worth upgrading to ddr memory?

Hi, I got 512 megs of crucial sdram 133mhz cl2 memory on a biostar m7vig
motherboard with a xp 1700 running @ xp1900, stable.

If I was to get 2x256 megs ddr memory and replace my sdram would I see any
real improvement?
I'm also considering stepping up to a 1 gig too and while at it upgrade my
cpu to the xp 2600 (largest chip my board will take) wondering if its worth
it. I'm gonna have to get another 2 years out of this rig, so not ready for
a mobo upgrade yet.
tia,
JT

"JT" wrote in message
m...

" If I was to get 2x256 megs ddr memory and replace my sdram would I see
any real improvement? I'm also considering stepping up to a 1 gig too....
"

Upgrading to the same amount of DDR would only give a performance increase
of a few percent. However, buying 2x512MB PC3200 should be worth it in the
long run, given it's still the standard for high-end Athlon64 systems. You
can use it in a future upgrade.


" ...and while at it upgrade my cpu to the xp 2600 (largest chip my board
will take) wondering if its worth it. "

Just make sure it's the 266FSB XP 2600+, as the M7VIG won't support any
version of the 333FSB 2600+.
http://www.pricewatch.com/h/prc.aspx?i=3&a=4961&f=1


" I'm gonna have to get another 2 years out of this rig, so not ready for a
mobo upgrade yet. "

Two more years playing new games? Even a 2600+ is starting to hold back the
performance of high-end graphics cards needed for the current-crop of
high-end games.

I just upgraded my video from a geforce ti200 to a radeon 9600 XT. HL2 is
quite playable in 1024x768 with my current setup. (60fps) I'm not really a
hardcore gamer anymore, rarely play anything anymore, although I did just
grab up doom3 for 9.99 and COD for the same.. gotta love them black friday
sales.
btw- I snagged my 9200 xt video card from bestbuy for $80 friday.
I'm impressed witht the quality in half life 2. The game looked SOOO much
better with antriscopic and anti aliasing turned on.
These were the first games I've bought in almost 2 years.
so I doubt I'll be buying any new titles any time soon.
I suspect with 1 gig of memory and my new 200 gig hard drive and a 2600 xp
266 fsb cpu, I'll be ok for a while, Im gonna try to nudge that 2600 cpu up
a bit if I can.
I suspect I'll easily get 18-24 more months outta this rig.
I was just wondering if I'd get any improvement outta going to ddr, I got
one stick of ddr 256 in daughters rig and was thinking of buying another so
I could run in dual data mode but if the improvements are unoticable, theres
little need. thanks,
JT


"Cuzman" wrote in message
...
"JT" wrote in message
m...

" If I was to get 2x256 megs ddr memory and replace my sdram would I see
any real improvement? I'm also considering stepping up to a 1 gig too....
"

Upgrading to the same amount of DDR would only give a performance increase
of a few percent. However, buying 2x512MB PC3200 should be worth it in
the
long run, given it's still the standard for high-end Athlon64 systems.
You
can use it in a future upgrade.


" ...and while at it upgrade my cpu to the xp 2600 (largest chip my board
will take) wondering if its worth it. "

Just make sure it's the 266FSB XP 2600+, as the M7VIG won't support any
version of the 333FSB 2600+.
http://www.pricewatch.com/h/prc.aspx?i=3&a=4961&f=1


" I'm gonna have to get another 2 years out of this rig, so not ready for
a
mobo upgrade yet. "

Two more years playing new games? Even a 2600+ is starting to hold back
the
performance of high-end graphics cards needed for the current-crop of
high-end games.

"JT" wrote in message
...

" Im gonna try to nudge that 2600 cpu up a bit if I can. "


Just be careful, as you may shorten its life. In a years time, you might
struggle to find a 266FSB socket A CPU anywhere.

"JT" wrote in message
m...
Hi, I got 512 megs of crucial sdram 133mhz cl2 memory on a biostar m7vig
motherboard with a xp 1700 running @ xp1900, stable.

If I was to get 2x256 megs ddr memory and replace my sdram would I see any
real improvement?
I'm also considering stepping up to a 1 gig too and while at it upgrade my
cpu to the xp 2600 (largest chip my board will take) wondering if its
worth
it. I'm gonna have to get another 2 years out of this rig, so not ready
for
a mobo upgrade yet.

I did a similar thing, went from PC133 to PC2100. The bench for RAM
throughput doubled and I could get a higher stable overclock on my system.

On my MSI KT1 Combo board with VIA chipset the max FSB with PC133 was 141MHz
with my XP2000+ Tbred B. With the PC2100 I could get the FSB to 160MHz
stable. The let down was the CPU, the MSI board would not allow more than
an extra 0.1V Vcore.

When I first replaced the PC133 with PC2100, the computer was a lot more
responsive and a quick test with a particular game had the frames per second
almost doubled even though the FSB was left a 141MHz. Some of the extra
speed could possibly put down to more memory, I had 1x128 + 1x256MB PC133
and the replacement PC2100 were both 256MB.

In my experience, the change of RAM was definitely worth it!

Dave

Upgrading memory capacity usually outweighs memory speed in performance.
o That is largely only true if your data-set or usage would swap-file otherwise
o Or alternatively, your data-set is re-used enough to be cached v HD latency

Memory speed shows huge gains on benchmarks, less in reality
o Most people can't feel the difference between DDR-266 & DDR-400
o Exception is if the application is 1) RAM bandwidth intensive 2) long term

An example of where memory bandwidth helps is doing MPEG compression
taking several minutes to hours - memory bandwidth & HD bandwidth matter.

Sometimes you can actually realise a good resale value on older memory:
o P3 memory is typically PC133, and still a popular platform due to low heat
o P4 Prescott can be 110W, P3-Celeron of 1Ghz is cheap, fast & 22-30W

Yes - benchmarks may show a big gain, but application wise it may be small.
You may get a better gain by upgrading a HD (if you usage is I/O bound) to
a WD Raptor 10k-rpm, or from upgrading a graphics card - find the bottleneck.
--
Dorothy Bradbury
www.dorothybradbury.co.uk for quiet Panaflo fans

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:35:39 GMT, "JT"
wrote:

Hi, I got 512 megs of crucial sdram 133mhz cl2 memory on a biostar m7vig
motherboard with a xp 1700 running @ xp1900, stable.

If I was to get 2x256 megs ddr memory and replace my sdram would I see any
real improvement?

No !

--
Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
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