RAM VS. Video Card

[BoxmanBoxman]

I have a computer that works just fine right now without any lag on WoW. I've decided to upgrade my graphics card however to a newer model. Can anyone tell me if I need to get more RAM so I can keep up the trend. Right now I have 512 mb of RAM that never gave me any probs.

My question is that will a new video card cause more stress on the RAM causing my computer to run more slowly during WoW?

[kcma]

no. newer faster parts never slow down existing parts. they alleviate previous problems.

[AaManiac]

IMO (of course)

I think you should get a GB of RAM or more and then worry about the video card....

I don't think that you'll have any problems running 512 RAM with a new video card...

Personal Experiece: I ran 256MB of ram for AOE II (I believe) and upgrade to a AGP 64MB video Card and didn't have any problems..

I think you'll be fine if you decide to get a new Card...

-Maniac

[bhroam]

It appears that the amount of video ram helps a great deal. My wife's computer has a slower clock speed... same 1gb of ram. Her video card (ATI 9800PRO 265mb) gets her 45-60fps at 1600x1200. My computer has a faster processor but a Nvidia GeForce 5700 with 128mb of ram. I get 20ish fps at 1280x1024.

If you upgrade your video card, I'd pick an option wth 256mb of ram. It generally adds about 10$ onto the price of the card.

[Dynatos]

Of course, without knowing what videocard you have, I can't really give much advice.

Depending on your card, though, I'd suggest grabbing another 512Mb stick before worrying about the video.

[Dynatos]

no. newer faster parts never slow down existing parts. they alleviate previous problems.

Sure, but having both a slow and a fast component can cause bottlenecking problems, wherein the computer cannot perform better than its weakest component.

The biggest incident is when you have a CPU that's much faster than the other components in the system. The slower components prevent the CPU from being fully utilized, thus bottlenecking the system.

[BoxmanBoxman]

I do know I have the bare minimum video card, just enough to run WoW in 3D and in color. Im planning to just get the reccomended video card suggested from the WoW site.

I dont see why I should I should even upgrade my RAM seeing as the times I only lagged during the game was when my server was suffering from from the occasional server crash.

[Dynatos]

Heh, if all you have is the bare minimum, then I'd upgrade the vidcard ...

[jrichard]

If you're looking to upgrade your video card, don't make the mistake of just looking for the one with the most RAM. Also look to the size of the memory interface the card has. Being able to move more data in the same time can be worth more than how much can be stored at once.

Bhroam, i'd suggest this is what's responsible for the majority of the framerate difference between your card and your wife's. Unless i'm mistaken, the ATI card she is using has a 256 bit interface and the Nvidia card you have has a 128 bit interface (it is a fx5700 i take it?).

jrichard.