$30 for 2gb, can't decide which

[swiftysuspect]

I made a thread similar to this a while back, but that was just to find out the difference in speeds. Now that I know there is a marginal speed difference in 5300/6400 ddr2 RAM, I have a new question.

I'm planning on spending $30 on RAM, and newegg has 6400 2x1gb and 5300 2x1gb for both that price.

Right now, my specs are Sempron 3600+, Geforce 6150 onboard, 2x512mb 5300 ddr2 ram (4 memory slots), Vista (Dell Inspiron 530s).

What would give me the biggest performance boost for my $30?

3gb of 5300 or 2gb of 6400?

I mainly want it for performance in somewhat older games (Dawn of War, Command and Conquer 3, Occassional WoW Battlegrounds). Yes, I know the onboard is whats killing me I'm planning on getting a radeon 4650 but I want to know which RAM decision would best accompany the new card/current onboard until they arrive.

 

[jedimasterben]

More RAM is almost always better than slightly faster RAM.

Also, that Sempron would be holding you back more than the onboard is now when you decide to get that new card. However, adding more RAM is a great idea, as Vista is optimized for 2GB+, so you'll definitely notice the difference in startup and app loading times!

Best of luck to you!

 

[omnimodis78]

I concur with jedimasterben and recommend that you go with the 3GB even though it's mathematically slower than the 2gb option. I wouldn't worry too much about the speed whatsoever as you're running an AMD processor so the speed rating is almost insignificant, but seeing that you're running Vista, the extra RAM will almost be essential! Good luck!

 

[swiftysuspect]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I knew the sempron would hold me back, but I don't want to try and install a new CPU just yet. It seems too complicated (for me) compared to the ease of a graphic/memory upgrade so I'm going with those first.