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[RaymondCarver]

The thing on my mind is my brother in law's PC I'm building. I'm starting him out with 512MB PC3200. If he eventually has a a 9800 or other high-end card, isn't he really going to need a GB of ram to get all the benefits of having a performance card?


Will he see a severe difference in Farcry and other games with only 512MB to start?


Is it silly to have a high end video card and not a GB of ram?

Would less than a GB (i.e. 512MB) allow a high end card, say a 9800, to work at optimum performance?













edit: I'm trying to get at what else to purchase. His rig consists so far of one 512MB stick , an AthlonXP 2200 + Zalman AU-Copper cooler, and I'm wondering if it would be silly to get him a $200 MSI RX9800PRO-TD128 over the $100 9600 pro with having only 512MB.

 

[Mrbob]

Hmm, it's hard to say.

Depends how much available free ram he has.

With Farcry, I have to boot with only the bare essentials with my 512MB of RAM. Otherwise the game has to swap RAM in and out and the game stops for like a second sometimes to load data. If you have a chance get 1GIG right away it'll reduce all that swapping and chopping action that can occur.

I use a 9800PRO 128MB by the way. 1 gig is good to have.

 

[Brofist]

512MB more of 3200 should be $60-70 at most online, no reason not to have 1GB.

 

[RaymondCarver]

He can always get more later. We're going cheap cheap for right now, and I don't think PC3200 will get more expensive time passes.


Anything's better than the 64MB of system memory + the on-board Intel graphics they're using now.

 

[Mrbob]

Ram prices really fluctuate and now isn't a bad time to get extra ram if you think he needs it. Ram isn't like other components where they automatically go down and stay down in price over time.

 

[MVS]

Good question.

I'll have to take one stick of 512 out of my PC and see how that effects the Wolf ET FPS and compare loading times, might be interesting to see what it does.

 

[explodet]

No offense or anything, but how many of these dang video card threads are you going to make?

There are 4 on the front page.

 

[RaymondCarver]

It's going to come down to getting him another stick of RAM and a 9600 Pro Vs possibly a 9800 MSI and the 512MB.







They just had their first child, and my folks are footing the bill for this computer and also random things for them that the baby has needed, i.e. doctors bills, forumula, etc. I may just go with a $105 9600 pro, but it almost seems silly just to spend $105 if for $195 he can get the 8-pipeline 9800 pro. It'll all come down to what my parents can afford right now, but I'm suggesting to them that a 9800 Pro would be a good present for my brother in law's birthday in November. I'm really looking into this over and over again because I don't want to get a $40 Radeon 7000 level card only for him to eventually need another card later, only to have the $40 paperweight sitting around. A baby puts the family, as a whole, on a budget, and I really want to pick the greatest value for him and my folks.



edit: explodet, this a question mainly about the ram. Mr.Bob seems to run with only minimal hiccups at 512MB. I'm really trying to weigh all the options and make every penny count.

 

[Idle Will Kill]

He does play PC games, right?

 

[Yusaku]

9800 Pro is hardly high-end.

I'd go for 9800 and 512MB over 9600 and 1GB.

 

[ravingloon]

For the newer directx9 games, yes, 1GB is necessary. I'm not going to argue it, because I was hoping to not upgrade over 512, but eventually relented because it you don't want stuttering at the cranked settings, you need it.

And with that processor, I would have no trouble purchasing DDR333 if you could save enough money going this route (Not sure what prices are, so maybe it's moot at this stage.)

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

You could get both if you could get some dude's 9800Pro for cheaps.

*cough*

Excuse me.