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NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:20 pm
by MJandDave
Hi, FAH newbie here and computer amateur. I am thinking of purchase an older (2-5 year old) machine for my young kids run their lower end educational games on. I'm hoping to spend around $100 for the setup, but might be willing to spend more.

I'm currently running FAH on a newish dual core laptop (two classic uniprocessor clients) , and a single instance of classic uni on my older desktop (2.5 GHz WITH 512 MB RAM).

My question is, if I can and do want to spend more a little more money on the 3rd computer to help the FAH cause, what would you recommend investing in? I'm not interested in overclocking or anything complicated, thought I might be able to purchase & install more memory (I've done it once but it's been a while).

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:33 pm
by PantherX
For the Classic Client, CPU Speed is important and I think that 512 MB RAM is sufficient.

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 1:53 pm
by Baowoulf
My computer is about 7 years old and with the upgraded graphic card I got in it I believe I could do the GPU client. So for you I'd look into what cpu's cost. Maybe a dual or quad you could put 2 or 4 more clients on and not have to worry about them. Quads might not be cheap even low end ones, but I bet dual's probably are cheap now days. I never really checked out CPU prices so sorry if I'm off here.

I know Panther said 512 and I'd defer to him, but I'd go for 1GB if you could just so things run smoothly.

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 5:20 pm
by 7im
Windows XP needs 1 GB to operate at full potential. Vista and above is 2GB min, 4 is better.

In regards to fah, adding extra RAM above what the system needs does not speed up fah, however, not having enough definitely slows everything down.

Once you have "enough" memory, spend the rest on a faster processor.

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:34 pm
by Qinsp
On a budget, a good "kid" machine that will run modern apps for $139:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=5139

It takes 512mb DDR2 PC4200 memory sticks: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820244036
Now, the problem is that mixing memory sticks is iffy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Buy 2 if you don't want to experiment. But you might consider running it on just the factory memory at first. "Windows Disease" takes a while to incubate, so you might wait until it starts to get sluggish before upping the ram.

Next, the "real" power is the video card (plus it makes games run MUCH better). This is "low profile" case, and has a modest powersupply. So I'd go with:

GT 430 low profile "CUDA" card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134121

While this won't play the latest "Kill Them ALL!" video games, to be honest, a PS3 does a much better job than a $1000 PC does anyways. But it will run most modern software and mid-level games at a reasonable speed.

The Folding Power will be in the Video Card. If you don't add ram, and you have a spare monitor, the whole enchilada is about $200.

I've bought "off-lease" machines from TigerDirect (used to be Global) for 10+ years, and have never got a lemon yet. Usually I buy IBM brand though.

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 6:47 pm
by Qinsp
Note about Windows Disease (aka Gate's Disorder) - I have both DOS and Win machines that run with no internet connection, nor do we add applications to them once installed. The Internet Experts say that it's bad browsing habits and loading too many applications. Not necessarily true. The DOS machines are just as fast as they were when new, and the Win95+ machines slow down with age. Why? I don't know. It's cheaper to just get an Off-Lease box and donate the old machine to the Salvation Army than it is to diagnose it (unless your time is free). No, defrag doesn't fix it.

Re: NewB Q: which is more important CPU speed or RAM?

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:13 pm
by jrweiss
MJandDave wrote:My question is, if I can and do want to spend more a little more money on the 3rd computer to help the FAH cause, what would you recommend investing in? I'm not interested in overclocking or anything complicated, thought I might be able to purchase & install more memory (I've done it once but it's been a while).
A relatively fast dual-core (2 GHz+) will crunch the SMP work units reasonably well. Larger CPU cache helps significantly as well. The new v6.30 SMP client is relatively maintenance-free and will run as a Service to keep it "out of sight and out of mind." Don't forget to obtain a passcode to get max benefit.

After that, use the RAM guidelines others posted.