by Digital-World Not a bad guide....but you really should offer links to other ram that tests well... OCZ and Crucial Ballistix comes to mind.

I agree, my OCZ Gold is sweet as all getout but is already becoming my bottleneck as it is only 667MHz.
Another thing to keep in mind for anyone buying DDR2 for Socket AM2 boards is to MAKE SURE YOU RESEARCH MOBO COMPATIBILITY!!!
The Asus boards, while great OCers (at least the M2N32 SLi Deluxe is) are pretty finicky about RAM. Especially with their more affordable boards and also especially anything over DDR2 667.

Quote: Originally Posted by Digital-World Not a bad guide....but you really should offer links to other ram that tests well... OCZ and Crucial Ballistix comes to mind. I own ddr2 in both flavors and they both kick serious a$$ Some people dont mind paying a little extra for a name they trust. Not saying your choices are bad...Cause I am a big GSkill fan.

Thanks for the input, when I get more time I'll try and put up an alternate choice for each price band.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Dont forget about Value Ram either, Kingston Comes to Mind, but others offer value ram, such as Corsair.

When I was looking on newegg, for the sub $100 price section Value RAM didn't work out any cheaper. If you have a link though, I'll post it.

Quote: Originally Posted by godfoot I agree, my OCZ Gold is sweet as all getout but is already becoming my bottleneck as it is only 667MHz. Another thing to keep in mind for anyone buying DDR2 for Socket AM2 boards is to MAKE SURE YOU RESEARCH MOBO COMPATIBILITY!!! The Asus boards, while great OCers (at least the M2N32 SLi Deluxe is) are pretty finicky about RAM. Especially with their more affordable boards and also especially anything over DDR2 667.

I'd never heard about the AM2 issue until yesterday when the G.Skill HZ said it wasn't compatitble with AM2. I guess I should have pointed it out.

Quote: Originally Posted by Digital-World Not a bad guide....but you really should offer links to other ram that tests well... OCZ and Crucial Ballistix comes to mind. I own ddr2 in both flavors and they both kick serious a$$ Some people dont mind paying a little extra for a name they trust. Not saying your choices are bad...Cause I am a big GSkill fan.

After making several "Simple" guides myself, it is easy for them to get HUGE when trying to include all the different stuff out here....

DDR-2 Ram is still kind of a unknown to most here, since th majority of us still have 939 or older systems, so telling the good from the bad DDR-2 is quite a task!

Timings and speed ratings are "Foreign" to say the least, and the old 2-2-2-5 standard no longer applies!

And the speed ratings change by the month lately, do you really NEED "DDR-2 1066" when "DDR-2 800" will do the job? (FYI: AMD only "Officially" supports DDR-2 800 on the FX CPU's, the regular AM-2's are designed with DDR-667 only, but that doesn't mean you can't mess with the dividers to make it work!)

Also..2T and 1T with DDR-2?

From what I can tell, nothing so far really works at 1T, and the performance difference if you can get it to work (At extremely low speeds) is negligable...

How much voltage can this stuff take? With BH-5 based DDR1, you could use 3.2-3.6v with a fan blowing on it, but Samsung TCCD, or average ram didn't want any more than 2.8v!


Hell, there are even some really odd things I have learned about, like Intel getting better bandwidth with 4 sticks of ram (Vs.2) and some AM-2's get better bandwidth with single channel!

Both are BIG No-No's under the old rules for DDR-1!

I can't wait to try AM-2, or Conroe, hopefully f things work out, I can let ya know if these things are true or just rumors, till then I can only read and report back on that.

Nice list so far Bro!

Just remember these things can tend to get out of hand if you let them, so be prepared if you try and expand on it!

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Timings and speed ratings are "Foreign" to say the least, and the old 2-2-2-5 standard no longer applies!

I think that the preformance standard is quickly becoming 800MHz CAS3, as IC's get better you'll start to see alot of kits like this in the coming months.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro And the speed ratings change by the month lately, do you really NEED "DDR-2 1066" when "DDR-2 800" will do the job? (FYI: AMD only "Officially" supports DDR-2 800 on the FX CPU's, the regular AM-2's are designed with DDR-667 only, but that doesn't mean you can't mess with the dividers to make it work!)

I personally don't see the point of DDR2-1000+. 800MHz stuff will do the job and overclocking is alot more fun than spending loads on RAM.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Also..2T and 1T with DDR-2? From what I can tell, nothing so far really works at 1T, and the performance difference if you can get it to work (At extremely low speeds) is negligable...

Yes 1T for DDR2 is a waste of time. It works up to about 667MHz I believe though I've never tested it.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro How much voltage can this stuff take? With BH-5 based DDR1, you could use 3.2-3.6v with a fan blowing on it, but Samsung TCCD, or average ram didn't want any more than 2.8v!

Some DDR2 can use TCCD style volts up to about 2.8v(not for prolonged periods of times), though I use ~2.2v for daily use on my D9 based memory. I'm sure most will be fine on about 2.0v's for 24/7.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Hell, there are even some really odd things I have learned about, like Intel getting better bandwidth with 4 sticks of ram (Vs.2) and some AM-2's get better bandwidth with single channel!

I think that better bandwidth with 4 sticks is to do with improved bank interleave(4 way bank interleave)?

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro I can't wait to try AM-2, or Conroe, hopefully f things work out, I can let ya know if these things are true or just rumors, till then I can only read and report back on that. Nice list so far Bro! Just remember these things can tend to get out of hand if you let them, so be prepared if you try and expand on it!

Thanks man.

how is the geil ultra series ram? since the corsair ram i was going order today went up in price i've been eyeing it. the cas time is also lower than the corsair while being cheaper. i've been hearing alot of compatability issues with ocz ram in AM2 boards, in fact the frys in my area is sold out of DDR2 800 in all brands except for OCZ.

Quote: Originally Posted by carbongraphite how is the geil ultra series ram? since the corsair ram i was going order today went up in price i've been eyeing it. the cas time is also lower than the corsair while being cheaper. i've been hearing alot of compatability issues with ocz ram in AM2 boards, in fact the frys in my area is sold out of DDR2 800 in all brands except for OCZ.

There supposed to be good, I was going to get some but then they sky rocketed in price (From about £130 for 2GB to £175). There aren't many reviews on the web though.
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...17157&PageId=6
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=17612714

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan I think that the preformance standard is quickly becoming 800MHz CAS3, as IC's get better you'll start to see alot of kits like this in the coming months. I personally don't see the point of DDR2-1000+. 800MHz stuff will do the job and overclocking is alot more fun than spending loads on RAM. Some DDR2 can use TCCD style volts up to about 2.8v(not for prolonged periods of times), though I use ~2.2v for daily use on my D9 based memory. I'm sure most will be fine on about 2.0v's for 24/7. I think that better bandwidth with 4 sticks is to do with improved bank interleave(4 way bank interleave)? Thanks man.

1066FSB is "Standard" for the EE Intel, and I believe the "Kentsfield" Quad core EE will have a 1333FSB!

Quote: Core 2 Extremeis not truly "unlocked". Officially (per the BIOS Writers Guide), it is "a frequency limited processor with additional support for ratio overrides higher than the maximum Intel-tested bus-to-core ratio." Currently, that max tested ratio is 11:1 (aka 2.93G @ 1066 FSB). The min ratio is 6:1. However, do note that the Core 2 Extreme will boot at 2.93G unlike prior generation XE processors which booted to the lowest possible ratio and had to be "cranked up" to the performance ratio

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=2795

Intel is more "Sensitive" to memory bandwidth than the AMD (Since AMD has the memory controller on the CPU die) and it will be even more true when they try and feed 4 cores from the NB!

The average difference is 2.4% on Core 2 Duo when going from 1066 to 1333FSB, with certain apps showing as much as a 7.5% gain.

I would expect if you "Reverse Engineered" those numbers to go to backwards to 800FSB, then you would see a 5% difference average between 800 and 1333FSB, with as much as 15%depending on app.

Quote: it's no surprise that the Core 2 processors benefit from the 1333MHz FSB. The benefit will increase even more as the first quad core desktop CPUs are introduced. The only question that remains is how long before we see CPUs and motherboards with official 1333MHz FSB support?

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2795&p=6[/B]


Now, that was just testing with altering the FSB, and not the memory speeds (Around DDR 800) so you may or may not have a point here, I would like to see someone with the correct hardware verify this since they did not actually test it.

Quote: We took our unlocked Core 2 Extreme X6800 and ran it at 2.66GHz using two different settings: 266MHz x 10 and 333MHz x 8; the former corresponds to a 1066MHz FSB and is the same setting that the E6700 runs at, while the latter uses a 1333MHz FSB. The 1333MHz setting used a slightly faster memory bus (DDR2-811 vs. DDR2-800) but given that the processor is not memory bandwidth limited even at DDR2-667 the difference between memory speeds is negligible.

[/B]


As far as voltages go for DDR-2, I think some high end ram is rated up to 2.2-2.3v, I would think up to 2.5v should be fine with good cooling...but 2.8v I think is going to be a bit too much for anything other than a VERY quick bench test, kind of what you mentioned...

And yes, using 4 sticks does have something to do with better bank interleaving (At least on Intel) but 4 sticks of ram are more difficult to OC in general...and as I mentioned, AM-2 is showing better perfomance with single channel ram in some situations!

I realy hate to rely on word of mouth and reviews to get my information, nothing beats having the hardware in hand to test with, I personally tweek the crap out of everything and don't just test at stock clock speeds...things can realy change alot when you do that.

While DDR-2 667/800 may be fine in the 2.0-3.0GHZ range, it tells you nothing of how it will perform in the 3.0-4.0GHZ range, wich seems to be very doable for the new Conroe with good air or watercooling....

Extreme cooling guys are in the 4.5GHZ range allready, and I would bet you see 5GHZ or so with the next round of changes in the next steppings, historically the first batches in a new generation of CPU's are the worst.

In conclusion though, yes, for your average "Joe sixpack" that does not OC (Or very mild) is going to be just fine with DDR-2 800, or for that matter, even DDR-2 667 will be fine...but there are those of us that DO...so there is a point to having something faster if that helps you to understand "The point of DDR1066 or higher"

Otherwise my AMD-64 Opteron that was using "Old" DDR -1 at over DDR 600 speeds would have been "Pointless" unless you don't ever look at game framerates or application testing...lol

EDIT: here ya go..this may prove the "Worth of faster ram at DDR1066 and higher.



http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2809&p=6

2MB Pi testing
DDR-2 400 45.02sconds
DDR-2 553 43.09 second
DDR-2 667 42.66 Seconds
DDR-2 800 41.95 seconds
DDR-2 1066 41.48 seconds
DDR-2 1112 40.11seconds

So roughly there is 3 second advantage between DDR 533 and DDR112, and .5 second advantage from DDR800 to DDR1066.

Now when you factor that kind of performance gain into apps that take a while like burning DVD's or ripping a CD, it can add up to quite a few minutes!

I'm surprised to see you haven't listed Corsair Memory
any where in your list. Do you just don't like it? It's always
been one of my personal favorites.I've always had good
along with some Great results :-)

damn thats alot info there necro , nice list zaltan, glad too see some numbers, might use themfurther when i have an AM2 system, but nice to see a guide, hope you can update it accordingly when prices drop some

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate I'm surprised to see you haven't listed Corsair Memory any where in your list. Do you just don't like it? It's always been one of my personal favorites.I've always had good along with some Great results :-)

If you can recommend some I'll list it.

to be honest ive always been a huge noob when it comes to memory knowledge... Can ddr2 only run with curtain motherboards or cpu's?

You hit the nail on the head, Intel was the first to use DDR-2 with certain socket 775 motherboards and "Prescott" CPU's a while back, and the new Core2 Duo (Conroe) is also DDR-2.

AMD just got on the DDR-2 bandwagon with the new AM-2 CPU's and socket 940 motherboards.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro You hit the nail on the head, Intel was the first to use DDR-2 with certain socket 775 motherboards and "Prescott" CPU's a while back, and the new Core2 Duo (Conroe) is also DDR-2. AMD just got on the DDR-2 bandwagon with the new AM-2 CPU's and socket 940 motherboards.

socket 940 as in the server processors? isnt the 940 just the same as the 939 but with allocation for ECC Registered memory? isnt that what the extra pin is for?

Quote: Originally Posted by DavidVaini socket 940 as in the server processors? isnt the 940 just the same as the 939 but with allocation for ECC Registered memory? isnt that what the extra pin is for?

The original socket 940 was the older Opteron server boards, then with the one less pin 939 opterons the ECC was taken away from the chip as you said

But the new soket 940 is AM2 with a different pinset so there not used in old boards, and its a DDR-2 memory compatable chip, just making sure you dont use the new chip with older boards and the old chips with newer boards.

Quote: Originally Posted by s1ugh34d The original socket 940 was the older Opteron server boards, then with the one less pin 939 opterons the ECC was taken away from the chip as you said But the new soket 940 is AM2 with a different pinset so there not used in old boards, and its a DDR-2 memory compatable chip, just making sure you dont use the new chip with older boards and the old chips with newer boards.

lol this is what happens when you get out of the technological loop for a few months

I didnt even hear about the AM2 procs untill here recently