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Upgrade First: RAM or Hard Drive?

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Jan 17, 2004
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Here's the deal... I have 1x512 RAM and I want another stick of 512. BUT, for the same price, I can get myself a 2x80GB SATA hard drive Raid0 setup. What will I see more of a performance boost with in terms of gaming? My current hard drive is a pretty old 40gb ATA.
 
Do you play online games or games that load off your hard drives?

If you play online mostly than the ram is best, if you play non-online games that seem to load slowly then the hard drives are best.

Personally I'd get those hard drives since I download big files and burning files sucks because I end up buying cd-r's alot, 15 bucks a pop for 50 cd-rs = gone in like 6 months.. 2 years = 4x6= 4x15= $60 which isn't bad however that's a nice 80 gig 8 meg WD hd I could get instead.. ahh choices...

~Adam
 
RAM. With a RAID0 array your looking at faster game/map loading times. With more RAM your looking at smoother overall gameplay.
 
my take on the situation is a little different.

if you are running 2000 or an older OS, 512 is a good amount of RAM to run with that for now. if however you are running XP... go for the ram. XP hogs ram.
 
With the RAM, gameplay will be smoother, as stated above. But with the harddrives, games will load faster, and you can have more installed at once, but then the gameplay isn't as smooth. As stated above, it also depends on your OS.

If possible, pick up a stick of RAM, try it, Then take it back if it doesn't perform how you thought it would.

Its completely up to you...
 
lets compromise... :p

how about just one 80gig hard drive for now (another later) and a stick of 256mb of good RAM. :p

just my $1.24.
 
bobsaget said:
lets compromise... :p

how about just one 80gig hard drive for now (another later) and a stick of 256mb of good RAM. :p

just my $1.24.
Click to expand...
I don't want to waste slots with 256 sticks. I'm going for a 512. :)

I think, based on you guys' input, I'll go for the stick of 512. I really don't mind how fast the games load - for now. Anyway, more RAM does help load times, as I noticed on my friend's computer, whom has 1gb or ram. Yep... 512mb it is.
 
yea, get another pair of 512ram that is in your signiture:
Corsair 1x512MB DDR400 XMS Pro Series RAM @ 198mhz 2-3-2-5

Then you'll be running Dual Channell ram.

its just so much better to be able to load things into ram and not Page file ^_^.

~Hope this helps
 
tdg said:
RAM. With a RAID0 array your looking at faster game/map loading times. With more RAM your looking at smoother overall gameplay.
Click to expand...

^ What he said.
 
I also agree with the consensus...

Go with the xtra 512mb now for dual channel, and score a deal on the storage later.
 
i for one, take a different stance. I say go for the HDD. Why?

1] increased storage
2]RAID0 is (from what I've heard) hella faster than regular
3]Since you're running RAID0, your page-file/swap-file will be twice as efficient, meaning that you'll not only get a boost in the direct HDD performance arena, but also in the RAM (virtual RAM) arena
4]You can save up and sell you old stick of RAM and get 2 , better sticks of 512 RAM later; whereas, you're probably not going to run out of 160GB of HDD space (+ the 40 from your old drive) soon :D
5]If you can get 160GB of space, in a RAID0 array, for the SAME PRICE as RAM, I, personnaly, feel you'd be foolish not to go for the HDD. I mean, they're even SATA. :eek:
 
Carnival Forces said:
i for one, take a different stance. I say go for the HDD. Why?

1] increased storage
2]RAID0 is (from what I've heard) hella faster than regular
3]Since you're running RAID0, your page-file/swap-file will be twice as efficient, meaning that you'll not only get a boost in the direct HDD performance arena, but also in the RAM (virtual RAM) arena
QUOTE]

1] also increased chance of failure but nothing significant really
2] it is faster but usually 50-70 percent
3] increased access times will slow you down for the page/swap file, raid adds a nice overhead on access times, especially if you start hitting the swap hard like some of the more current gams will on 512 megs of ram.
Click to expand...
 
Okay, I received my RAM today, and let me tell you... nothing has ever made this much of a preformance boost since my new 9800. I will be able to afford my Raid0 in 2 weeks, anyway, so no worries. :D
 
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