Will Upgrading my 1GB PC2-4200 to PC2-6400 Make a difference?

[phaxmohdem]

Let me preface this post with: "I know its a Pentium D. But..."

When I built the rig in question, I had a gig of this slower DDR2 RAM in my closet so I just used that to save some bucks. However The system is a bit laggy in just about everything. Now I realize it could be due to the CPU as well, but I've used other similar systems(same CPU) that just felt way faster.

Current RAM is 2x 512MB PC2-4200 (533MHz DDR)
Thinking about 1GB Dual Channel Kit PC6400 (800MHz DDR)

Would this even net a performance benefit worth the price? I just want the system to perform a little faster. All other relevant specs can be found here: System Specs

System is used for mild graphics and programming work, Folding@home, Ubuntu Web Development server (dual Boot w/ Win XP Pro), as well as a little bit of gaming action from time to time.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
Current RAM is 2x 512MB PC2-4200 (533MHz DDR)
Thinking about 1GB Dual Channel Kit PC6400 (800MHz DDR)

Would this even net a performance benefit worth the price?

Definitely not. Now, if you upgraded to 2 GB of PC6400 (or even 2 GB of PC5300), that would make it worth the time/trouble/money. Although, honestly, it would only make a difference while gaming; the other things you're doing with the system, 1 GB is plenty.

 

[0roo0roo]

you run folding at home on a pentium d?
thats going to be some massive power consumption.
leave the ram alone. upgrade everything.

 

[phaxmohdem]

lol. Yeah, I only ran the GPU client though on the x1950T card I had in it. As of Today, I've swapped the ATI card out for an nVidia card for better linux compatiblity, and will no longer be folding on this machine...

Thanks for the reply myocardia. I think I'll just stick with what I've got for the time being and when the system can't perform its tasks anymore, I'll just do as OrooOroo suggests and rebuild.

 

[Acanthus]

You wont see a noticable increase in anything by changing speed alone.

You would either want to move to 2GB, or do a full platform change (core 2 duos are getting a huge price cut soon, and ram is dirt cheap)

 

[Alex]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: phaxmohdem
Current RAM is 2x 512MB PC2-4200 (533MHz DDR)
Thinking about 1GB Dual Channel Kit PC6400 (800MHz DDR)

Would this even net a performance benefit worth the price?

Definitely not. Now, if you upgraded to 2 GB of PC6400 (or even 2 GB of PC5300), that would make it worth the time/trouble/money. Although, honestly, it would only make a difference while gaming; the other things you're doing with the system, 1 GB is plenty.

agree with everything except 2GB is way better than 1GB in pretty much all cases if you can afford it.

i notice a huge improvement with 1.5GB over 1GB and i don't really use my pc for that much (xampp, development tools, torrents and occasional gaming.