DDR3 Review Series

Over the course of the next few weeks, Benchmark Reviews will be releasing nearly a dozen reviews covering nearly every speed of DDR3 make by almost every memory manufacturer on the market. This article introduces the technology, and offers a glimpse at what we've secured for testing. And while we know that DDR3 is not for everyone, this series will certainly disprove the early failures and possibly convince you why DDR3 should already be a part of your computer system

Benchmark Reviews has been keeping very close tabs on the system memory industry lately, and it should not surprise you to learn that we have uncovered some fierce competition between manufacturers. Ever since Intel released their 3 series northbridge, which presently includes the favored P35 and X38 chipsets, most people believed that DDR2 would have the wind taken from its sails so that DDR3 could make waves. With the chipset supporting two different memory standards, the decision was ultimately left up to the consumer.

This was meant with the best intentions, but as DDR3 was released to the public it didn't take long for people to realize it was still too immature to compete against the more refined DDR2 in regards to high-end performance. DDR3 initially fell short of enthusiast expectations, and motherboard manufacturers collectively surrendered and kept DDR2 as the standard in nearly all of their products. For a short period of time after the P35 norhtbridge launched this put the weight of the world back on the shoulders of DDR2.