GDDR vs DDR Whats the Difference?

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

Whats the difference between GDDR RAM on Graphics Cards and DDR RAM on the MotherBoard? If GDDR has been advanced up to 4 and soon to be 5 how come we don't use that on our motherboard and we use DDR which has been advanced to the less popular 3 and more common 2?

I know that GDDR stands for Graphics Double Data Rate and DDR simply Double Data Rate but why is it GDDR and not DDR?

I remember some old cards being labled as having DDR2 and such but then all of sudden its GDDR?

Might be a retarded question, but honestly I"m confused here.

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

Is this just a ridiculous question to ask or no one knows?

candle_86 · Mar 28, 2008

its very simple. we dont use that power at all

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Mar 28, 2008

They use GDDR instead of DDR for graphics to help distinguish the two. Other than that, there are no differences.

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

candle_86 said:
its very simple. we dont use that power at all

Wait, what do you mean? Could you clarify? Are you saying that GDDR uses more Volts(Power) so we don't use it, if thats what you are saying than thats not ture because GDDR uses less Volts than DDR.

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:
They use GDDR instead of DDR for graphics to help distinguish the two. Other than that, there are no differences.

If thats the case than why don't we use 1GB GDDR4 Ram instead of 1GB DDR2 or 3?

CrAsHnBuRnXp · Mar 28, 2008

AphexDreamer said:
If thats the case than why don't we use 1GB GDDR4 Ram instead of 1GB DDR2 or 3?

My guess would be because video cards use more bandwidth.

EastCoasthandle · Mar 28, 2008

GDDR "G" = Graphics I believe...
-Higher Clock Rates
-Different voltage requirements

candle_86 · Mar 28, 2008

that and right now that much bandwith on a CPU is wasted

tofu · Mar 28, 2008

The 'G' in GDDR represents something to do with the IC's termination voltage control.

The function of that controller allows more stable operation at high speeds, and is not compatible with motherboard (cpu) memory controllers.

- what I heard in a casual conversation with a friend who works in the vga business

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:
My guess would be because video cards use more bandwidth.

Actually I do not belive that to be the case.

I was reading in another forum (apprently someone ask somewhat of the same question as me) and someone brought up a very good point. If you go out and buy a Graphics Card with GDDR4 for $200 you can say that the RAM costs at least half of that price of it so $100 for the RAM on the Card. Now if you go look to buy DDR3 they cost about $100 (the cheapest, ranging up to $500) as well but are essentialy worse than 4 so why is this? Scam perhaps, I have no idea.

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

tofu said:
The 'G' in GDDR represents something to do with the IC's termination voltage control.

The function of that controller allows more stable operation at high speeds, and is not compatible with motherboard (cpu) memory controllers.

- what I heard in a casual conversation with a friend who works in the vga business

Well is a Graphics Card not like a small computer itself. You have your GPU and RAM like you do your CPU and RAM on your MB, I thought they both worked rather similler.

tofu · Mar 28, 2008

Hmmm.
I guess it could be like, DDR1 is incompatible with DDR2, DDR2 with DDR3, etc.
Maybe there's certain requirements that do not allow motherboards to work with GDDR.(?)

tofu · Mar 28, 2008

This just in from the Wiki:
"Using "DDR2" to refer to GDDR-2 is a colloquial misnomer. In particular, the performance-enhancing doubling of the I/O clock rate is missing. It had severe overheating issues due to the nominal DDR voltages. ATI has since designed the GDDR technology further into GDDR3, which is more true to the DDR2 specifications, though with several additions suited for graphics cards."

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

tofu said:
This just in from the Wiki:
"Using "DDR2" to refer to GDDR-2 is a colloquial misnomer. In particular, the performance-enhancing doubling of the I/O clock rate is missing. It had severe overheating issues due to the nominal DDR voltages. ATI has since designed the GDDR technology further into GDDR3, which is more true to the DDR2 specifications, though with several additions suited for graphics cards."

Ok so GDDR is better suited for the Graphics Card, but that its self makes it better than DDR since the Graphics Cards are more senstive, plus its way cheaper. I think they can move the technology over, but don't, then again I'm probably way wrong. :ohwell:

Mussels · Mar 28, 2008

we had a thread about this a while ago.

Summary: GDDR *USED* to be different. Lots of places got it confused and still do, so that even tho DDR ram is used now on video cards many places still (mistakenly) call it GDDR.

The reason DDR 4 isnt out on motherboards, is because they take a few years to design systems that work with it - you dont think it takes 6 months to re-design hardware do you? Memory controllers are complex.
The reason we dont see much DDR4 and video cards are stuck at DDR3, is because they ran out. There simply isnt enough DDR4 to go around all the video cards.

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

Mussels said:
we had a thread about this a while ago.

Summary: GDDR *USED* to be different. Lots of places got it confused and still do, so that even tho DDR ram is used now on video cards many places still (mistakenly) call it GDDR.

The reason DDR 4 isnt out on motherboards, is because they take a few years to design systems that work with it - you dont think it takes 6 months to re-design hardware do you? Memory controllers are complex.
The reason we dont see much DDR4 and video cards are stuck at DDR3, is because they ran out. There simply isnt enough DDR4 to go around all the video cards.

My bad I didn't know there was a thread like this posted here before. :banghead:

Thanks for the info though. Clears things up.

lemonadesoda · Mar 28, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR3

AphexDreamer · Mar 28, 2008

Ha... Read this line

"Microsoft's Xbox 360 is also shipped with 512 MiB of GDDR3 memory, and is helping to pioneer the use of this memory as standard system memory rather than only video memory."

GameSinewPCs · Mar 28, 2008

Without going into much detail, there are some minor differences between GDDRX and DDRX namely to increase the bandwidth of the memory. Some graphics cards use DDRX as opposed to GDDRX to save money (yes the more generic modules are cheaper). Generally, GDDRX is one step ahead of the motherboard market (for example GDDR4 is becoming more common place in the high-end GPUs, whilst DDR3 is becoming more common place amongst high end motherboards).

Kursah · Mar 28, 2008

How I view it is that since the memory is built into the PCB, vid cards get the benefit of newer memory techs with every GDDR revision since there doesn't have to be set standards for slot technology, resistances, voltage fluxuations that would happen over time and such with contacts such as that in DIMMS. Where-as GDDR is soldered to the PCB itself, the contact is greater, allowing easier implementation and allowing a different set of allowances to the tuning of said GDDR to the application (GPUs).

Like said earlier it takes longer to implement such technologies into the standard CPU/MB arena...DIMMS don't help...if people would've been able to use a standard set of soldered memory to the MB itself with a different standard of memory controller hubs, things would be more even between vid cards and the rest of the PC build. Granted this is my two cents, and it could be worth even less then that, but that is how I've viewed it over the years.

:toast:

largon · Mar 28, 2008

DDR1 and GDDR1 are pretty much the same except that system memory DDR1 has 8bits wide I/O and GDDR1 has 16bit width. Basically GDDR1 just allows slightly higher bandwidth than DDR1.

But, on the other hand:
DDR2 vs. GDDR2
DDR3 vs. GDDR3/GDDR4

The difference?
Basically they all are completely different DRAM architectures. GDDR2 has nothing to do with DDR2. DDR2 is a bit like half-breed of GDDR1 and DDR2, it has features from both. The real GDDR2 hasn't been used on video cards for several years anymore, the "GDDR2" you see these days is merely standard DDR2 we all love. GDDR3 is an sort of an enhanced DDR2 - it certainly isn't anything like DDR3. And GDDR4 is just a tweaked GDDR3.

You ask why don't we see GDDR3 used as system memory since they're clearly superior to DDR2 for what comes to bandwidth? That's because GDDR3 is quite a complex chip with a nasty I/O architecture: GDDR3/4 are 32bits wide and DDR2 is 8bits wide. This is a problem since the amount of signal traces that can sensibly be built into desktop motherboards are very limited - by cost that is. 128bits is complex (expensive) enough for desktop pricerange motherboards. So when you have a motherboard with just 128bit bus you could only access 4 GDDR3/4 chips (128bit/32bit) at a time. This would seriously limit the RAM capacity of the system as GDDR3 densities are what they are - 256MB/chip, tops. Usually it's just 128BM/chip. This could be countered with making boards with a huge array of DIMM slots, but that would be even more expensive.

TechnicalFreak · Mar 28, 2008

GDDR = "Graphics Double Data Rate".
The standard is different in clock speed, bandwidth, and power-management capabilities.

System Name	Unknown
Processor	AMD Bulldozer FX8320 @ 4.4Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair V
Cooling	XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 for CPU
Memory	8 GB CORSAIR Vengeance Red DDR3 RAM 1922mhz (10-11-9-27)
Video Card(s)	XFX R9 290
Storage	Samsung SSD 254GB and Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Display(s)	AOC 23" @ 1920x1080 + Asus 27" 1440p
Case	HAF X
Audio Device(s)	X Fi Titanium 5.1 Surround Sound
Power Supply	750 Watt PP&C Silencer Black
Software	Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

System Name	Unknown
Processor	AMD Bulldozer FX8320 @ 4.4Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair V
Cooling	XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 for CPU
Memory	8 GB CORSAIR Vengeance Red DDR3 RAM 1922mhz (10-11-9-27)
Video Card(s)	XFX R9 290
Storage	Samsung SSD 254GB and Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Display(s)	AOC 23" @ 1920x1080 + Asus 27" 1440p
Case	HAF X
Audio Device(s)	X Fi Titanium 5.1 Surround Sound
Power Supply	750 Watt PP&C Silencer Black
Software	Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

System Name	The86
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	ASROCKS B450 Steel Legend
Cooling	AMD Stealth
Memory	2x8gb DDR4 3200 Corsair
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 3060 Ti
Storage	WD Black 512gb, WD Blue 1TB
Display(s)	AOC 24in
Case	Raidmax Alpha Prime
Power Supply	700W Thermaltake Smart
Mouse	Logitech Mx510
Keyboard	Razer BlackWidow 2012
Software	Windows 10 Professional

Processor	Intel i9 9900K @5GHz w/ Corsair H150i Pro CPU AiO w/Corsair HD120 RBG fan
Motherboard	Asus Z390 Maximus XI Code
Cooling	6x120mm Corsair HD120 RBG fans
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RBG 2x8GB 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080Ti STRIX OC
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB , 970 EVO 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 1TB SSD, 10TB Synology DS1621+ RAID5
Display(s)	Corsair Xeneon 32" 32UHD144 4K
Case	Corsair 570x RBG Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard / Corsair Virtuoso XT Wireless RGB
Power Supply	Corsair HX850w Platinum Series
Mouse	Logitech G604s
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Rapidfire
Software	Windows 11 x64 Professional
Benchmark Scores	Firestrike - 23520 Heaven - 3670

System Name	Unknown
Processor	AMD Bulldozer FX8320 @ 4.4Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair V
Cooling	XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 for CPU
Memory	8 GB CORSAIR Vengeance Red DDR3 RAM 1922mhz (10-11-9-27)
Video Card(s)	XFX R9 290
Storage	Samsung SSD 254GB and Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Display(s)	AOC 23" @ 1920x1080 + Asus 27" 1440p
Case	HAF X
Audio Device(s)	X Fi Titanium 5.1 Surround Sound
Power Supply	750 Watt PP&C Silencer Black
Software	Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit

GDDR vs DDR Whats the Difference?

AphexDreamer

AphexDreamer

candle_86

CrAsHnBuRnXp

AphexDreamer

AphexDreamer

CrAsHnBuRnXp

EastCoasthandle

New Member

candle_86

tofu

New Member

AphexDreamer

AphexDreamer

tofu

New Member

tofu

New Member

AphexDreamer

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

AphexDreamer

lemonadesoda

AphexDreamer

GameSinewPCs

New Member

Kursah

Super Moderator

largon

TechnicalFreak

Guest

System Name	MY PC
Processor	E8400 @ 3.80Ghz > Q9650 3.60Ghz
Motherboard	Maximus Formula
Cooling	D5, 7/16" ID Tubing, Maze4 with Fuzion CPU WB
Memory	XMS 8500C5D @ 1066MHz
Video Card(s)	HD 2900 XT 858/900 to 4870 to 5870 (Keep Vreg area clean)
Storage	2
Display(s)	24"
Case	P180
Audio Device(s)	X-fi Plantinum
Power Supply	Silencer 750
Software	XP Pro SP3 to Windows 7
Benchmark Scores	This varies from one driver to another.

System Name	Dinosaur
Processor	939 Athlon X2 4200+ @ 2.64GHz
Motherboard	Sapphire RD580
Cooling	OCZ HDT-S1284
Memory	Corsair XMS 2x1GB CE-6 DDR480 2.5-3-2-8
Video Card(s)	Zotac GTS 450 1GB 850/1700/1850
Storage	OCZ Vertex 2 60GB + Hitachi 320GB + Seagate 1TB
Display(s)	2x Samsung 740B 17" LCD
Case	Antec 300
Audio Device(s)	ALC880
Power Supply	Antec Truepower New 650
Software	W7 Pro X64

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	ICE-QUAD // ICE-CRUNCH
Processor	Q6600 // 2x Xeon 5472
Memory	2GB DDR // 8GB FB-DIMM
Video Card(s)	HD3850-AGP // FireGL 3400
Display(s)	2 x Samsung 204Ts = 3200x1200
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 2
Software	Windows Server 2003 R2 as a Workstation now migrated to W10 with regrets.

System Name	Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition \| Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor	R7 5800X @ Stock \| i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203\| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 \| Stock Cooling
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v \| 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB \| CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage	4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD \| 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s)	Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 \| 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case	Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low \| Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s)	Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) \| Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply	EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 \| 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse	Logitech G502 \| Logitech M330
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB \| Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \| Windows 11 Home x64

System Name	Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor	R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard	HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling	Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory	2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s)	RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage	Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s)	HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case	Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX860i
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard	Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software	W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores	It does boot up? I think.