RDRAM , DDRRAM dilemma

[megaman]

Please help, I'm really not sure what kind of ram would be best for dvd authoring and video editing. While I'm sure DDR is fast enough for most applications, RDRAM seems like it would be the choice for pros. (That last statement was based totally on things I have read about RDRAM, I've never heard for sure if RDRAM is what the pros use or not.) I'm eager to start building my system and video editing/dvd authoring.

This topic has been brought up before, but I need to know so I can decide which motherboard to get. I'm *kind of* on a budget - I'm not willing to spend more than 200 dollars for a motherboard, yet I would be willing to spend at least that much for RAM. What kind of RAM do you guys use, and if you use DDR - is it enough/more than enough? (I'm trying not to refer to how much memory you have, but actually the speed of the Front Side Bus, as RDRAM delivers more than 4 gigabytes of bandwidth a second, and DDR 2 gigabytes..)

[LanEvo7]

What kind of motherboard/cpu do you have? RDRAM does not work for all motherboards.

[Heavensent]

the rdram is faster (but only a bit), and its price is is not worth the
difference.
ddr seems the way to go for now.
i whould go for ddr 400 or 333 as it gives high speed for lesser money
then rdram.
spend the extra $ on a good motherboard.

[Bondiablo]

rdram is going the way of the dodo, go with ddr and a dual ddr motherboard.

[joe444455555]

Yeah, if your motherboard is not purchased yet, get one that supports dual channel DDR (at least 266 preferably 333)
it's certianly not 533Mhz dual channel RDRAM, but let take a look at one other thing:
512MB RDRAM 1066 MHz (256 x 2) $200
1024MB DDR 333MHz (512 x 2) $224
(Brand for both is Kingston, Price by pricewatch.com date 04/02/03)
sure, the rdram is significantly faster (1066 MHz vice 666 Mhz), and is also tuned specifically for the 533Mhz bus in a decent P-4, but the prices you see here are different for the ddr ram mostly, the rdram hasnt really dropped in price much. Why not? Propritary failier, it is a propritary architecture (your motherboard will use either DDR-RAM or RDRAM) and so it was limited in source (Regulated by intel mostly I think, not sure though), it cost more, people bought it less (opting instead for DDR memory). DDR Memory has continued to have money dumped into it (since people are buying it) and has now evolved to a point where the same money can get you drastically more DDR ram than RD ram. The more this happens the more RDRAM becomes left with the failed ideas. In the future (before PCI Express we will probabbly see faster and faster DDR memory come out (driving the prices of all other ddr lower and lower) and motherboards that support dual channel DDR of faster and faster speeds (as well as maby some improvements in dual channel DDR architecture specifically for P-4 ; While all this is going on, the RDRAM model (which has not changes at all in a while, going from (400x2) 800Mhz to (533x2) 1066Mhz rather quickly, then stopping suddenly will probabbly continue to not change, maby (*maby*)intel will release the next level of speed of RDRAM that they were talking about a while back before it was forgone that RDRAM was a lost cause, but I doubt it since I would never buy RDRAM today unless cost was truely not an issue (wold rather spend the money on more ram, or perhaps a dual processor dual channel DDR dual p-4 3.06 HT.

So, basically I recomend the P-4 (much better for mpeg-2) Dual channel DDR (take a look at the intel chipset called Granit Bay, many motherboard manufactures use this chipset (asus, aopen, gigabyte <I like gigabyte, do not like aopen> and many others) and Raid 0.

your main bottle neck when it comes to encoding MPEG-2 is processor, U simply cannot have enough. The next thing to worry about it HDD speed, for cost effective get a raid 0 setup (just buy 2 identical drives with good sustained data rate) which will allso you to mux and read/write very very fast. you will want something else for your primary drive (use your raid 0 just for video editing since it's a dedicated machine). The raid setup will keep your ide 0 and 1 cables ralatively free (best to put dvd burner on own channel or on external
USB 2.0/ IEEE1394 Firewire. Again, if money is not an issue, get an ATA serial capeable motherboard (I think they all have optional raid built in) and raid 0 a pair of maxtors 180 GB serial ATA drives togather (they have the most amazing sustained data treansfer rates, but not good for ramdom accessing all over the drive), these things were built for people who work with video and large audio a lot, wish I had a couple

hope that covers it

[txpharoah]

I cannot stress this enough in these forums: you get what you pay for. I have access to dozens of computers, and own 3 systems myself, and the RDRAM outperforms any other memory available on the market.

Propriety? Yes.
Extinct? Not hardly.

Just be sure that the rest of your system is in tip-top shape to make the RDRAM worth it, with at least one fast P4 processor and 7200 rpm hard drives on a good motherboard.

If money is tight, DDR is 2nd best, and surely does an admirable job. I repeat, you are definitely going to get what you pay for.

[OcTroN]

Well, I got a P4 2.4 @ 2.7 with 512MB 1066MHz RDRAM, and can notice the difference very well with other systems.
[Edit] And my 1066MHz memory is also actually running at 1066MHz, and not slower [/Edit]

Here at work once I build two identical systems, only motherboard ( both asus tho ) and memory was different...

DDR333 vs 1066MHz RDRAM

The 1066MHz was way faster, and I could notice that. But i've to say, since putering is my work, I get everything for dealer price. So then RDRAM seems to be more interesting because of the price.

You probably could better get DDR due of the price. But if you're a freak like me: RDRAM 8)

Maybe your not any wiser now, but at least I spend another 5min typing this msg. Lets get back to work

[megaman]

Thank you all for your advice. Would single-channel DDR work just as well - I've heard dual channel ddr is a little buggy, and only a few apps can actually take advantage of dual ddr (check out tomshardware.com and look for their sis 655 reviews for more info - the benchmarks say a lot..) I would hate to go out and buy something and regret it but I'm probably going to regret it anyway.

[Gazorgan]

I had no increase in encoding speed going from 133 SDRAM to 266 DDR. The bottleneck in encoding is the CPU, not the memory subsystem. Faster RAM helps gaming, but most apps will not see a difference. As long as you have at least 256 MB of RAM, you should be okay either way.

[disturbed1]

I had no increase in encoding speed going from 133 SDRAM to 266 DDR. The bottleneck in encoding is the CPU, not the memory subsystem. Faster RAM helps gaming, but most apps will not see a difference. As long as you have at least 256 MB of RAM, you should be okay either way.

Not true at all. Most encoding apps buffer to the main memory and process from there. CCE uses above 500mb on my system, here's TMPG



If you have a slow CPU, then the added benefits of fast RAM won't be seen. Going from 133 to 266DDR isn't that huge of an increase, it would be hard to notice the benefit. 133 to RDRAM 1066 (even 800) or DDR 333 would produce noticable results.

Got the money? Go with RDRAM 1066.

[Rond66]

I like ASUS boards.
I have an A7V133 and love it. My next will be the A7V8X.

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/mbindex.htm

http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/index.html

http://www.motherboards.com

http://www.motherboards.org

[megaman]

Yes, if I have the money I may go with 1066 RDRAM. What's the brand of 1066 that you all use these days?

[txpharoah]

I think mine is VIKING RDRAM. Cannot see without pulling it out though.