RAM vs. Processor

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Wayniac

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I know every part is essential when trying to get the very best results. However, what if you had to decide between these two options.

1) Processor running at 2.7 GHz with RAM running at 166 MHz.

2) Processor running at 2.2 GHz with RAM running at 200 MHz.

What is the better choice? I was just curious. If you had to pick one, what would give your system overall better performance? In one case, your processor is much faster than the other option, but your RAM lacks speed. However, in the other, your RAM will handle things fine, but your processor is slower.
 
I choose #1.

I was kinda intrigued by this question, so I started looking at the CPU charts on tomshardware. It turns out (from what I could tell) that the #1 combo gives slightly better performance.
 
it depends realy on wat the fsb of the cpu is. if the 2.7 has a fsb of 266 (which i doubt) that ram willsuit it fine, but if its higher than that the cpu will constantly be waiting for the ram to catch up therefore lowering its speed. Its the opposite for #2 because unless its a amd 64 it wont be running at a fsb/hht of 200. So your ram is always waiting for ur cpu ie making it less effective.
 
aj2003 said:
it depends realy on wat the fsb of the cpu is. if the 2.7 has a fsb of 266 (which i doubt) that ram willsuit it fine, but if its higher than that the cpu will constantly be waiting for the ram to catch up therefore lowering its speed. Its the opposite for #2 because unless its a amd 64 it wont be running at a fsb/hht of 200. So your ram is always waiting for ur cpu ie making it less effective.

good point, not thinking that deep into it I would jsut say number one
 
Depends. Is it Intel? AMD? AMD 64? AMD XP? This stuff matters. If it were intel, I would choose more bandwitth. With AMD 64, I would go for more clock speeds.
 
Ah... I like all of the answers. I don't even remember what I was looking at anymore, but this question popped into my head, and it kind of caught me. I was thinking maybe number 1, but I just wasn't sure. It seems like a tough call to me. Either way, one is kinda waiting on the other, right? But then again, if you buy a processor at that speed and RAM at that speed, it shouldn't really be waiting. Like, if I bought a 3500+ and DDR400 RAM, then option two would work great. If I bought something with a stock speed of 2.7 GHz and DDR333 RAM, then would it run as great?

I think this type of question can be very tricky.
 
if it was 2.3 instead of 2.2 i would go number 2. but eh... either way, i think a clock speed (if we're talking about an AMD here, hypothetically of course (multi of 16 anyone? :p )) increase of 500mhz would be noticably faster than 34Mhz on FSB :think: but hey, like apokalipse said, i would just go 2.7Ghz and clock it to from 166 to 200 :D problem solved :p
 
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