2 GB 667 Mhz OR 100 GB HD 7200 RPM

I'm in the middle of a small debate. To upgrade from 2 GB 533 mhz to 2 GB 667mhz, it's a 90 dollars difference.

To go from a 120 GB 5400 RPM Hard drive to a 100 GB 7200 RPM hardrive is right at 90 dollars as well.

If I can only have one option, which would be the BEST to choose for me using the laptop for college and lots of gaming (battlefield counter strikeetc...)

I'd really like which would be the ultimate choice. I can only choose one, Please help PLEASE, thanks!

The hard drive space would go up, but the RPM would go down, but as for the memory, I am not sure if I would see more of an improvement in the going from 533 mhz to the 667 mhz, or if I would see more improvement going from the 120 gb 5400 rpm harddrive TO the 100 GB 7200 RPM Hard drive

 

Upgrading the HD is the better option, no doubt.

The HP speed directly affects (gaming) performance, much more so than the RAM speed.

 

I agree with jetstar... 667 will run 1:1 with FSB, but it is possible that the timings are higher so it will eventually give lower performance.
Upgrading to 7200 rpm will let you feel the boost more then the 667 RAM. Games will load much faster, XP will start faster, you can write/copy files faster...

Definately go for the 7200 rpm. Especially if you are a online gamer. Maps will load faster

Charlie

 

Ok thx for your input, any other thoughts on it? Agree or disagree?? Thx for the quick response though Jetstar. I placed my order at dell for an E 1705 and I have 24 hours to make any adjustments to it, so I needed a quick response, thanks.

 

The faster drive will show you a little more performance loading levels and such. But once you're playing, there's not a lot of difference. Is it worth losing the 20GB? Depends on how much data you have, and how much you really care about waiting on level loading. I personally like the faster memory and the larger, slower hard drive. 5400 still isn't 'slow'.

 

Ok, and so I'm assuming even though I would get an additional 20 GB if I used the 5400 RPM harddrive, the 2 GB 533 mhz is still the better option then, right?

 

I would get the faster drive, but I would just go with the 533 MHz RAM. The FSB:RAM ratio isn't that important, definatley not worth $90 IMO, and the latencies won't make it faster.

 

Whether you get 533MHz or 667MHz RAM hardly makes a difference. As posted, although the 667MHz RAM has a higher frequency, it also has higher latencies as a result (CAS @ 5), and thus performs nearly identically to the 533MHz stuff.

 

Yup, hard drive.

 

ok, I really appreciate everyone's help, thanks!

 

I had an E1505 with:
core duo 2.0GHz
1GB 533MHz
100GB Segate 7200RPM
sold it and got the one in my sig.

I don't notice any difference between the 533MHz, 667MHz memory But I can tell you I miss that 7200RPM more than anything, the 5400RPM is just terrible when you compare it to a 7200RPM. I was gonna upgrade the memory to 2GB first, but now I'll upgrade the hard drive asap and just get a stick of 1GB.

 

Here is another vote for the faster hard drive.