Am I better off with 640mb PC 133 CAS 3 or 256mb PC133 CAS 2??

[stockjock]

Thats my question. I have a stick of generic 512MB PC133 CAS3 (CAS 2 if I take it down to PC100) and 2 sticks of 128mb Mosel Vitel PC133 CAS 2 each. If I combine the the 512mb stick and a stick of the 128, it will run at CAS 3...Is there that much difference???

 

[LuNoTiCK]

It depends on what you are going to do with it

 

[LarryJoe]

256MB should be more than enough for whatever you are doing, so 256MB at CAS2 over 640MB at CAS3 is the way to go. CAS2 is faster.

 

[Boonesmi]

what os are you using?
if win98 then i would take the 256
win2k i would take the 640

 

[johneetrash]

i think id rather have 640mb cas3 than 256mb cas2 in win2k

 

[stockjock]

My OS is WinME....so what do I do...

 

[Davegod75]

go with the 256 for winME

 

[MasterHoss]

Just go with 256MB in general. You won't need all that RAM. You just won't use it all.

But since THEY are selling 256MB PC133 CAS 2 DIMMS for under $50, might as well go 512.

 

[SocrPlyr]

doesn't win9x (including ME) have problems addressing more than 512MB ram unless you do some registry hacks?

just wondering

Josh

 

[lacunae]

i'm goin with lunotick here... i just don't see how people can say that 256MB is more than enough without knowing what you're doing with it, and to some extent how you work.

if you're gaming, or mostly just run apps singly, then definitely the faster 256MB.
if you primarily run memory hogging apps and/or tend to be working in several apps at the same time, then the 640MB could speed things up (even tho its slower) by reducing some swapping to the hd. photoshop, for example, recommends that you have five times the *free* memory as the largest images you want to work with. output from a decent slide scanner can easily be 30MB each (way more if you're scanning medium format instead of 35mm).. just a couple of those would be more than photoshop recommends... and if you're doing layout in a dtp and have an illustration graphics program open at the same time...

hmmm... i do like masterhoss's second suggestion, but i tend to multitask way too much when i'm actually working on stuff :þ and my computer definitely seems happier since i bumped upto 512

 

[stockjock]

Thanks all for the suggestions...I think I will just go with the 256mb...again thanks to all for the input