Increase RAM or Increase Processer Speed?

[Vick77]

I'm considering buying an iMac on a limited budget, and need another opinion on whether to use my cash on increasing the size of the processer or increasing the ram :s ...anybody have any opinions?

 

[kevinbal]

You can always add ram at a later point in time, you can't ever add that extra .26 Ghz per core later.

Same thing with hard drive... you can always add the ram later, changing the HD in an iMac is a huge pain in the butt.

I personally don't think the boost to 3.06 is worth even the 180 bucks with the edu discount, when I order mine in a few weeks it'll be most likely 2.8 with the 8800 and a 500 GB hd. I'll pick up ram from newegg or something, hopefully 10-15 bucks cheaper than it is currently.

 

[dukebound85]

you wont notice the speed difference. since on a tight budget, get slower processor and get 3rd party ram and add yourself

 

[ninjapenguinart]

I don't know if you have the money do the processing speed and then save up for the memory, because you never know what will happen in the future of software. It'll increase the life of your iMac, just because 5 years from now "very rough estimate" 3.06ghz duo will be the basic model. That's what I just did, but I bought the memory same time because it was 60 bucks on new egg.

 

[SteveAbootman]

I'm considering buying an iMac on a limited budget, and need another opinion on whether to use my cash on increasing the size of the processer or increasing the ram :s ...anybody have any opinions?

Well, if you want the computer to last a while, my advice would be to buy the faster processor. You can always upgrade ram in a few years when you have the funds. If this is something you see yourself using for only a few years, go for the memory now.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Pretty much an impossible question to answer. It depends hugely on what programs you are using, and how.

Increasing RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB usually improves performance the most. Then from 2 GB to 4 GB, there is an additional but smaller improvement, except in programs like Photoshop, digital audio and digital video programs that can use more RAM.

 

[decipher]

Pretty much an impossible question to answer. It depends hugely on what programs you are using, and how.

Increasing RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB usually improves performance the most. Then from 2 GB to 4 GB, there is an additional but smaller improvement, except in programs like Photoshop, digital audio and digital video programs that can use more RAM.

I have yet to push my new set up with 4gb, but with basic needs (watch a movie, surf the net, and with 1-2 other proggies running at the same time) I hardly use more than 2-3 gb so far. Everything is in RAM and I have yet to see OS X use the swap file yet.