# is CPU speed or RAM more important?



## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

I'm building a new computer but trying to figure out which is more important, faster CPU or more RAM, not a hardcore gamer-will play games though, lots of data storage-movies, music, photos, online usage, I was thinking about a Pentium 4 CPU(640) 3.2 GHZ with 4GB RAM, is that too much? should it be 2GB RAM? or is 3.0 GMHZ better with 2GB RAM or 4GB RAM? I was thinking P4 3.2 GHZ with 4GB RAM for my PC build, thanks


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

I love these opinion threads. So, therefore here is the answer to your question from the way I see it:

*YES*, is the exact and true answer. Meaning, it kind of depends upon what you want to do with a computer. 

Therefore, you have given that, so the answer has to be, go with the faster CPU every time and a max of 2 gigs of ram. Even more important than 2 gigs or ram is Quality Ram and not the cheap run of the mill type.

In my opinion, (see I do love to say that), rarely with the usage you have stated will you use even more than 1 gig of ram, but what the heck, if you can afford it go for the 2 for that extra edge. Spend the rest of your bucks to get a faster and more modern CPU. If you have the bucks, anyone for a dual core??????


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I love these opinion threads. So, therefore here is the answer to your question from the way I see it:
> 
> ...


What Tubleweed36 said :sayyes: :sayyes:


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## tiger025 (Sep 8, 2004)

also depending on the games you may play, 1GB is sometimes better than 2GB, assuming its quality ram.


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

tiger025 said:


> also depending on the games you may play, 1GB is sometimes better than 2GB, assuming its quality ram.


From the original post : *not a hardcore gamer-will play games though, lots of data storage-movies, music, photos,* manipulating graphics can use a lot of memory. So at least 1 gig.


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

You may have issues with running anything over 2GB of memory in WinXP. WinXP 32bit will only address 2GB of memory. You would need WinXP 64bit to use 4GB of memory.

You could install 4GB of memory but the OS would only use 2GB of it and still may have stability problems.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

hey thanks for the feedback here :sayyes: 
so I decided to go for the P4 3.0 or 3.2 GHZ(depending on the price) with 2GB RAM(Kingston or Mushkin or Corsair-again depending on prices) probably get 2 of 1GB RAM, that way at least I have the other 2 memory slots open if I wanna add more RAM later in future -razz:


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## oldmn (Oct 16, 2005)

Note: Just make sure that the motherboard you get supports the ram choice. :sayyes: Good luck :grin:


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

oldmn said:


> Note: Just make sure that the motherboard you get supports the ram choice. :sayyes: Good luck :grin:





yeah it will, the Intel BOXD915PBLL, it supports up to PC4200 RAM, which are the ones I be getting, thanks


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

bnm81002 said:


> yeah it will, the Intel BOXD915PBLL, it supports up to PC4200 RAM, which are the ones I be getting, thanks


I'm not sure what your budget is, but have you considered the Athlon 64 x2 3800+, its $320. Great for multitasking as well as games which would be perfect for you.


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

just remember what joe mentioned about the 32 bit xp and the ram limitations.
good luck


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

jisc123 said:


> I'm not sure what your budget is, but have you considered the Athlon 64 x2 3800+, its $320. Great for multitasking as well as games which would be perfect for you.


Hi,

I want to add something here. I have a P4 and an Athlon 3700 San Diego. The suggestion above or any Athlon choice in the neighborhood of 3500+ or greater will give you more bang for the buck than either Pentium you have mentioned in your post. You might want to consider that area before you buy. This is just a suggestion because both chips are great products.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

I like Pentiums, maybe in the future I may get something else but for now I'll stay with the Pentium, thanks


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

bnm81002 said:


> I like Pentiums, maybe in the future I may get something else but for now I'll stay with the Pentium, thanks


Yea!!! 
An Intel Fan!!!
I don't feel like an outcast now.


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

crazijoe said:


> Yea!!!
> An Intel Fan!!!
> I don't feel like an outcast now.


I guess that makes sense when AMD clearly has a superior product in most operations right now. Dont get me wrong, if intel had a better product then I'd support them.


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

jisc123 said:


> I guess that makes sense when AMD clearly has a superior product in most operations right now. Dont get me wrong, if intel had a better product then I'd support them.


I don't want to debate the Intel/AMD on this thread but my choice for Intel is mainly for reliability. Having opt for AMD in the past sent sour grapes down my throat. I can't afford to be down.


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

crazijoe said:


> I don't want to debate the Intel/AMD on this thread but my choice for Intel is mainly for reliability. Having opt for AMD in the past sent sour grapes down my throat. I can't afford to be down.


I agree, I dont want to turn this into an intel/amd flame war either, but what chipset did your motherboard have? Unfortunately, back in the day, there were a few amd chipsets that had problems. Since then however they have improved dramatically. 
However, in your case if you've had problems with AMD and don't wish to use them thats perfectly fine. I understand completely.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

To be quite honest, they both are great products. I have always used Intel and have always found them Rock Solid. A few years ago, I built a couple of machines with AMD and found that although a decent product they weren't as stable as the Intel. The last one I built in that era also ran very hot. I Have been using Intel for years now and am very pleased. One of my present personal machines is a P4 2.8 and is a great machine. 

For my last built, I thought I would give the AMD another try just to compare so purchased an Athlon 64 San Diego 3700+. It is a great CPU, fast, rock solid, and runs cool. Therefore, in my humble opinion, you can't go wrong with either and both have outstanding features and are a bargain. I just don't think you can honestly say that one is better than the other one at this time  if you compare the newer models.


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Hi,
> 
> To be quite honest, they both are great products. I have always used Intel and have always found them Rock Solid.


To relate this discussion to the thread, Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is perfect for multitasking and slower right now than regular A64s for gaming. The Pentium 4 still slightly outperforms the athlon 64 in many encoding operations. The simple answer: Choose the processor based on what you do, not what brand you prefer.


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## Barry_R (Aug 6, 2005)

The Intel board is a great choice, nice and stable boards. A P4 3.2 CPU will easily handle multimedia and gaming. I would go with the 2 Gig of Ram, Make sure it is matched ram like Corsair TwinX2048 Dual Channel or better.

Get yourself a good gaming video card and dont skimp on the power supply. Enermax or Antec 500 watt or higher PSU will feed the system with nice and stable power which is required for high powered PC's.

Also consider not using the boxed CPU fan and thermal pad that comes with the Intel CPU's. A Thermalright XP-90 aluminum fin heatsink, 92mm fan and some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste result in a much cooler and stable running CPU.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

I have another question here, how do I go about removing the old memory off the motherboard? is it the same concept as when installing the memory to the board? any links possible? thanks


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## jisc123 (May 17, 2003)

bnm81002 said:


> I have another question here, how do I go about removing the old memory off the motherboard? is it the same concept as when installing the memory to the board? any links possible? thanks


Yes, make sure you unplug the power cord and ground yourself. Otherwise, its a breeze. Just pop the old ram out


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

I've been researching on the prices of the RAM chips and I've noticed that the "dual sticks" of RAM are more expensive than a single stick of RAM, ex:2x512MB of RAM vs. 1GB RAM, why is that? seems to me that the single stick RAM should be more expensive since all of the memory capacity is all on one stick than having it split onto 2 sticks of RAM? thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

well, the dual stick cost more because they are a matched pair set for dual channel, which is the way to go. dual channel means that the mobo uses the ram sticks like a raid 0, writes to both sticks at once and as we all know, the faster bits get in and out of ram, the faster the computer will run over all. so they have been tested to run together, making sure one will not slow down the other in any way. so they cost more. and its worth it.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

sinclair_tm said:


> well, the dual stick cost more because they are a matched pair set for dual channel, which is the way to go. dual channel means that the mobo uses the ram sticks like a raid 0, writes to both sticks at once and as we all know, the faster bits get in and out of ram, the faster the computer will run over all. so they have been tested to run together, making sure one will not slow down the other in any way. so they cost more. and its worth it.




so for 2GB of RAM chips, should I get 2 of the same 1GB RAM(single set of 1GB+1GB=2GB) or 1 set of 1GB RAM(dual set of 2x1GB=2GB) or 2 sets of 512MB RAM(2 dual set of 2x512MB=2GB)? thanks


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

My vote gets thrown into the *INTEL*bucket / 2 gigs of ram (no more than that though !!!) A high quality PSU of 550 watts or better (enermax or antec) would actually be a more worthwhile consideration than trying to deciede which is the better CPU >> intel vs Amd


However when I start seeing AMD based servers / then I will pay more attention.

*Barry * got the most score in that post >>>> darn good suggestions by all !!




regards

joe


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

bnm81002 said:


> so for 2GB of RAM chips, should I get 2 of the same 1GB RAM(single set of 1GB+1GB=2GB) or 1 set of 1GB RAM(dual set of 2x1GB=2GB) or 2 sets of 512MB RAM(2 dual set of 2x512MB=2GB)? thanks


Get a dual channel kit of 2GB (2x1GB=2GB). Make sure your MB will support 1GB in each slot.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> Get a dual channel kit of 2GB (2x1GB=2GB). Make sure your MB will support 1GB in each slot.




ok now the question is which RAM chips to get, motherboard supports PC4200 RAM, so from the following which is best?
Kingston model # KVR533D2N4K2/2G
Corsair model # VS2GBKIT533D2
Mushkin model # 991362


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

I usually prefer the Mushkin then the Corsair. Kingston is border line for me.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> I usually prefer the Mushkin then the Corsair. Kingston is border line for me.




ha ha that's funny since I see that your system has the Corsair RAM chips and not Mushkin :laugh:


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

bnm81002 said:


> ha ha that's funny since I see that your system has the Corsair RAM chips and not Mushkin :laugh:


Very true, 
That's because the price was just right.
It's hard to pass up a 2GB dual channel kit of DDR2 for $135.00


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> Very true,
> That's because the price was just right.
> It's hard to pass up a 2GB dual channel kit of DDR2 for $135.00





oh man you're right about that, so do tell where did you get it for that price then :sayyes:


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

I am signed up to receive price updates and specials from several different websites like Monarch, GearXS, etc. I got this about 6 months ago from Monarch computers. This price went up since then. 
I do try and keep my eye out for more because it's time to upgrade my wifes computer.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> Very true,
> That's because the price was just right.
> It's hard to pass up a 2GB dual channel kit of DDR2 for $135.00




hey Joe,
I can get the Corsair model #VS2GBKIT533D2 for $144, is that a good price for 2 GB dual channel memory? thanks
PS-it's from MonarchComputer :sayyes:


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

That's the same place I bought mine and yes, it is a very good deal.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> I usually prefer the Mushkin then the Corsair. Kingston is border line for me.




where would you rate Crucial Technology RAM chips with those 3? thanks


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

I would rate crucial right along side Corsair. 

The reason I rate Mushkin so high is because the RMA experience. I called them up, because I had some bad memory, they sent me out the replacement memory the same day, and I didn't have to return the old memory until I recieved the replacement. Total turn around time, 1 day. 

The reason I rate Kingston so low. I had issues with their HyperX module's compatibility. Not with one set but with about 3 sets. It got a little irritating when you spend that kind of money on premium memory and it isn't compatible.


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## bnm81002 (Apr 11, 2005)

crazijoe said:


> I would rate crucial right along side Corsair.
> 
> The reason I rate Mushkin so high is because the RMA experience. I called them up, because I had some bad memory, they sent me out the replacement memory the same day, and I didn't have to return the old memory until I recieved the replacement. Total turn around time, 1 day.
> 
> The reason I rate Kingston so low. I had issues with their HyperX module's compatibility. Not with one set but with about 3 sets. It got a little irritating when you spend that kind of money on premium memory and it isn't compatible.




that's interesting, cause according to pricegrabber.com the highest price RAM are Crucial, Mushkin, Corsair and Kingston, guess you do pay for what you get :laugh:


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

OCZ is also quality memory that I would rate right along side of corsair or crucial.


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