Should I Upgrade my ATI x300 or my RAM?

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop with an ATI Mobility Radeon x300, the 64 mb version. I currently have 1 gig ram, upgradeable to 2 gigs. Would it be better to spend the money to upgrade the ATI to the 128 mb version or to spend slightly more to get up to 2 gigs of ram? Is the ATI Radeon x300 128 mb much better than the 64 mb version?

Thanks!

 

The x300 has a 64-bit memory bus and therefore can't make much use of the extra VRAM. The system RAM upgrade, on the other hand, will improve system performance across the board - I would go with the RAM first, since it's also a much easier and possibly even cheaper upgrade.

 

My experience is that the 128MB "x300" in the Inspiron 6000 is actually a downclocked x600. My friend has one, and Everest reports that the card has a 128-bit memory bus, which, along with the extra RAM (I don't believe that ATi even lists a 128MB version of its x300 Mobility), is indicative of an x600.

We've benchmarked his laptop against mine, which has the 64MB X300, and the Dell beat my IBM by at least 30% in almost every test.

 

Although ATI's site reports that the X300 has a 64-bit bus: http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonx300/specs.html
....I do think it is an underclocked X600 in the Dell; ATI says that the card only has 32 or 64MB of on-board memory. The Dell 6000 had 128MB as an option.

As posted, upgrading the memory is your best bet. You can't get a better video card in there anyway.

 

Well, I could replace the x300 64 mb with the x300 128 mb. But even so, the change from 1 gig to 2 gig's of RAM would be a better choice?

 

Definitely. It is not worth it to upgrade to another X300 unless you can get it for a ridiculously cheap amount of money (check eBay).

 

Memory bus size and ability to use RAM are completely different things...