RAM or Processor?

I was thinking about getting a 9300, but I can't decide between a 2.0 ghz processor or 2 gigs of RAM. I'm going to use this computer for games and school stuff. I've heard that processor isn't all that important for games and that RAM makes a bigger difference. Is this true?

 

i would think ram 1st

 

Yeah, RAM is better for your needs. However, it's a whole helluva lot easier to add more RAM than it is to upgrade the processor, at a later time. Still, for games, more RAM = better performance. Have fun!!

 

PROCESSOR!!!! Dell is a ripoff on their ram, always upgrade your processor, because whatever you buy it at, is what it will stay until you get rid of it, your ram is expandable to 2GB.

Dell charges $125 for a 1GB upgrade, you can get the 2X256(512) for free, then replace one of the sticks with a 1GB stick from newegg.com for $90...now you have a faster processor, and 1.25GB of better quality ram for a lot cheaper...this is what i did

 

Personally would get 1GB of memory and the 7200RPM hard drive. The CPU is less important unless you have a specific need.

 

I would go for a best processor that you can buy. Upgrading the RAM aftermarket is much easier and much less expenisve that upgrading a processor; its what I did

 

go with 7200rpm and then go with 1GB of RAM, either upgrade from Dell or upgrade elsewhere like Newegg, kingston, Compusa, Tigerdirect for less.

I do not think you will see much difference between 1.73ghz, and 2Ghz.

 

I've said this before...and I'll say it again. When deciding which processor to buy, don't get the top-of-the line one. You're paying a lot of extra dough for something that will be obselete and outdated very quickly...I'm sure we've all had experiences buying electronics only to have it be updated by a newer model a week later *cough* ipods *cough*.

When the newer processor comes out, it'll be way faster than the higher end one you're buying now and you won't even care if you have the 1.8 or 2.0 because whatever is out then will be way better. My advice would be to scale down the processor (unless, like the others said, you have a specific need for it) and up the ram and hard drive speed. Buy ram from newegg if you can, it's cheaper. But there are people who don't feel like experimenting with their new computers (if they're inexperienced in upgrades) and just buy it from Dell - there's nothing wrong with that. I think 2 GB ram is overkill for most consumers. I would top it to 1 GB only. Good luck!

 

just to piggyback on what queshy is saying (which i 100% agree with), i run a samurize widget on my desktop that displays the CPU load at all times. i have a pM 1.6 sonoma in an i6000. it only rarely gets to 100% usage and when it does, it's usually because i'm running a virus scan, spyware scan, azureus, trillian and browsing at the same time. with such a cpu intensive load, it still only peaks at 100% rarely and when it does so, it only does so for milliseconds. i know this isn't a very scientific calculation, but my point is that you rarely stress your cpu in day to day activity. the only time you're going to see a significant increase in speed is, for example, if you're rendering a huge video or image file that takes a hour or more to render. then an increase of, for example, 20% in cpu speed, will be evident as your render time will decrease by 20%.

for day to day activity, a boost in HD rpm speed and/or RAM will give you a performance increase that you will actually notice.

 

But he is using this laptop somewhat for gaming, therefor regardless of what the future holds for processors, he is still going to need that extra speed to keep playing newer games that continue to come out and demand more on the machine. The price that dell charges for 2GB of ram is more of a waste of money than upgrading the processor, i dont think he plans on getting rid of it the second a new pentium comes out, so i would think the extra processor speed is a good buy. Ram is expandable, his processor isnt.

 

in terms of importance in running games:

vid card > ram > HD speed > cpu

 

correct, but my point is he is wasting his money buying RAM from dell, if anything he should buy the latop with 512mb, and then upgrade through newegg...i would never ever spend money on a memory upgrade from dell when buying a laptop.