Upgrading ram, more mb's or faster?

[Cawchy87]

i currently have 512mb of ram running at 266mhz. my computer is a little over a year and a half old
Specs:
2ghz p4, 100mhz fsb
ATI radeon 9600XT 128mb

I do alot of gaming, exculsivly on DirectX (until doom3 comes out i guess). and i was wondering which upgrade would be the best for me? get a stick of 512 at 333 and take out the one i have now, or get another stick of 512 266mhz ram. for a total of 1gig?

 

[John]

Unless you overclock or use a different cpu, there is no benefit of using DDR333 with your existing setup. Since the price difference is negligible, get the DDR333 or better yet DDR400 for future expansion. It is backwards compatible with your current memory.

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: John
Unless you overclock or use a different cpu, there is no benefit of using DDR333 with your existing setup. Since the price difference is negligible, get the DDR333 or better yet DDR400 for future expansion. It is backwards compatible with your current memory.

Good advice here. Its what I would do if I had your config.

 

[AIWGuru]

Pick up another 512 of DDR400. Use it in that system at 266. The 1GB will help you if you game and in certain productivity apps. Of course, you probably are okay with 512 but this is what I would do if I had the itch to upgrade ram for no real reason

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru
Pick up another 512 of DDR400. Use it in that system at 266

Is it hard to make 400 ram run at 266? or does it detect it automaticly?

Also, i found some cheap 266 on ebay, will it have any effect on my comp?

 

[TGHI]

More megs or faster RAM? The answer is simple: both.

 

[Cawchy87]

Although money is limited, i can only get one stick.

Should i A) get a 512 stick of 266 and have 1gig of it
OR B) get a 512 stick of 333 and have 512 of it?

 

[Regs]

Yes your ram will run only as fast as the bus unless told otherwise in the bios. so it will auto-detect.

I think you will thank yourself later when you buy the faster rated ram now, so Ill you have to do later is buy a new CPU to fit the upgrade.

Plus, when you decide to get 1 Gig of ram later, you would only have to buy one more DIMM of 512 instead of being stuck buying a complete 1 Gig of faster ram for future upgrades. I would invest in some value PC3200 or PC3500. Then, hell, you'll be ready for a A64 upgrade when the time comes, other than the fact you would need a new motherboard for the A64.