1 GIG or 512 on XP Pro?

[dguy6789]

Hi, im buying 2 512 meg memory chips. I have 2 computers. I do moderate gaming. Do you guys think it would be better to have 1 gig of ram in one system and 384 megs in the other, or would it be better to have 768 megs in one and 640 in the other, both comps have 2 slots, i have a 256 and a 128 right now.

 

[Derango]

you probably don't need any more than 512MB in each machine, really...1GB is overkill (unless you're playing simcity 4 )

 

[spyordie007]

It really depends on the game, if you use the one machine for gaming and the other for just basic office stuff than I would put 1GB in the gaming machine and leave 384 in the other. 384 is plenty enough for office/web browsing.

-Spy

 

[ProviaFan]

Unless you do a lot of serious Photoshopping (I mean doing multi-layer 8x10 inch print layouts at 600dpi), or you are into that thing of downloading 10 files in the background while leaving all of your MS Office apps open plus Dreamweaver and 3dsmax while you play resource-intensive 3D FPS games, you probably don't need 1GB of RAM. 768MB in your primary machine and 640MB in the other would be just fine.

 

[Davegod]

Originally posted by: spyordie007
It really depends on the game, if you use the one machine for gaming and the other for just basic office stuff than I would put 1GB in the gaming machine and leave 384 in the other. 384 is plenty enough for office/web browsing.

-Spy

what he said; it simply depends what you use the machines for. I use 768mb of DDR and hardly notice the difference from 512mb, other than a bit quicker loading maps in FPS games (tho I disable all unnecessary xp services and usually only have mIRC, firewall and A/V in the system tray).

 

[thecombatwombat]

Have you considered that stability of both systems?

Stable ram makes all the difference, unless they happen to be the same/very similarly rated sticks, I'd put both of the two new modules into the one machine that is your "primary" machine.

Speed's a factor too, I wouldn't want to mix substantial speed differences, what sort of modules are we talking about?

 

[dguy6789]

there both generic ddr memory modules. I think i will have 768MB in one and 640 in the other, both i use with games, depends which one my family is using at the tiome to depend on what im going to use. i use antivirus while doing all the stuff, no photoshop.

 

[recover]

I'd recommend buying name brand memory, even if it warrants buying less of it. But I wear a helmet around the house and bathe with a SCUBA tank, so make what you want of that.

 

[Varsh]

I found crucial DDR to be the safest option, and if you can afford it buy them registered, it may be that bit more but you get a touch more speed out of them.
Well seeing that you're only playing games, 512mb is more than enough, only reason I opted for 1GB was because, like someone's said earlier, I do heavy multi-tasking AND I use Photoshop with pics even higher than 600dpi and with more than 150 layers (roughly 4k+x4k+ pixels in size).
Oh and lol about Sim City 4, it even runs fairly slow on mine, I really need to change this GF4 MX440. I think SC4 is a GFX Card intensive game like most games nowadays, seems like RAM doesn't make much of a difference anymore, same with the processor.

 

[toant103]

Originally posted by: Derango
you probably don't need any more than 512MB in each machine, really...1GB is overkill (unless you're playing simcity 4 )

hahahah. I have 1 GB