Bandwidth Vs Size

[NurseMSIC]

This is a thought that has been running through my head since my recent upgrade, and i've noticed a few other people post similar questions without asking this directly.
Here are two scenarios, which one is better (or under what circumstances would each be better)?

Common bits:
Intel P4C 3 Ghz (800fsb, HT etc) Not overclocked.
Intel 865 chipset motherboard
80GB Hard Drive 7200 8MBbuffer
ATI Radeon 9600
Win XP SP1 etc etc. A standard decent setup.

System 1
========
2 x 256 MB of PC3200, CAS 2.5 regular (not funky new Corsair stuff) running in dual channel mode

System 2
========
2 x 512 MB of PC1600, CAS 2.5 same as above, dual channel mode.

So one system clearly has twice the memory, but the other has twice the bandwidth.
Any thoughts?

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[Guest]

The P4 is a very bandwith Hungry processor some PC1600 would cripple it pretty badly.
512 is the norm while 1 gig is now recommended, some apps are memory intensive so in some case the 1 gig setup might be faster but overall slow memory should be a huge bottleneck especially with the P4C...

Asus P4P800DX, P4C 2.6ghz@3.25ghz, 2X512 OCZ PC4000 3-3-3-8, Leadtek FX5900@450/875, 2X30gig Raid0

 

[Obtuse]

If you run that pc 1600 on a mobo w/800 FSB, your proc will starve and die. If you run the 3200, you may take a performance hit when the RAM fills up and the swap file kicks in. If you go with the 1600, you will always run slow, b/c you either have to clock the FSB down to 100 (bad idea) or run your memory bus asynchronously with your FSB (also bad for performance). In short, run the 3200 and try to manage memory effectively.

 

[CrucialLabs]

You would kill that poor Intel processor with PC1600 memory. Can you say bottleneck?? Stick with the PC3200 and less memory. Sure you could use more memory but I will take the speed over amount of megs. Besides PC1600 in old new and not worth the look.

Crucial Performance Lab

www.crucial.com
The Memory Experts(SM) at Crucial Technology is now on board to give you straight answers to your memory-related questions.
cpl@micron.com

 

[NurseMSIC]

Hang on people, i appreciate the response but i never said i was going to be buying this! I've already got PC3700 memory and am very happy with it.
I also know exactly why PC1600 is a bottleneck.
The question is, which is better - twice the bandwidth or twice the amount?

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">My <font color=orange>Editing</font color=orange> & <font color=green>Gaming</font color=green> Machine</A>

 

[Obtuse]

As previously stated, twice the bandwidth. If you cripple your bandwidth, your system will always run slow because of that assy RAM. If you go with less size, your system will sometimes run slow because of paging in the swap file. Now which is worse, being slow SOMETIMES, or being slow ALWAYS?

"The only way to overcome temptation is to yield to it" - Oscar Wilde

 

[NurseMSIC]

Yep, i can see that. Good answer, cheers.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">My <font color=orange>Editing</font color=orange> & <font color=green>Gaming</font color=green> Machine</A>