Nic asks, "my motherboard supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory. Which one should I buy?"

This question is more tricky than you'd imagine. before we talk about speed and economy, let's take a look at the technical problem: support.

Many motherboards support using both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, the only problem is that the processor used can dictate which memory is acceptable to install; for example, using an Intel Core i7 or i5 processor means you're going to have to use DDR3 memory, no matter what your motherboard supports.

On the other hand, some processors only support DDR2. Be sure to read your motherboards instructions carefully, otherwise you could end up wasting your money.

now, which that being said, if you find yourself in the position of having to choose between both types of memory - and there are no technical hurdles in the way - then this becomes a question of price versus performance.

DDR2 is very economical. Well, to put it bluntly, DDR2 memory is cheap. DDR3, in comparison, is pretty expensive. While you do get a slight performance advantage with DDR3, the real advantage is your ability to upgrade.

DDR2 is old technology, and it's slowly being phased out (slowly being the key word here). In the future, almost every computer will use DDR3 memory, and upgrading from DDR2 is going to be a hassle.

On the other hand, you can get a lot more memory by buying DDR2 now. In fact, you can get almost double the amount of RAM by buying DDR2 memory instead of DDR3.

Personally, I'd buy DDR3, but the choice is yours.

Have a question? Send it to lordkat@gmail.com

Be safe,
Jason