Bottleneck?

[EL_BaRTO]

Hello. I am still learning in the computer area (specifically gaming pc building), and I have a question about memory and the CPU. I just read a forum posting on another site stating that memory can bottleneck a CPU (specifically the AMD X2 CPU's). He stated that you should have 2GB of memory instead of 1GB due to "bottlenecking." My question is what is "bottleneck," and why is it good to have 2GB instead of 1GB of RAM (if it's true above). Thanks again.

[EL_BaRTO]

Admins, please disregard this question. I feel stupid. I just googled it. Should have done that earlier. Lol. Thanks.

[hockey man]

One gig of ram should suffice. Two is nice. Basically, the more ram you have the more programs you can run at once. I believe that the the data goes from your hd to ram when you open/run something. The more ram you have the faster you can access multiple apps.

[EL_BaRTO]

thanks hockey. :)

[sia]

New mobos use dual channel so it's better to use a pair of memory modules.
See the mobo manual for details.(It is very important!)

[saphalline]

I don't know that the A64 X2's specifically need 2GB of RAM. It can certainly help depending on what you're running, but a blanket statement like that one is never entirely true. Likewise, you could also make the assumption that Intel's Pentium D 800 series needs 2GB of RAM! :p

In some aspects, it makes sense from a system balance perspective to have 1GB or more of RAM paired with an A64 X2, but only in terms of balance. After all, if you spend $400+ on a CPU, why skimp and pay a mere $42 on a single stick of 512MB of RAM? That seems rather silly to me. 1GB of RAM is cheap enough that it should be the minimum for anyone spending more than $150 on a CPU. I suppose you could also argue that spending almost $1000 on a CPU means that, likewise, you should spend extra for 2GB of RAM, but it might not be needed depending on what programs you want to run.

All in all, for WinXP Home/Pro, I say this for RAM:

256MB is the minimum
512MB is the sweet spot
1GB dual-channel DDR/DDR2 is the minimum for gamers
1.5-2GB dual-channel DDR/DDR2 is the sweet spot for high-end power users