Another 1GB of cheap RAM ... or a soundcard?

[Anubis_386]

I've got £55 which is enough for either 2 512 sticks of cheap PC3200 RAM or a Creative X-Fi Xtream Music soundcard .... which should I get?

The RAM is the same as i've got currently and is basic, it won't clock past 213

Will I see a good performance increase from another 1GB?

Cheers :beer:

[metloaf]

I would go for the sound card in that case. That is a really nice card and if you play games at all, it will make some difference. It did for me. :beer: I would just wait until you have more cash for higher end ram and upgrade that then. :beer:

[Mycobacteria]

onboard sound takes about 5% system resources sometimes a little more...

So the sound card will also improve your preformance aswell as the quality of the sound you get.

[emceepecks]

onboard sound takes about 5% system resources sometimes a little more...

So the sound card will also improve your preformance aswell as the quality of the sound you get.

I was thinking the same thing. Plus, that card will sound great.

[meionm]

If you going vista that the ram will obvious choice. With xp 1gb is good, so sound card might be more appealing.

[grayg]

Ask yourself some questions:

1. Are you satisfied with game performance? Do things stutter?

2. Are you satisfied with the sound quality you are getting?

[jivetrky]

I really think it depends on the games you play. There are some games that will really play a lot better with 2GB of RAM. If there are any games that you play that are sluggish when you close them and take 30 seconds to close, 2GB of RAM will probably be much better for you than a sound card.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big soundcard fan...but I think for gaming, 2GB is necessary for many games. And if you plan to go Vista anytime with this machine, it will be pretty well necessary!