Graphics/RAM balance

K.O.Kiki

I'm speccing up a new rig for a friend, but have hit a small dillema.
I need opinions on which configuration is better for gaming in the long-term:

• Nvidia 7600 GS + 2Gb RAM
  or
• Nvidia 7600 GT + 1Gb RAM

The GS has the advantage of being a silent solution, but I wonder if the extra RAM would be any help for the future - would I be better off getting the better (but noisier) GPU? Or go in-between and get a GS + 1Gb RAM?
Note: he won't be playing FPS games at super-high res!:rolleyes:

uberpixie

You have a couple of options but....


As the ram is cheaper to slap in later if needed than a better gfx card, I would nearly say get ram in a 1 gig stick and get the GT.

Another gig stick can be added later: it's true his box will be running in single channel mode, but this will have less effect on his frame rate than a slower card.
(He can add the extra 1 gig stick in a few weeks/months when he scraps the money together)

Personally I would go for the ram and the GT :-)

There is not much more than €50 between the GT and the GS, is ther no way of getting your mate to strech his budget a little and get both?

8T8

Yeah go for the 7600GT and 1GB RAM (if you can't stretch the budget to 2GB)

Having 2GB of RAM doesn't make a huge difference of gaming (not counting BF2) & probably wont in the long term, but 2GB in general is the sweet spot for XP where you can reduce the number of scenarios were the system pages to disk*.

That said you can easily live with "just 1GB" of RAM so go for the faster GPU if that's all he can afford.

Also don't bother with low latency RAM it is a luxury nice if you can afford it but again the difference it makes isn't huge in games (there are other applications that benefit) if you had a choice between low latency 1GB RAM and 2GB of regaulr RAM I'd go with the 2GB.

*You can never really eliminate this no matter how RAM you chuck at the system, badly programmed software not designed to make proper use of or adhere to the Windows memory system management will aways cause disk paging.

K.O.Kiki

Ok, thanks for the advice guys -- I'll think I'll pair him up with these:

• XFX 7600GT XXX (590/1600)
• Crucial 1Gb stick (CL3)

Only annoying bit is that the RAM's CL3 - IIRC, CL2.5 offers noticable performance improvements over CL3.
The system's getting an A64 3200+ processor, btw -- any use over a 3000+? I do want to keep cost reasonable - I said I'd build it for a grand, and I'm just over...

What do you think of A64 3000+/ 7600GT / 2Gb RAM? That should be just in budget...
(sorry for rambling on)

8T8

The Athlon 64 3200+ has a 200Mhz advantage over the Athlon 64 3000+ 2Ghz vs 1.8Ghz so obviously it is a bit faster but not by a lot (you could always try your hand at overclocking it to match the 2Ghz 3200).

I haven't seen benchmarks that show in the context of an Athlon 64 CL2.5 had major advantage over CL3 when it comes to games, one of the Athlon 64's biggest advantages is it's integrated memory controller which plays a big part in its performance improvement & reducing latencies overall.

Although if you have seen benchmarks I'd like to see them myself, the last benchmarks of low latency RAM I saw showed that in games it had a negligible effect and that biggest gains were in scientific and professional applications.

A64 3000+/ 7600GT / 2Gb RAM - Is a decent system I'd go for that.

K.O.Kiki

Can't remember where I saw those benchmarks - but I'm sure he'll never notice
Thanks for the replies guys -- full shopping cart is up now.
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