1GB vs 2GB of RAM (Please help!)

[SnowMan]

Yo all, i am lookin for a quick answer to the following question, would 2GB of DDR 400 RAM (standard clockrate) provide a substantial preformance increase over 1GB of DDR RAM overclocked to 228 MHz in games like Oblivion? Its just that i recently bought another 2 x 512MB of RAM from a friend and they aren't as high as quality as my currecnt RAM sticks (they wont overclock as high). What do ye's think? Should i just spend a little extra money and buy better RAM?

[NightshadowUK]

Yeah 2GB will offer a substantial improvement. As for your overclock, why not buy a cheap S939 CPU off the forum classifieds section (I think you may need a few more posts to view it though)?

I have a 3700+ and 4400+ lying around somewhere I think.

[charleski]

Yes, without a shadow of a doubt.

[CrazyMonkey]

Its pretty simple 2GB>1GB... You enjoy gaming - 2GB's. You encode video - 2GB's. You multitask - 2GB's.

If you just do word then sure 1GB save your money, but for Oblivion you want that extra gig.
I would keep with 2x1gig set for overclocking.

[Rosaline]

Oblivion EATS ram, seriously. Not only that, but it's a bit poor at memory management - Streamline is a mod that helps to fix that issue somewhat.

[Mithrandir]

Yup, I used to play Oblivion with 1gb and then I upgraded to 2gb (4 sticks) then I bought a couple of 1gig sticks (2x1gb) when Google ran their £10 off offer.
To summise, 2gb is an improvement over 1gb.

Having a graphics card with 512mb really helps as well.

[SnowMan]

Thanks everybody for our speedy replys! So it unanimous then, 2GB non-overclocked will provide a large performance gain. Cool. 1 more question thou. Would 2GB of DDR 400 RAM non-overclocked and an Athlon 3000+ at standard clock rate (1.8GHz) still way out perform 1GB of DDR 400 RAM ocerclocked till 223MHz and CPU now overclocked to 2.42GHz. I realise what everybody is saying that the extra RAM makes a big difference, but would it still out weight the benifits of an overclocked CPU?

[Zak33]

now you're asking!!

Prolly not....not quite. Not for FPS. But for Oblivion....yes.
And for all media stuff....yes...2gig is greater.

But in Q4 or UT2003, 1 gig and a faster CPU owns!

[DanceswithUnix]

I used to run a S939 3000+ at 2.5GHz but with 2GiB of Geil value RAM (4 sticks of 512) running at standard clock.

You don't have to overclock the RAM to overclock the CPU. In fact, I used the Asus AUTO ram settings so the ram would have been slightly underclocked.

[TooNice]

I've been reasonably happy with 1GB, and previously planned to stick with them until my next system build. But I am now having second thoughts - I reckon I can stretch my system with a video card upgrade down the line and going 2GB RAM instead. What's the take on those £30-40 PC3200 RAM on Ebay? I tend to see compatibility disclaimers - are motherboard that picky about them (currently using 2x512 CH-5; I am thinking to swap them out for 2GB of cheap RAM - I intend to continue using dividers to OC my Opteron)?

[Mithrandir]

TooNice
I wouldn't bother with the ebay ones. Either post a wanted in these forums or grabs a set of 2gigs (2x1gb) and sell your pair.

SnowMan
You can still overclock you CPU and lower the ram speed through a divider, although Im not sure how 4 sticks will run in an overclock.

[acrobat]

Yeah it depends on what you are running.

But basically, I agree with what "Zak33" said.