More Ram or Faster CPU

Jack · Jul 16, 2003

Hi everyone, hope you could help me to decide whether to go for more ram or faster cpu. My computer to be mostly for internet webcam conference, photo editing, some gaming and office.
How much ram do I need in reality in order to run softwares smoothly, I had a PIII733 with 512Mb ram but running Win98 was really slow, let alone other softwares.
Thanks,
Jack

Stiffler · Jul 16, 2003

512MB of Ram is good for almost all low end use. Although it helps if it is of a good speed ie not SDRAM. You would benifit more from a faster CPU than any more memory than 512MB. Although you may have to upgrade more components than just your CPU if your motherboard is old !

Tim

Its winter now... So how come my CPU temp is still 55C

songoku · Jul 16, 2003

if things are slow you may want to think about redoing your system. A full system wipe. And start a new. Preferably with Windows XP. If you turn off all the frills of Windows XP Or not with that that system (assuming everything else is from the same time era) and it should work great. A new os is the way i would go.

You should really thing about updating drivers and Installing the Windows updates. That could improve performance dynamically. Plus if you buy a Windows XP Home license Its like $50. And one of your friends has oem or retail xp home then you can install it and it is perfectly legal.

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

Jack · Jul 16, 2003

songoko, yes I am planning to build a whole new sys running WinXP. From my understanding, you need lots of mem for XP, am I right?

chandanarahul · Jul 16, 2003

u better consider a clean installation and if u HAVE to go for a h/w upgrade. it better be the processor as 512MB is good for general use.

Stiffler · Jul 16, 2003

In fact I run WinXP with 256MB of RDRAM and it isn't that bad at all ! 512 is more than enough for XP and any extra RAM is mostly uncessary...

Tim

Its winter now... So how come my CPU temp is still 55C

shadus · Jul 16, 2003

I would say 512mb is the correct ammount of ram to have at the present time. A gig is useful in some situations but for the most part 512 will provide the performance you need at a very reasonable price. You definetly need a faster processor.

Shadus

Jack · Jul 16, 2003

Thanks for all your of input, so I guess 512 it is but shall I go for 2x256 or one 512, coz I suppose it is faster to go with Duel something but then again it will be hard for upgrade later, am I right?

shadus · Jul 16, 2003

2x256 so you can function in dual ddr mode.

Shadus

Jake_Barnes · Jul 16, 2003

Plus if you buy a Windows XP Home license Its like $50. And one of your friends has oem or retail xp home then you can install it and it is perfectly legal.

Can you explain how you buy a license - without an installation CD (OEM or retail)?

It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. - Bill Clinton

TheMASK · Jul 16, 2003

Its like buying ONE CD and then getting ten licenses to run the OS on ten systems. This way it works out a little cheaper. So if ur friend has a CD, then u buy a license from the OS vendor and use the new key provided to u instead of the key that came with the CD u install from.

thinking of a good sig. till then...

Crashman · Jul 17, 2003

XP would make his system slower and do little else for him.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Crashman · Jul 17, 2003

In order to get XP to run as fast as 98SE, you need 1GB of RAM. Others scoff, but I tell you the truth here, I had a Slot 1 system with 512MB, it ran a little slower with XP than 98SE, but adding another 512MB got it back up to speed.

You have a PIII 733. You could probably run a PIII 1400 w/512k cache, but that's expensive. A cheaper alternative is to overclock a Tualatin Celeron 1100 to 1466MHz, thereby getting the good 133MHz bus speed (the biggest handicap of Tualatin Celerons being bus speed), and the cost of such processors is around $40.

Is your board Slot 1 or Socket 370?

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Syndil · Jul 17, 2003

I'll bite. I have an Athlon 700 system with 256MB PC133 ram, running Windows XP. IF you have the patience enough to tweak XP, disable all the extra services and crap that you don't need like Cleartype and Themes, I have found that it actually performs faster than any other version of Windows, and I have had just about all of them installed on this box at different times. As an added bonus, very much unlike Win9x, it doesn't crash. Ever. YMMV.

_________________________________________________
Armadillo[TcC] at Lanwar and MML

pIII_Man · Jul 17, 2003

I'll bite. I have an Athlon 700 system with 256MB PC133 ram, running Windows XP. IF you have the patience enough to tweak XP, disable all the extra services and crap that you don't need like Cleartype and Themes, I have found that it actually performs faster than any other version of Windows, and I have had just about all of them installed on this box at different times. As an added bonus, very much unlike Win9x, it doesn't crash. Ever. YMMV.

Thats bull...i had a pIII 700...i did everything to xp to try to get it to run at a "favorable" speed...did the registry tweeks and everything...still no go...xp is the most bloated os ever created...it is just so ineficient and uses up 2gb of your hard drive! So i say win 2k pro all the way...its xp w/o the fruity colors. Its also easier to use IMO

There is no smell better than fried silicon :evil:

Syndil · Jul 17, 2003

btw, YMMV = your mileage may vary

Perhaps you didn't tweak it enough. Who knows, maybe XP likes Athlons better than PIIIs. Anyway, I have no trouble at all with mine. For gaming, its the best OS I have ever installed on this PC. YMMV.

_________________________________________________
Armadillo[TcC] at Lanwar and MML

Crashman · Jul 17, 2003

Doesn't crash? Ever? Get the hell out of here you liar. Your not just a liar, but a bad one. I've seen XP crash. In fact, I've had to format my hard drive twice from XP becomming corrupt from crashes. The first time was my fault, the second time was random.

I've actually had XP crash around 4 times in the past 9 months, and 2 times required a format, 2 times required a repair install. This on a platform that was stable under 98SE!

98SE had the memory leak problems, requiring reboot or memory management software. I used a memory manager. On the rare occasions I caused a bad crash, a repair installation ALWAYS fixed it. XP is batting 500 there!

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Syndil · Jul 17, 2003

Whoa, back up there fella. I don't appreciate being called a liar. No need to start a childish "my OS can beat up your OS" discussion.

Anyway, my system has NEVER crashed under XP. Nada. Zilch. Not once. Zero. And I have never even had to contemplate reformatting. Still using the original install, from when I first put XP on here i think it was 2 or 3 years ago. But, like I said, YMMV. And obviously it has.

_________________________________________________
Armadillo[TcC] at Lanwar and MML

Crashman · Jul 17, 2003

Yes, well that's more hidden then explicit, most people will experience XP crashes at some time during their PC usage.

What XP gives you is it's ability to operate with unstable chipsets.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Jack · Jul 17, 2003

I have had enough of my old system, it is over 3 years old, too slow for anything apart from internet.
So a whole new sys is what I am going to build and I will have to install XP coz don't think you could get Win2000 anymore.
I gathered that 2x512 would be comfortable, I dont want to run minimum with my new PC. so more ram with a slower CPU it is then.

HardWareBoss · Jul 18, 2003

You can still buy 2000 Pro. Go with P4 2.4c plus 2 x512 ram. P4 2.4c $175 at New Egg ordered mine last nite.

Crashman · Jul 18, 2003

Wow, your system should be fast enough for the latest games (at reduced features and resolutions), movies, and nearly any program you throw at it, except for video encoding. If you seriously think your system is slow, it's probably a software problem.

On a fresh software install, that system should be nearly 1/2 as fast at a lot of things as a new one. I've yet to come up with any super accurate formula, but qualitatively, every time you double your CPU speed you increase performance by around 50%.

So a T-Bird 1400 should be around 50% faster, and an XP2800+ should be around 100% faster, in the most common programs. Of course there are some programs that rely more on clock speed than others.

I simply suggest the most economical way to make your system feel 50% faster, a Tualatin Celeron 1100@1466 (comparable to a T-Bird 1400 with PC133).

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

More Ram or Faster CPU

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