Thread: New Video Card or more RAM

Now I haven't even opened up my computer in probably five years, but I got a $75 gift card to Best Buy, so I was thinking of upgrading my box a bit. Right now my RAM and RAM potential is:

Memory Type: DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 (non-ECC)
Maximum Memory: 4GB
Currently Installed Memory: 1GB
Total Memory Slots: 4
Available Memory Slots: 2
I am using two sticks of 512MB DDR PC2-5200.


My video card is a GeForce 6800 with 256 memory. (I think it fits in the PCI slot, but I'll have to shut down because I can't tell by looking at it w/ the card seated... i'm a noob.)


Considering that I'm not going to get a top-of-the-line replacement, what would be the better valued upgrade-- Another gig or so of RAM, or A updated video card?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I probably should point out that my goal is just something that will allow me to play CSS & TF2 a little smoother.

Another 2gb of ram will speed up everything including gaming. A new video card will still be limited by stem ram performance.


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You wouldn't want to get a "new" graphics card, but perhaps something like a 9800GTX. Another 1 GB of memory would give you a little bump in performance, but not much.

Maybe look into getting a 2 GB memory kit and a used graphics card off of eBay.

I am using a DDR2 800 motherboard with a 3ghz Athlon X4 and 4gigs of DDR2 800 (no OC on anything). I upgraded to a 560 ti recently and I can play BC2 at maximum settings just fine. The older RAM does not seem to noticeably hinder this 560's performance in any games or testing thus far. Huge upgrade and way worth it if you have a PCI-E slot available.

But it is a lot more than 75 dollars...

just saying: My mobo has RAM not too much faster than yours and my new card is smoking on it as far as my naked eye goes.

Whew, rough, id update card

Sent from my phone, because obviously I am not at home...using TapaTalk

I would go for the card, but also look at some ram, who knows you might even see shadows in css. When I upgraded from a 5xxx card it was amazing.

Any sort of new graphics card will be bottlenecked by the slow CPU and low memory. I wouldn't invest too much into a new graphics card. Sadly, you are at the point where your entire platform will need to be upgraded.

I disagree with both of you based on using a new card in a DDR2 based system. My DDR2 800 is not substantially impacting my NEW 560.

Of course I do have 4 gigs... And I don't know what kind of processor he is using in the case of the OP, but I used my 560 with a 2.8ghz dual core and a 3.0ghz quad core and saw no difference in any benching or testing related to graphics.

I also used the same card in a much newer system I just built for someone... mine actually performed better (due to having a RAID stack vs that 'puters single disk). In the end though it had DDR3 1600 and and a newer processor, while I only had DDR2 800, it made a hill of beans worth of difference.

If I had taken the advice of people who said "don't get a GPU, your old motherboard won't run it right" or "your RAM is too slow", etc. (and there were many of them) I would be sitting on a new platform that cost me at least 450 (likely 6 or more in my case), and waiting on video cards. As it sits, my performance went through the roof with the acquisition of a new card for my old motherboard. I do not doubt that my system is a little slow for the card, but it makes no noticeable difference except that it straight stomps my old (and way more expensive) SLI setup (2 8800 GTS 640's) and it only cost me 250 to make my 2007 mobo stay in with the competition.


Hell my slowest thing is still the HDD even though I am running a 5xRAID0 stack. Outside of that, the new card rocks the benchies in an old system.



In the end though, one gig ain't squat and leads me to assume the CPU might be a little less than what I am using... so in the case of the OP, your RAM is uncomfortably small and I could not imagine playing games that take good advantage of newer cards without more RAM. So while I argue that putting a new GPU in an old motherboard works like a charm, in some cases you really need to upgrade stuff just to run the newer games even before considering a GPU.