As a rule, the question of studying the types of GDDR3 and GDDR5 memory arises when choosing a graphics card, since the letter G in the name of the memory indicates its belonging to video cards (G-graphics). GDDR is a classification of memory on video cards. And also, like RAM, it has several generations, the main differences between which are the operating frequency (and, as a consequence, the bandwidth) and the operating voltage.
We will talk in more detail about these differences in this article.
Gddr3 Vs Gddr5: Differences
In the budget segment of video cards, you can often find the same card, but with different types of memory. Moreover, the one with GDDR5 memory will be about 10 – 20% more expensive. And for good reason.
Indeed, due to the higher clock frequency (from 5000 to 7000 MHz) and 4 transmitted bits per clock, the throughput of GDDR5 in comparison with GDDR3 increases significantly! Thanks to this, such a video card produces up to 30-40% performance gain on the same GPU.
25% performance difference between the same GT 730 graphics card with different memory
GDDR3 boasts only up to 2500 MHz clock speed and only 2 bits of information transmitted per working cycle.
In addition to bandwidth, these two types of memory differ in power consumption. For GDDR3 it is 2V, while for GDDR5 it is 1.5V. Therefore, cards with GDDR5 memory consume less power and, as a result, heat up less. Here you can look at guide DDR3 Vs GDDR5 and 1050 Ti Vs Gtx 960 4gb pros cons differences etc.
Conclusion
There are almost no new video cards with GDDR3 memory on sale. Despite the lower cost, manufacturers are abandoning it due to the low bandwidth. If you are faced with a choice with which memory to take a video card, then the answer is unequivocal: it is better to overpay and take a card with GDDR5 memory. It will be an order of magnitude faster than the analogue with GDDR3.
