Quick RAM question

[TogTam]

I'm looking to get a little more life out of my PC and had a quick question. I will be building a new system maybe within a year when I have the money, but for now wanted to do an upgrade. Current specs:
MB - Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ @2200MHz
Video Card - GeForce 7600GT
RAM - 1 Gig DDR2 (I think its 5300 or 333Mhz or whatever)
Power Supply - Decent Enermax 500W I got last year
Win XP prof 32 bit
And I play on a 20 in. screen at 1400x1050

I'm thinking for a decent upgrade under $100 it will be worth it. Something along the lines of this for a video card
Newegg.com - XFX HD-467X-ZDF2 Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
but then I also thought I needed RAM. I'm looking at 2GB sticks and was wondering if it would be better to get 2GB at the same frequency as whats in there now for a total of 3GB of slow RAM, or to take out my 1GB and get a 2 GB stick of higher speed RAM (my MOBO supports up to 800Mhz I believe).

I don't totally understand all of this though so if I'm wrong about something let me know. Otherwise what are some suggestions?

 

[brady]

In your situation : RAM > Video

upgrade ram first. 4GB pref (yes, update your ram to a (supported) faster speed.

Then work on video.

 

[TogTam]

Will 2GB DDR2 800 make a noticeable difference? I think XP only supports a little over 3 gigs so I'd hate to waste money on 4 gigs when it wont be used.

Or can I just buy 3 1gig sticks? Can you run 3GB or does it have to be 2 or 4?

 

[brady]

2 GB of faster RAM... yes, you'll see a difference.

XP 32bit os can use up to 4GB of memory, which is standard now for most gaming machines.

You can run 3Gb. Depending on your motherboard, I have seen problems with single sticks when not taking up every PCI slot on the board. Some boards run strategic slot maps which is a p.i.t.a.

If you are still planning on using the ram stick you have now, the newer memory will retard itself to the slowest speed of the RAM stick.


To sum up:
buy a 2GB stick of faster memory. throw the current 1 stick away
(ONCE YOU GET THE OTHER 2GB OF RAM WORKING)

 

[kmote]

Since you have 32 bit XP you should get 3.75/4.
I would get 2GB and a new GPU.

 

[Whirlwind]

I agree....I would upgrade to 2 GB ram and a new video card

 

[TogTam]

Cool, thanks for the help. Looks like I might try:
2GB DDR2 800
Newegg.com - PNY XLR8 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model MD2048KD2-800-X4 - Desktop Memory
and
HD 4670
Newegg.com - XFX HD-467X-ZDF2 Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Comes out to a little more than $100 but close enough.