need some help

hello, im helping a friend with a thing.

either he get a P9600 2.66ghz (6mb cache) & 1GB+1GB DDR3(1066mhz) Ram
or
a P8400 2.26ghz (3mb cache) & 2GB+1GB DDR3(1066mhz) Ram

(both PCs have of course same GPU, HD, etc)

they main question is. which PC will performs better in benchmark and games ????
the one with faster CPU and 1+1GB dual channel or slower CPU and 2+1GB Ram


is 2GB DDR3 dual channel faster then 3GB DDR3 ?????.....or does 3GB DDR3 works in dual channel ????

 

The one with the P9600 will perform better. Ram is important, but imho not as important as cpu. And since the p9600 is alot faster (better core speed and double the cache) than the p8400. The extra 1gb will not dual channel with the 2gb. From what I understand, in order to dual channel, you need two of the same ram.

 

so the one with 1+1GB and P9600 will perform better in 3dmark06 ?????

question B= will a PC get higher 3dmark scores with 3GB Ram then a (same PC) but with 2GB dual channel ????


question C: will a PC with a good CPU 2GB DDR3(1066mhz) run Vista good enough ????

 

3 gig of ram is 3 gig of ram. No matter how you look at it, it's faster than 2gig dual channel. Vista isn't a beast like you think it is, good cpu + 2gig ram will definitely ran Vista fine.

 

I don't think this is a fair comparison. If your application is memory limited, the 3GB system will do better, and if your application is processor limited, the P9600 system will do better. I'd say overall, the 3GB system might have an edge, but if you're just going to be encoding movies all day, it's probably best you get the P9600 system.

Symmetric dual channel is always going to be a little faster than asymmetric dual channel (in data transfer rates, not overall performance), but more memory is always better (in overall performance) than faster memory. The speed difference between the two is nonetheless next to nothing.