today's game: vga or memory?

chn_09_dma

i'm sorry for asking such a simple question, but i really don't know the answer. i'm in a dilemma of choosing an upgrade for my pc. there are so many games that i'm looking forward to play, like gears of wars, crysis, cod4, etc. i've got some of them installed but my current spec is really holding me back. i'm on a very tight budget, so there are only 2 choice of upgrade for me:
- 2x1GB DDR2800 with tight timings + i can squeeze out more mhz from my X2 with this upgrade
- 1 GeForce 8600GTS or 1 GeForce 7900GTX (also confusing: which one is the best if i'm only using winXP?)
which one will help me more in playing these game? i know i need both but i can only afford one of them for now.

BlueMak

You have 5 dimms?

kris23

thats impossible, he probably meant 4x512mb

and about your problem, to seriously play those games at minimum levels, you will need to upgrade BOTH your RAM and GPU

4 gigs of Ram is recommended to play them and an 8800GT will get you high settings but you cant get those can you?

is it possible for you to buy an HD 3850 Radeon card? they are in similar price as the 8600GTS but packs more than double the punch

good luck to you man....

BlueMak

You don't need 4 GBs of RAM. 2 are enough.

kris23

to play crysis on high settings yea it would help due to the extreme number of physics processes and to lessen load times

his current ram plus an HD 3850 however can play low to medium settings on the latest games

chn_09_dma

sorry, i wrote the wrong number i mean, i only have 2x512MB DDR2667. that's why none of these game run smoothly even at the medium-low setting. stuttering everywhere. i'm a college students, no way i can buy both vga and memory at the same time, maybe 1-2 months later. . . i know i need both, but which should i buy for now? which one is the most influencing ini these game?

chn_09_dma

i have decided to buy ram first.

i'll buy the card later. my friend, who sells computer hardware, tells me that the only hd3850 he sells is Gecube HD3850 Pro 256Mb 256Bit GDDR3.so i'll better wait to see more hd3850 available there. he offered me XFX 8800GTS 320MB XXXedition (used) for the same price. but i'll decide it later.

thanx everyone!

kris23

the 3850 is the more powerful card as far as i know but both choices are decent. as long as the used card works with no graphical errors.

but if you can, go and buy an 8800GT once the price drops, should be in the 200 dollar flat range soon....

jp306

If you have 1gig of ram and use XP, get the 3850 for now and when you can afford it spend an extra $50 and get another gig of ram.

kris23

1 gig of ram gets consumed fast even in XP. hes trying to play CoD4 and Crysis, thats going to be hard no matter what with his specs. FEAR is a rather old game now and it consumes a huge amount of memory to run at decent settings.

how much more these?

chn_09_dma

i have my friend lend me his 2x1GB Patriot DDR2 667. installed CoD4 and NFS Pro Street. with my gfx, cpu & ram oc'ed to the limit, the CoD4 ran smoothly in 1024x768 medium-low settings.the NFS ran perfectly at 800x600 2xAA Anisotropic high settings. crysis and gears of wars will have to wait until i buy new gfx.

at least i can play these game without stutters/lags for now. my decision is buy ram first next week. then i can save my money to buy hd3850 in the next 2 months, when the prices&the drivers are right.

thanx a lot everyone!!

kris23

good choice man.

i recommend Crucial BallistiX for your upcoming RAM purchase, Crucial used the best memory ICs in the world.

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

BlueMak

I rec TeamGroup memory. Cheap and good.

jp306

Well, he needs both and if he doesn't mind playing at low resolutions, then ram would be the way to go first. I have a friend playing Quake Wars with 1 gig of ram and a 6800GT, but I'm sure COD4&Crysis are more demanding games. He does load slower than me, but he has a P4, a gig DDR and a 6800GT and I have a Core2 e6400@3ghz, 4gig of ram and a X1900XT .

Kazeko

Gonna have to sign this.


Most DDR2 RAM you find now a days uses Micron D9 IC's, and Crucial, is Micron's own branded and hand selected pick of the litter before they ship to other manufacturers.

I suppose I'm biased, but the only RAM I buy anymore, is Crucial.

jp306

Crucial is very good, but a little overpriced IMO. I would say just find the cheapest ram you can with low latencies and requires low voltage in the 1.8-2.0 range and of course comes with a lifetime warranty(most brands do). Unless you plan on overclocking your ram, if that's the case then the Crucial BallistiX would be the way to go for sure.

chn_09_dma

i've called my friend again, and asked him what to buy. the only low lat ddr2 he sells are team elite and corsair twinx. the rest are just value ram with high lat. i think i'll go with team elite, 2x1gb ddr2 800 CL4. i overclocked my pc, but not too extreme, just a simple air cooled system.

OOT:and about quake wars, i've downloaded the demo. it's a very good game, i can play it nicely with my 76GT. unfortunately i have poor internet connection, the fastest ping i've got is near 300. no local server, so i'm just sitting here playing with bots,,,

kris23

ehh.... so you cant just order crucial sticks? ive been looking at teamgroup and they really sacrifice quality to get some cheap stuff out on the market.....

corsair memory is garbage until DDR2 800 CAS 3 or DDR2 1111 CAS 5 and those are EXPENSIVE!!!!

BlueMak

Kris23, care to explain how they sacrifice quality? Do you use the memory?

kris23

well, in many reviews of the stuff, the chips arent binned as well as similar RAM out today, in the high end to mid range test benches, they tend to go around the lower end of the pack. some companies use 8 layer PCBs vs the 6 layer that TeamGroup uses. they seem to only use them on their DDR3 offerings

i don't own the stuff but they also seem to have more DOAs than other companies' RAM at the same level

i prefer G.Skill for the value end of components, heatspreaders need to be reseated though.... they will overheat with the higher end stuff

i even saw that Transcend is popping out with very cheap memory D9 sticks in their AxeRAM series. they got DDR2 1200MHz (most likely using D9GKX) CAS 5-5-5-15 at only $155

BlueMak

Leaving the benchmarks out, considering they are not high end overclocking memory dimms, they are very good.
I use them for a long time, without any problems.
Using 6 layers doesn't mean they are of less quality or that you will have problems with them more often than with others.

kris23

true but the more layers adds to better performance due to the connections. either way, you said they aren't high clocking sticks.

BlueMak

Yes, did the guy say he wants a good overclocking memory?
Just because one is better at overclocking doesn't mean it is better altogether, or that one that isn't so great at overclocking isn't a good memory.

kris23

he didnt say overclocking, but he DID WANT LOW LATENCY KITS. pretty much only Crucial and some Corsair and OCZ kits can do DDR2 800 at CAS 3 reliably. some people tried piping down their latency on TeamGroup and they either fried or just wont do it.

BlueMak

Kris, care to quote him where he demands low latency for example 3? I must have missed that part.

Also, unless you run benchmarks all the time, or run super intensive programs that need performance (but in that case you need ECC ram...) you will never notice the difference between a good CAS 3 and say 5 RAM.

kris23

there, he did say he wanted low latency. while he did not say CAS 3, this memory is the best for latencies and is my recommendation and it is a very well backed recommendation by the many reviews on the internet and the many people that used and like them

you being an obvious fanboi to TeamGroup is obviously never going to let this go.

if average performance memory is "good" then why do we constantly have comparisons to which is better and why.

reliability is measured in how well the components at a said condition and how long they run there. from MY OWN knowledge of teamgroup RAM, they failed miserably in the performance AND reliability sections.

maybe you got a working set, well good for you.....