My next Workstation

[Billie Walsh]

On 07/09/2010 02:22 PM, Colin Law wrote:
> On 9 July 2010 18:07, Billie Walsh<bilwalsh at swbell.net>  wrote:
>    
>> On 07/09/2010 10:46 AM, Colin Law wrote:
>>      
>>> On 8 July 2010 18:11, Billie Walsh<bilwalsh at swbell.net>    wrote:
>>>
>>>        
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>> Something else. Never skimp on memory. Use as much as possible or until your
>>>> dipping into the kids college fund, whichever comes first. Best investment
>>>> in computer performance.
>>>>
>>>>          
>>> Is that true? I thought that provided you had 'enough' memory then
>>> additional memory will make little difference.  So if you need loads
>>> of apps open at once or have dozens of firefox tabs open then you need
>>> lots of memory but if you only have a few things running the extra
>>> gigs will not do much for you.  It may be better to put the fastest
>>> RAM the h/w will support and have less of it, rather than more of
>>> slower ram for the same cost.  Or less ram and a faster disk or
>>> graphics card for example.
>>>
>>> Colin
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>> Well, if you only plan on having one or two apps open at any time. Not
>> deal with large files/images. Then you might be able to get by with less
>> ram. When you use enough that you start hitting the swap file things
>> really slow down. IMHO, it's best to have enough ram that all your
>> applications you use constantly can run in memory and never use the swap.
>>      
> I definitely agree with that, once you start using swap things will
> slow down.  It was the suggestion that one should fit as much ram as
> one can afford (by implication therefore prioritising above other
> parts of the system) that I was querying.  Perhaps I read too much
> into your comment.
>
> Colin
>
>    

Let me put it this way. Lets say you have a choice of two processors in 
your price range.Ones just a little slower than the other. The slower 
one is a terrific price and would allow you to buy four gigs memory and 
stay within your budget. The faster one would only allow you to buy two 
gigs memory. *I* would choose the slower one and the extra memory [ as 
long as it wasn't just dead slow ]. With th extra memory you probably 
wouldn't notice a slightly slower processor speed but the lower memory 
with the faster processor could slow you down.

My old desktop is a dual core with two gigs memory and a 3.* processor. 
My laptop is also a dual core with four gigs and a 2.8 processor. 
Performance wise the laptop is faster even though it has a slower 
processor.

-- 
"A good moral character is the first essential in a man." George Washington