Is ddr3 still worth it?
Is ddr3 still worth it?
The complete setup uses DDR3 RAM, which shouldn’t cause issues as long as the CPU is fast enough. The 4770K remains a solid choice for most games today.
The i7 4770K remains a solid choice for gaming even by modern standards. DDR3 continues to offer value, and you can often find them being sold frequently. They provide a decent price of around $50 for 16GB. However, the performance isn't on par with DDR4.
The complete system features an Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO Intel Core i7-4770K at 3.50GHz (Haswell) with a stock cooler from Kingston, a 240GB SSD, and a Hyperx Fury DDR3 16GB (4x4GB) at 1600MHz GTX 1060. I also have a backup unit from EVGA with 600 watts and W3 connectivity.
In my experience, DDR3 offers the same price as DDR4 when you can locate it. It shouldn't matter whether it's still viable by today's standards—it's about the reasons to keep sticking with an older standard instead of choosing better options. You could easily upgrade your motherboard, CPU, and RAM for around $250 and invest in newer specs. My view: No, DDR3 isn't worth it anymore. Those who argue otherwise are overlooking the point.
I’ve worked with this setup for several years before switching to a newer Ryzen model. The previous rig was essentially a 4770 non-K with identical clock speeds between the 1280V3 and 4770, a GTX 980 GPU, 32GB DDR3 memory, an H97 board, SATA SSD, and additional drives for extra space. It handled 1080P60 gaming smoothly—Minecraft with many mods, Sniper Elite 4, Mudrunner, Borderlands 2, etc.—all ran well. 40 to 60 FPS was comfortable, and I was quite satisfied.
Once I upgraded to a 1440P144 monitor, performance dropped drastically. Games would struggle at 30 FPS or less, and titles like Borderlands 3 and Cyberpunk would crash under the load. My conclusion was that the older configuration was solid for 1080P60 but became unreliable beyond that resolution, especially with higher refresh rates or lower latency systems.
Now that it’s mostly a server setup, I still keep the Xeon, but if I needed a dedicated gaming panel, I’d switch to a better 1080P60 display instead.