Do I need more RAM?

[edm]

Hey, I'm running a Athlon T-Bird 1.4 with 256MB pc2100. I just ordered a new ATI 9700 Pro and was wondering if I should also get another 256MB's of ram? I know more ram never hurts, but will it make much of a difference?

I mostly play 3d games (Bf1942, MOH, etc.), and I'm running winXP pro.

thanks

 

[Trashman]

Honestly, I would snag a stick of 512mb....crucial recently had sticks of 512mb PC2100 for 58.00, not sure if it's still going.....but more memory would definetly help, 512mb seems to be bare min. nowadays.
edit* My bad...53.99 looks like it's still alive....worth checking....Link

 

[Hagen]

Definitely go for 512mb, even with the extra DDR Ram on the Video card. I installed Cacheman, a freeware program, which manages RAM more efficiently, and also lets you know how much RAM is free. I have Win XP Home Edition, and I am always using over 200mb of the 512mb I have, often over 256mb. The general recommendation for Win XP is that 256mb is bare minimum, and you can't go wrong with the RAM prices now, I hear rumors on this board that prices may go up again.
Cheers,
Hagen

 

[Chaotic42]

Another 512MB will make a difference in BF1942 for sure.

 

[Hardtarget]

BF is ridiculous ram intensive. personally i don' tthink you need more than 512 total, nothing your doing (unless your heavy photoshoping) will need more than 512 or ram, so pick up anotehr 256 stick for cheap

 

[txxxx]

Get a stick of 512 whilst its cheap !!!!!!!

 

[moonshinemadness]

Get the RAM!

 

[Lalakai]

considering the games you like to play, the OS you're running, and how cheap ram is, I would definitely opt for more. Whether to increase by 256 or 512 depends on your motherboard, and pocketbook, but upping the ram by at least 256 will give you better performance that's easily justified by the price; don't know if that would be true for 512. Now if we can just find ways to teach XP that just cuz there's more ram, it doesn't have to hog all of it for useless stuff that it feels you need.

 

[nick1985]

you can never have enough ram

 

[Minjin]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that having more RAM creates more RAM errors. Is this true? For everyday useage and hard gaming, is it worthwhile at all to go from 512mb to 1gig? Is there ANY detriment to having more RAM other than lightening your pocketbook?

Mark

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Minjin
I seem to recall reading somewhere that having more RAM creates more RAM errors. Is this true? For everyday useage and hard gaming, is it worthwhile at all to go from 512mb to 1gig? Is there ANY detriment to having more RAM other than lightening your pocketbook?

Mark

the national inquirer???

 

[AtomicDude512]

Originally posted by: Trashman
Honestly, I would snag a stick of 512mb....crucial recently had sticks of 512mb PC2100 for 58.00, not sure if it's still going.....but more memory would definetly help, 512mb seems to be bare min. nowadays.
edit* My bad...53.99 looks like it's still alive....worth checking....Link

I agree. For most of those games more RAM will help, however. Stay away from Crucial as it has problems with nForce & nForce2 motherboards, so if you want to upgrade to one of those avoid Crucial.

 

[edm]

Thanks all, cash is a bit tight, especially since I just spent $300 for the video card, but I think I can swing another 256MB's

my current stcik is Crucial btw, so I will be getting the same model number, I saw a 256MB stick at newegg for $34 w/ free shipping. mobo is a k7s5a.

thanks again.

 

[mechBgon]

Do you have a pretty strong power supply? With a 1.4GHz Thunderbird, a Radeon 9700 Pro and another memory module, that's a fair amount of power consumption.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Using two Crucial PC2100 256MB modules in dual-channel mode on an A7N8X Deluxe, no "issues" at all. Crucial is just about the most compatible memory you can get. They did have problems with PC2700 modules but supposedly that's fixed.

 

[edm]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Do you have a pretty strong power supply? With a 1.4GHz Thunderbird, a Radeon 9700 Pro and another memory module, that's a fair amount of power consumption.

I have a 340 watt enlight ps/case, I got it last year when I upgraded to the Athlon. Hopefully I'll be alright

System will look like this:

- ecs K7s5a
- Athlon T-bird 1.4
- 512 crucial ddr
- 40 gig wd 7200
- sblive value
- Radeon 9700 pro (replacing Geforce 2 GTS 32MB's)
- lite-0n 40x12x48
- dvd drive

 

[BigFatCow]

if you play Bf1942 enough i would definatly suggest getting another 512mb, that game needs alot of ram.

 

[magomago]

and if you can get a AthlonXP (the 1700+ is what? 50ish dollars? get it and overclock it!)


As for issues with pc2700 Crucial...I think not I went through two bad batches of KINGMAX before I said screw it and bought some Crucial back in February and its been beautiful since!

 

[bsr]

Well I play bf1942 alot and can tell you it wont run right on anything less then 512mb ......

 

[bgeh]

get >768, you won't regret it in bf1942 and with prices at a low now and still going down, i recommend you to buy it

 

[Acanthus]

you will definately need 512MB+ very soon, good to get it while its cheap.

as for more memory causing errors, the only way that can happen is if you have too many banks of memory occupied, if you check with your mobo manufacturer you can find out how many banks your motherboard can support. A double sided DIMM takes up 2 banks, a single sided is 1 bank. If you go over the manus.. limit, it can cause instability.