More ram or faster running cpu

[Joris]

so i have this question i have some spare parts and i decided to build a machine that i could play some games with and use it for things like running game server (resources demmanding programs) the motherboard is asus p5b mx and the cpu is intel pentium e2140 1.6ghz gpu is geforce gt220 1Gb and the problem is with ram i have 1 stick 2gb ram thats 667mhz 1stick 512mb thats 667mhz and 1 stick thats 1gb but only 533mhz so becouse im going to overclock it and with the more ram configuration that would have the 1gb and 2gb stick (3gb in total) i could only overclock to 1.92ghz and with the less ram configuration that would have the 2 gb stick and the 512mb stick i could push it to ~2.4ghz so what would get me more performace more ram or more cpu speed?

Thanks

and sorry for spelling mistakes.

 

[djosbun]

If you are installing different types of RAM sticks (different speeds), I hope you are aware that your system will not read/use them both together. It's going to probably ignore one of them. If you have 2 RAM slots, pick up 2 identical sticks and be done with it.

Your best bet, for performance, is to install the fastest processor that is compatible with your motherboard. I'm not sure what type of performance increase you'll see by overclocking your CPU (if it can be overclocked).

And PLEASE, for future reference, install some 'periods' in your writings. Your entire paragraph is one long sentence. Periods make things easier to read.....and understand.

 

[Joris]

ok um.. i only have the intel pentium e2140 and i made this machine work today to check what you are saying. i installed 1 ram stick 667mhz 512mb and one 1gb 533mhz and overcloked the cpu to 1.92ghz becouse i cant overclock any more with that shity ram. the computer runs fine (if you can call it fine when its a crap pc) and it actualy says that it has 1.5gb ram so it uses them both. but the question remains will i get more performance with 2.5gb of ram and 2.4ghz running cpu or 3gb of ram and 1.92ghz running cpu?

Thanks.

 

[dingo07]

performance is directly related to processor speed, ram would be the next tier

 

[ngrego]

The system is using all 1.5GB ram but it should be running it at the slower of the the two speeds (533Mhz). If you were to upgrade the ram to 3GB, using 800Mhz chips would surely give you better performance!

 

[Joris]

i dont think my asus p5b mx motherboard supports 800mhz ram i think 667 mhz is the limit

 

[geofelt]

The performance fix should be determined by what your problem is.

If you have a lack of ram, then add as much as you can. A lack of ram acts liks a slow cpu if you are doing demand paging.
You need enough ram to hold all of what you are running concurrently.
If you don't have enough, that MUST be fixed first.

In this case, I think you can get 3.5gb. Put the 2gb stick on one channel, and the .5gb and 1gb sticks on the second channel.
If you motherboard cooperates, you will be running 3gb in dual channel mode, and.5gb in single channel mode.
And... you will be operating at the lowest common denominator of speed, namely 533.

Speed of ram is relatively not that important for Intel cpu's, particularly the newer ivy and sandy bridge cpu's.
In this case, the E2140, which is an older pentium cpu with a less efficient ram controller, there will be more of an impact.

If you need cpu power, and not quantity of ram, then concentrate on your overclocking efforts.
However you measure your performance, experiment with different configurations.
You might find that a 2.5gb configuration of 667 speed might work best. Only .5gb will be in dual channel mode.

Without spending anything, that is about it.

 

[Soda-88]

If you are installing different types of RAM sticks (different speeds), I hope you are aware that your system will not read/use them both together. It's going to probably ignore one of them. If you have 2 RAM slots, pick up 2 identical sticks and be done with it.

Your best bet, for performance, is to install the fastest processor that is compatible with your motherboard. I'm not sure what type of performance increase you'll see by overclocking your CPU (if it can be overclocked).

Bunch of nonsense. RAM operates at one speed and one speed only, which is the speed of the slowest stick. Getting a faster CPU won't help if his PC constantly swaps HDD due to low amounts of RAM. Anything under 4GB of RAM is terrible for today's standards, unless you are content with browsing internet and word processing.

Anyway, I'd suggest you upgrading motherboard, CPU and RAM within your budget.
Something like this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tmPy which will give you decent upgrade options down the road, and it doesn't cost all that much more than what upgrading your old RAM and CPU would since old parts are overpriced. You can reuse the rest of the components from your old rig, of course.

Edit: You can even skip getting new PSU until you decide to upgrade your graphics card.

 

[Joris]

The performance fix should be determined by what your problem is.

If you have a lack of ram, then add as much as you can. A lack of ram acts liks a slow cpu if you are doing demand paging.
You need enough ram to hold all of what you are running concurrently.
If you don't have enough, that MUST be fixed first.

In this case, I think you can get 3.5gb. Put the 2gb stick on one channel, and the .5gb and 1gb sticks on the second channel.
If you motherboard cooperates, you will be running 3gb in dual channel mode, and.5gb in single channel mode.
And... you will be operating at the lowest common denominator of speed, namely 533.

Speed of ram is relatively not that important for Intel cpu's, particularly the newer ivy and sandy bridge cpu's.
In this case, the E2140, which is an older pentium cpu with a less efficient ram controller, there will be more of an impact.

If you need cpu power, and not quantity of ram, then concentrate on your overclocking efforts.
However you measure your performance, experiment with different configurations.
You might find that a 2.5gb configuration of 667 speed might work best. Only .5gb will be in dual channel mode.

Without spending anything, that is about it.

if you would have checked what mb i have you would know that it only has two ram slots

 

[Joris]

Bunch of nonsense. RAM operates at one speed and one speed only, which is the speed of the slowest stick. Getting a faster CPU won't help if his PC constantly swaps HDD due to low amounts of RAM. Anything under 4GB of RAM is terrible for today's standards, unless you are content with browsing internet and word processing.

Anyway, I'd suggest you upgrading motherboard, CPU and RAM within your budget.
Something like this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tmPy which will give you decent upgrade options down the road, and it doesn't cost all that much more than what upgrading your old RAM and CPU would since old parts are overpriced. You can reuse the rest of the components from your old rig, of course.

Edit: You can even skip getting new PSU until you decide to upgrade your graphics card.

thank you for your advice im using this computer just for temporary and i play games like world of tanks prety well (could be better) and i now have that 1gb and 512 and becouse i have spare money for 2 gb stick i think i will get it i dont actualy want to do anything else with this pc becouse im gonna get a new one soon so its just a temporary camp but thanks for your advice i think i decided that more ram will be best for what i do becouse the cpu is going great anyways (never had it bottlenecking) the gpu is ok to (could handle even better ram bottlenecks) so yeah i might just need to expirement if im not happy