512mb vs 1gb RAM

[warriorfan23]

for those who have tried each....what differences did you see? i am building a new rig and want to get either 512mb or 1gb of corsair xms3200LL and i need to know if the extra 150ish is worth it

 

[Texun]

It depends on what you use your computer for. I went from 512 to 1g and under normal use I can't tell that it does much. Games on the other hand load a bit faster. I don't have BF1942 but there are tons of threads on the benefits of 1g with that game.

I have no regrets about it, but everyone has their own opinion. Rendering video is great but I am not sure how much difference the RAM has made. I never look at the resources unless I see a need for it.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

I suppose it all depends what you're using the rig for: for graphics or gaming (bf1942 is a memory HOG!) the 1GB is a must, IMHO. I use 1GB in my main system and 512MB in my LAN box and there is a major difference when loading maps or rendering a very large image in Photoshop.

 

[warriorfan23]

well i plan on using my comp mostly for gaming and prob some graphics stuff....1gb is very tempting....

i also just want to tell people that i have 1 gig of ram!

 

[INGlewood78]

Got 1 gig of ram. I guess it also depends on how often u upgrade ur computer. Although many apps and games now don't need 1 gig to run well....I'm sure they will in the future. Futureproof...I remember a time when 128mb was like "wow".haha. If you can afford the flow...just go for it...

 

[prvteye2003]

Originally posted by: warriorfan23
for those who have tried each....what differences did you see? i am building a new rig and want to get either 512mb or 1gb of corsair xms3200LL and i need to know if the extra 150ish is worth it

Just FYI, I just seen in PCWorld that newegg has corsair xms pc3200 C2 with heat spreaders for 109.00 oem. Maybe it not being 150ish will be worth it

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: prvteye2003

Originally posted by: warriorfan23
for those who have tried each....what differences did you see? i am building a new rig and want to get either 512mb or 1gb of corsair xms3200LL and i need to know if the extra 150ish is worth it

Just FYI, I just seen in PCWorld that newegg has corsair xms pc3200 C2 with heat spreaders for 109.00 oem. Maybe it not being 150ish will be worth it

yeah, not a bad price. but just thinking it was $95 a few weeks ago makes me mad...

 

[Detselom]

Sonys new planetside take a lot of ram. Alt-tabed out of the game and it was using about 500 mb not including the os and what ever i had running in the background. I would suggest getting a gig of ram. Now a days for new games the min you want is 512.

 

[beatle]

Definitely go for a gig of ram. Unreal 2, BF1942 and vietcong take over half my memory and I have a gig. Personally I wouldn't spend the extra dough on the LL stuff.

 

[bgeh]

i'll get 1GB. and with prices so low currently, it can't hurt that much. games will be smoother likie SC4 and BF1942 and planetside

 

[paladiin]

95% of my time on my rig is spent playing games. I spend about 20 hours week playing Everquest, and about 5-10 hours playing BF1942, DoD, and UT2k3.

When I play EQ, I play 2 characters at a time so my system is running 2 instances of Everquest. I'm usually connected to my browser at the same time in the background. For this, having 1GB compared to 512MB is like the difference between night and day. Right now I'm RMA'ing a bad stick of RAM I got (XMS3200) so I'm stuck using 512MB. It's definitely painful.

But in my FPS games, it's not as big of a deal. BF1942 plays just fine for me at 512MB. There is a small difference in performance, but not enough to really notice.

Interestingly though, there is a difference in my Windows XP performance. Again, not a huge deal, but enough to notice.

Oh, and right now I'm not running in Dual Channel. That might account for some of the smaller performance issues.

All in all, my system is happier with 1GB.

 

[Eric1285]

I don't play very many games, although I am building a gaming computer. I recently picked up two sticks of PC3500 Kingston HyperX totaling 1 gig. Do I really need this? I want to run dual channel, yet at the same time, I don't want any 256 sticks because I know I might upgrade in the future. Should I return/sell one of the sticks? I run 512 on my lappy, and it seems good enough, but my lappy is kind of weak. The one game I do want to play is BF1942, but I've been playing on my friends lappy with 512 and it seems fine. I had originally intended to build a budget system under $600, but so far I've spent $763 and I still need a video card and power supply. I will probably hit $930 when all is said and done. Returning the ram would give me another $110 back.

 

[Peter D]

I have a gig and its great. Games load quickly, and as previously stated, handle high load times well. Also, one of the main reasons i got it is because i do a lot of editing in Photoshop and rendering in 3dstudio max.

 

[Paveslave]

Well, if you really want to make sure you have enough.... go with 2 gigs and call it a day, hehe. I don't think you could ever overdue RAM, especially with the games coming out nowadays. Look at the demands for Unreal, the Matrix, and SimCity 4... lotsa RAM needed so you might want to get what you can afford and hope it lasts you a while.

 

[rommelrommel]

Originally posted by: warriorfan23
well i plan on using my comp mostly for gaming and prob some graphics stuff....1gb is very tempting....

i also just want to tell people that i have 1 gig of ram!

Get the Gig, y'all won't regret it for $100 or so.