Which should I do?

B

BigJavy

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Jan 18, 2004
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Hey all,
I'm building a pc w/ a conroe 6300 and some so-so intel board i'll upgrade later (i'm using the intel retail edge program)... and I'm on a bit of a budget. I have a couple decisions I need to make.

First problem:

Do I go with 1gb of memory and a 8800gts or 2gb of memory and an x1950pro? I'm kind of leaning towards 1gb of memory and the gts because it's easier to upgrade memory later than the video card. Maybe it'd be worth it to just go a little cheaper on the vid card and wait to see what ati's dx10 stuff is like though?


Second problem:

Somewhat related to problem 1. Is going w/ ddr2 800 instead of 667 worth it? Is there any non-incredibly-expensive 667 stuff that hits 800 fairly easily?


Thanks! Any recommendations on what I should buy would be greatly appreciated.




jason
 
it all depends if you game and/or want to overclock.

If you play games, yes, skimp on memory and go with better video.

If you plan to overclock go with the 800MHz memory because the low multiplier of the 6300 will require high FSB speeds and thus ram that can handle high FSB speeds unless your mother board has memory speed dividers that go less than 1:1.

so if doing spreadsheets/surfing/email - more slow memory
if gaming less but faster memory, better video.


hmm probally no overclocking with an inexpensive Intel mb but you did say you were going to upgrade it later. Would be silly to get wrong memory now and have to upgrade it too at a later date. So even if you cant overclock now, keep it in mind.
 
Go for DDR2 667 and clock it as far as it will go.
Intels dont care as much about memory speed so its not worth spending money on performance ram unless you must have the last % of performance.

I'd get 1GB ram and the GTS.
Like you say its easier to get more ram later and you can get by on 1GB.
 
Thanks guys! Pretty much said exactly what I thought you would. I game tons so I'll probably skimp a little on the memory now and go w/ the GTS and tho i'd like OC, I'm not gonna be doing it until I can swing a new mobo, at which time I'll be giving/selling this mobo to someone in my family and they can take the slower memory w/ it.


Thanks again! :)
 
From my experience, if you're going to be playing the latest games at high detail, you will experience a noticeable slow down with only 1GB of RAM.
 
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