Is it really worth it?

[PhyGuy]

Is it really worth it to put 2GB DDR2 533 PC4200 (2 X 1 GB) on a P4 3.2Ghz with an 160GB SATA system? or is it more effective to put 2GB over 4 X 512MB, (the max of the mobo is 4GB) so if i wanted to upgrade later id not want to waste money and just get the 2 1GB now, but is it really worth it or is it a better idea to get 2 X 512MB?

 

[A_DOG73]

What do you need 2gbs of ram for?

Are you planning on doing some serious gaming or running many applications at the same time. I would think 1GB ram is fine for a P4. Im sure 2GB couldn't hurt but you can always add later right? I only have 512MB ram on my AMD Athlon XP and it runs fast and great. Hope that helps.

 

[rp_crotty]

yeah... unless you plan on doing multiple applications with extreme graphics, 1 gig should be way more than enough, espeacially if you have a good graphics card, and I am assuming with a P4 3.2 and getting a gig of ram that you do, there would be no need to go much higher than a Gig

 

[PhyGuy]

ya im decide'n between an ATI Radeon x700pro 256MB PCI-e or a Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI-e. so will getting 1 GB chip be the best idea incase i want to expand later?

 

[rp_crotty]

well depending on how much of a price difference there is, if there is more than a $50 price difference I wouldnt bother, because with the processor you have, either one of the viideo cards you will be getting and 1 gig of ram, you should be set for a while. If it was me I would go ahead and save that $50+ or w/e and do something else with it, now if the difference is less than $50 and it was me I would go ahead and buy the 1 dim, but the ultimate choice is up to you, and if you do ever need to upgrade, like in 2 years(haha) then just sell your two 512's youll be able to get at least 50% back whenever you decide to upgrade. That's my opinion though.

 

[rp_crotty]

I was just reading through other posts and it looks liek the motherboards that you were going to purchase had 4 slots for ram, so if you wanted to upgrade to 2 gig, all you would have to do is buy two more 512's? or does the mobo you have only have two slots? Have you even bought this motherboard?

 

[Phantasm66]

I have 1 GB on 2 of my machines and 2GB in the third. The 2GB has never all been used yet, except when running VMware, etc.

 

[PZEROFGH]

go with 1 1/2, now you can say that you have more ram then you, and you can also upgrade lateer. and two sticks of ram are better then 4 sticks of ram. go with the 6600 GT :giddy: :giddy: :giddy:

 

[Finchy]

Yes, go with the 6600Gt, apparantly the X700 is not great value for money. I'd get 1gb, as it's all you'll really need, although it will be worth adding another in another year and a half.
One solution could be to get just 1gb, and put the extra money toward something like a 6800gt or a X800xt.

 

[PhyGuy]

hmm alright, no i have not bought the motherboard yet, and yes im going to make sure it has 4 slots for expansion, thanks for all your input and you have presuded me to go with 1 GB most of you don't seem to think that 2 512's or 1GB make a diffrence, i think id feel more comfurtable with the 1GB incase i want to max out the memory eventually, does it really that make a performence diffrence? And it seems everyone thinks the 6600GT 128MB is better then the x700pro 256MB, so im thinking im gonna go with the 6600Gt im just hoping new games coming out soonish (1-5 years) aren't going to require 256MB of vid memory to play... alright thanks all

 

[PZEROFGH]

yes it does make a difference

 

[PhyGuy]

Oh okay.......and which would make the best.....2 X 512's

 

[PZEROFGH]

i would go with 1 gig of ram cause its about the same price as 2 512mb and plus once gaming goes bigger in the future you'll be ready