So if anyone saw any of my posts around here lately, you know I have older hardware that I'm trying to stretch out. I think I'm going to get Battlefield 3 since Origin website is selling it for 39.99. Eventually, maybe by the end of summer, I might upgrade to a DX11 GPU. My question is, what will my system bus (800mhz) actually limit me to in terms of anything you guys want to comment on? It seems like it takes full advantage of my 960T CPU and I know I am bottlenecked by my aging HD 4850. I am 100% sure that If I found a used HD 5970 somewhere that my system would run it and run it well but what about something like a HD 7970 GPU with a hex core processor? Would a DDR3 motherboard run those components any better than a DDR2 @ 800mhz?
I used to know how all the different busses and multipliers related mathematically and in terms of data handling. Wikipedia has some stuff on this.
But I have 4 DIMMs in population and plus I have no idea how 12.8 Gb/s translates to real world performance value.
Look, I know this is a pretty technical question but bottom line is I don't want to buy a GPU soon that is overkill. On the other hand, I can't seem to figure out how having a faster processor with my system (I recently upgraded from dual core 2.7ghz 7750) actually works any faster when tied to a 800mhz FSB. If someone can tell me the difference between running a 7970 and a hexcore CPU on a DDR2 bus vs a DDR3 bus, I would greatly appreciate it. Would there be any noticeable difference?
I used to know how all the different busses and multipliers related mathematically and in terms of data handling. Wikipedia has some stuff on this.
Quote:
Theoretical maximum memory bandwidth is typically computed by multiplying the width of the interface by the frequency at which it transfers data. This is also referred to as the burst rate of the interface, in recognition of the possibility that this rate may not be sustainable over long periods (i.e., the throughput may be less than the theoretical maximum memory bandwidth).
The nomenclature standards often differ across memory technologies, but for commodity DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, and DDR3 SDRAM memory the computation is:
Base DRAM frequency in MHz (millions of DRAM clock cycles per second).
Memory interface (or bus) width. Each standard DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 memory interface is 64 bits (8 bytes) wide. (The width is sometimes referred to in lines or lanes, rather than bits, though these are synonymous here.)
Number of interfaces. Current computers typically use two memory interfaces in dual-channel mode for an effective 128-bit width.
Number of bits per clock cycle per line. This is 2 for DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 dual data rate technologies.
So a recent computer system with a dual-channel configuration and two DDR2-800 modules, each running at 400 MHz (actual bus speed, which is half of the nominal speed of 800 MHz, but in DDR2 is twice the memory's actual clock of 400 MHz), would have a theoretical maximum memory bandwidth of:
(400 million hertz * (2 interfaces) * (64 lines/interface) * (2 bits/line-cycle)) = 102,400 Mbit/s, or 12,800 MB/s, or 12.8 GB/s.
The nomenclature standards often differ across memory technologies, but for commodity DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, and DDR3 SDRAM memory the computation is:
Base DRAM frequency in MHz (millions of DRAM clock cycles per second).
Memory interface (or bus) width. Each standard DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 memory interface is 64 bits (8 bytes) wide. (The width is sometimes referred to in lines or lanes, rather than bits, though these are synonymous here.)
Number of interfaces. Current computers typically use two memory interfaces in dual-channel mode for an effective 128-bit width.
Number of bits per clock cycle per line. This is 2 for DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 dual data rate technologies.
So a recent computer system with a dual-channel configuration and two DDR2-800 modules, each running at 400 MHz (actual bus speed, which is half of the nominal speed of 800 MHz, but in DDR2 is twice the memory's actual clock of 400 MHz), would have a theoretical maximum memory bandwidth of:
(400 million hertz * (2 interfaces) * (64 lines/interface) * (2 bits/line-cycle)) = 102,400 Mbit/s, or 12,800 MB/s, or 12.8 GB/s.
But I have 4 DIMMs in population and plus I have no idea how 12.8 Gb/s translates to real world performance value.
Look, I know this is a pretty technical question but bottom line is I don't want to buy a GPU soon that is overkill. On the other hand, I can't seem to figure out how having a faster processor with my system (I recently upgraded from dual core 2.7ghz 7750) actually works any faster when tied to a 800mhz FSB. If someone can tell me the difference between running a 7970 and a hexcore CPU on a DDR2 bus vs a DDR3 bus, I would greatly appreciate it. Would there be any noticeable difference?
