I am wondering about the difference in RAM. DDR vs RDram. The price of RDRAM seems ALOT higher. I dont know why. Is there that much difference between the two. I appreciate anyone who helps me here. Thanks

A very useful comparison and full technical explanation is available @ http://www.inqst.com/articles/ddrvrambus/ddrvrambusmain.htm

When I gave my first advice about SDDR vs. RDRAM, I surely sided with DDR for the same reason, it's maximum theoretical troughput. Of course PC 2100 DDR running at 266 Mhz (133x2) will be faster since it transmits data 64 bits at a time(266Mhzx64bit/8=2128 Mbits/sec hence PC2100) as compared to RIMM800 which transmits data at higher frequency(800Mhz) but only 16 bit per clock cycle(16bits) which gives a max trhoughput of 1.6GB/sec(800x16/8=1600MB/sec). I think this is the basis for the old comparison. But my knowledge back then was based on the old theory which is the same theory used by the author of the mentioned article above. While over the years, DDR technology slightly improved on its speed, maintaining a 64 bit processing capability, RDRAM caught up and even edged out RDRAM. The article Brian suggested was based on a 16 bit RIMM,(check the date) which always need to be installed in pair, but today's RAMBUS comes in different flavor. A 32 bit RDRAM4200 is now available at 1066 Mhz, which increases it's throughput to 4.2 GB/sec (dual channel operation no longer required). A 64 bit RIMM 9600 can run at 1333Mhz, giving it 9.6GB/sec Max throughput. These informations I don't have before I sided with DDR. Of course all these numbers are theoretical. Some users are also asking if they can put DDR instead od SDRAM, or RIMM instead of DDR. The answer is no and some experts are giving all kind of explanation ranging from MB support, incompatibility, etc (which are all correct). The simplest answer is not possible: they are mechanically incompatible: SIMM has either 32 or 72 pins DIMM has 168 pins DDR has 184 pins 16 bit RIMM has also 184 pins but with 2 notches at different location 32 bit RIMM has 232 pins They will not fit!!!! I don't know where the confusion came from

Brian that link seems rather old. Nov 1999. Back then they were using 800mhz RDRAM. Today they use 1066mhz which has improved significantly. Also RDRAM more greatly takes advantage of Pentium 4's 533 mhz bus than DDR does. RDRAM IS better than DDR. The question is whether you'd be willing to shell out the extra bucks for it. Not just for the RAM but the motherboard also costs more.