is going from 512 to 768 a good investment?

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xbreaka

Gawd
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
Messages
604
right now im running2 sticks of 256 mb ddr ram 2100 i was wondering if i add another stick of 256 will it actually make a noticeable difference. I also hough about uping to 1 gig, but i dont play many huge games that require that much.
 
Nah, not really. Wait until you have enough to buy a 512MB and then go for it. It would be helpful if you gave your system specs and OS.
 
current system specs
amd athlon 2000+ thourobred(had to sell 2500+ barton to pay for other stuffs, 2000+was the next best thing)
40 gig hd
radeon 9200 pro
floppy drive(non working)
52x18x52 cd rw drive
2x256 mb pc 2100 k-byte ram
sound card- not using on i have the optical cabel hooked through my reciever.
 
I'd just keep an eye on the "peak" measurement in task manager.
If it doesn't go over maybe 450-500MB during "normal" useage (normal being defined as anything you do often enough that it'll bother you if it's a bit slow), don't sweat it.
If it does more ram will probably help quite a bit. Going up to 768 will help a bit, but it's not going to make a huge difference unless you're using enough memory to start swapping.
I'm not sure if the NF7 can do dual channel with mismatched sizes though. One channel on an nforce2 board is 2 slots, the other only one. Thus you'll end up with 1 channel with 256MB and one with 512. Even if dual channel still works, it can't be as effective. Either way I'd try to get a 512MB module if you upgrade. That way you can set it up w/ 2 banks of 512MB.
If you tend to upgrade parts one at a time- new proc here, new mobo there you might want to think about getting PC3200 mem. It's only a little more $$$ unless you buy the fancy stuff. OTOH if you're like me and tend to just buy a new mobo, CPUs, and ram all at once and put your old hardware into a server or 2nd rig just get PC2100.
 
Save your cash for a vid card upgrade. Unless you work with large photoshop files or digital movies, you won't notice much difference from 512 to 768.
 
Loading Desert Combat with 512 seems like it takes forever, I had a buddies 256 stick laying around so I popped it in and now DC loads alot faster. Also the gameplay seemed alot smoother I don't get the screen freeze up anymore. Other than that I haven't really noticed any more improvements.

Just my experience........
 
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