Buy more SDRAM or upgrade to DDR-SDRAM

[bgunn]

Hi All

I currently using the following system:

Duron 700
192 MB PC133 SDRAM
Gigabyte GA-7ZM
Radeon 8500LE
Seagate 10G 5400rpm HDD
Maxtor 40G 7200rpm HDD
16x DVD-ROM

I do mainly programing and webdesign work, but also play a few games. I find that my current amount of memory is not enough. I would like to have at least 256MB RAM, however I am wondering what is the better solution in the long run. I am thinking that PC133 SDRAM is old technology, and to simply buy more SDRAM is just prolonging the inevitable upgrade to DDR-SDRAM some time in the future. So I am wondering whether or not I would be better off upgrading my MB and buying DDR-SDRAM now. Do you think I would notice much of a performance increase if I upgraded to DDR-SDRAM on my current system? Obviously, buying extra PC133 SDRAM will be considerably cheaper than upgrading the mainboard and ram together.

Would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Kind regards, ben

 

[Benja]

you can get the pc ram for alot less than the ddr

look in the buy/sell forum

youd get more out of the system that you already have by upping the ram

 

[TheCorm]

If you did change to DDR then it would be faster but the Duron 700 would be a bit of a bottleneck then. What OS are you running, if it's 2000/XP then more memory would be good anyway, if it's 98 then what you have should be fine.

What about an upgrade to an ECS K7S5A motherboard? (2x DDR & 2x SDRAM slots!), you could use your existing SDRAM and Duron, then upgrade to DDR later and maybe even have an Athlon XP upgrade on the cards too!

Corm

 

[andylawcc]

it depends on your budget,

ultimately in the long run you would want a nice KT333 (gigabyte's, MSI KT3 Ultra, Shuttle GTR) motherboard with DDR mem.
but for time sake, you should buy used a stick of 128 PC133 on the FS forum and see how much it does.
they are dirt cheap anyways, just post a new thread "WTB: your old dinky SD-RAM" and people will swarm you with offer.