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Graphic card underclocking questions, memory bandwidth DDR2 vs DDR3 (solved)

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First post, by W.x.

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Hello. I would like to underclock 7600 GT, to check, what performance would have 7600 GS, particulary DDR2 version.

(edit 8.11.2023: The question is answered in 4th post)
My question is, if DDR3 memory at 400 Mhz, have exactly same performance (in other words/ bandwidth), than DDR2 at 400 Mhz. According GPUZ, memory bandwidth will be same, 12.8 GB/sec.

situation is like this:
GeForce 7600 GT DDR3 12 5 128-bit GDDR3/256MB 560MHz 700(1400 effective)MHz
GeForce 7600 GS DDR3 12 5 128-bit GDDR3/256MB 400MHz 700(1400 effective)MHz
GeForce 7600 GS DDR2 12 5 128-bit GDDR2/256MB 400MHz 400(800 effective)MHz

If I underclock 7600GT to 400 mhz , I will get basicaly 7600GS DDR3 right?
But, if I underclock DDR3 memory to 400 mhz, will I get identical performance as 7600 GS DDR2? Or can there be some catch and performance would be slightly different? (in other word, can I simulate 7600GS DDR2, by underclocking 7600GT this way? Will I get EXACTLY same performance?) Theoretical problem can be timings? DDR2 better timings at lower frequency? So just by underclocking DDR3 with worse timings, will be performance slightly worse?

Last edited by W.x. on 2023-11-08, 14:03. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 3, by bakemono

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So just by underclocking DDR3 with worse timings, will be performance slightly worse?

Yes, I think you are correct here. The timings at 700MHz would be looser than at 400MHz.

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Reply 3 of 3, by W.x.

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Hello. I'm returning here after long time. From that time, I've collected many graphic cards, more than 100.
I have finally two same cards, one with DDR2 and one with DDR3, so I can test it.
My test indeed confirmed, that graphic card with same core, same frequencies, same theoretical memory bandwidth, but with DDR3 memory, is slower, than DDR2 version.

For test, I've used Geforce 210. Both versions are without Turbocache, to eliminate system memory influence variation, which can tweak results, as these variations were expected to be quite low.

So how much it is difference, between DDR2 and DDR3 memory, at exactly same clocks on same graphic card type? It is 1%? 2%? 3%? Or even 5%?
More in spoiler:

Spoiler

Graphic card1: Gigabyte Geforce 210 GV-n210oc-512i 512MB DDR2 64-bit
https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N210OC-512I
Graphic card2: Gigabyte Geforce 210 GV-N210D3-1GI rev 2.0 DDR3 1GB 64-bit
https://www.gigabyte.com/sk/Graphics-Card/GV- … 10D3-1GI-rev-20

the reference clocks for Geforce 210 are 589/1400/400 (core/shader/memory)
The #1 card had stock clocks 650/1550/400
The #2 card had stock clocks 589/1400/600

I've tested in 3D Mark 2005, as this benchmark is adequate for the card's low performance. First test (GT1) measured in FPS.
Test System: Xeon E5450 3Ghz, P5Q Deluxe, 800mhz DDR2 RAm, Win7 64-bit, 3D Mark 2005 (1280x960,AA0,AF16)

GF 210 DDR2 (589/1400/400)GT1- 17.3 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 (589/1400/400) GT1-16.6 FPS

GF 210 DDR2 (650/1550/400)GT1- 17.8 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 (650/1550/400) GT1-16.9 FPS

GF 210 DDR2 (650/1550/480)GT1- 20.3 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 (650/1550/480) GT1-19.6 FPS
(maximum overclock of DDR2 version - 480 mhz memory)

how fast needs to be memory on DDR3 version, to match DDR2 max overclock of 480 mhz?
GF 210 DDR2 (650/1550/480)GT1- 20.3 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 (650/1550/510) GT1-20.4 FPS
(it needs to be about 30 Mhz faster, which is 6,25% overclock, to match DDR2 speed. This % can slightly vary on various frequencies of memory. Seems, on lower frequencies, the impact of timings is a bit greater)

Now, DDR3 version tested on its stock and overclock speeds... how much it can run from DDR2 version thanks to DDR3's higher frequencies.

GF 210 DDR3 stock (589/1400/600) GT1-20.2 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 matched clock/shaders with DDR2 version, but memory stock (650/1550/600) GT1- 22.6 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 overclocked memory (650/1550/650) GT1-24.1 FPS
GF 210 DDR3 max overclock (700/1600/650) GT1-24.5 FPS

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