OT: What to upgrade first, video card or RAM?

[LionsFan10]

Hello,

No, this is not a political thread (thank God) but rather a question about my PC. I'm looking toward the end of this year and trying to get ready for games like Doom III and Half-Life 2. My set up so far is a PIV 2.8 GHZ with 512 MB PC3200 Kingston RAM and a ATi Radeon 9600 Pro 128 MB video card.

I know one of them has to be upgraded, and I have enough to buy one right now and then put the other off long enough to hold off for a little while. But my question is which should I upgrade first, the card or the RAM?

I've been hearing a lot of debates that 512 RAM just doesn't cut it anymore and that if I upgrade, I should go for that. But at the same time, there are people who feel like 512 will work for the high end games coming out at least this year with an upgrade needed maybe another five or six months down the line. Any advice here, card or RAM which one? :confused:

[Ryan S]

I would save your money. Most things will run extremely well on a system with that spec. Even new games.

If you must upgrade, wait until the end of the year.

[Ryche]

Agreed, you're fine for now. Wait a few more months and save a little. There are not many games out there that should be giving you much trouble yet.

[Troll]

how much does around 1000ish ram cost nowadays? I need to update my ram badly b/c the long ass load times for TEW aint cutting it. Oh yea, and my comp seems to be gettin bogged down alot lately.

[MizzouRah]

..but the Radeon 9800 Pro 256 prices are so attractive! :)



Todd

[sabotai]

The video card is fine. RAM prices a dirt cheap, and if you have the extra slot, going up to 1 gig of RAM won't cost you much money at all.