256 megs enough...?

[Packin]

I would really like to get 512mb of DDR PC2100 but the price has just risen to high for my budget. Anyway, would 256 megs of PC2700 DDR (Kingston) be enough RAM for this system:

Gigabyte GA-8IRXP mobo
P4 1.8A
MSI GeForce4 Ti4400
IBM 80GB Deskstar
Kenwood 52X cd-rom (pulled from old comp)
Philips 800 series cd-rw (pulled)
Floppy drive (pulled)
USB Logitech Optical mouse (pulled)
PS2 Logitech keyboard (pulled)
Windows XP

XP is prob i gather...on my p3 450 that i have now, 226mb of ram seems to work fine...newer rigs need more memory?

Thanks,
Packin

 

[sean2002]

If you can wait come Monday I will have 512MB (2 X256MB sticks) of Crucial PC-2100 DDR fore sale. I say Mon. because I expecting the parts for my new P4+ RAMBUS system to be in this week. I'll sell it for half of what Crucial wants on their weg site plus shipping. E-mail me if you might want it.

 

[Biggs]

Depends on what you use it for, m8. If you only use office apps, internet browsing, limited gaming, and other "normal" chores, you're basically fine. However, if you plan to use it for a DAW, CAD, 3D Stuff, Photoshop/Graphics Multimedia, etc, 512MB is relatively a minimum.

 

[bocamojo]

I run a P4 @ 2.1GHz and play games, surf, do vid editing, etc. with 256MB, and I don't have a single problem. I'd only recommend going with 512 if you want to work on big photoshop / CAD files. 256MB is plenty for your average computer tasks, and even for intense gaming. In fact, I used to have 512MB installed, but didn't see any performance improvements or advantages, so I put the other 256 in another machine.

 

[dullard]

Packin, welcome to Anandtech.

Unfortunately a large number of computers still are selling with 128 MB of RAM - just look at the default memory in major computer stores. Programmers realize this. So they must keep these people in mind as they don't want to lose a significant portion of the market. For that reason, 256MB is just fine for almost all of todays games. However I doubt you will be satisfied with 256 MB for long. You really will feel the need to upgrade to 512 MB within a year if you like to buy the latest and greatest programs. If you think prices will drop, then I'd suggest getting 256MB now and upgrading later. If you think prices will stay high, just get 512 MB now. With the roller coaster prices that memory always has, either option could be a gamble.

Of course as Biggs mentioned, if you know you use special programs that need lots of memory then 512MB is a minimum. However if you knew you used these programs, why would you be asking this question...