RAM speed

[larry]

Can anyone tell me what the difference will be, and more imortantly,

how MUCH a difference I will ACTUALLY notice, between having 667mhz RAM or 800mhz?

thanks

[Jonathan]

Can anyone tell me what the difference will be, and more imortantly,

how MUCH a difference I will ACTUALLY notice, between having 667mhz RAM or 800mhz?

thanks

The difference you see will depend a lot on what you are doing with your computer.  If you're just browsing the web, sending emails, watching videos and listening to music, you probably wouldn't notice a difference.

On the other hand, if you are doing gaming or video editing / converting, you very well could see a difference.  A lot of times, however, the amount of RAM is more important than that upgraded speed.  For example, if you only have like 512 MB of ram upgrading to 2 gigs of 667mhz ram is going to be much better than just swapping out for 512 MB of 800mhz ram.

If you're looking to buy new ram right now I would recommend using the 800mhz.  It is worth it if you are trying to do anything that uses a bit of RAM.

[mark]

Ram is one of the classic volatile markets in computers.  If you buy ram today, in a month, it will be cheaper, in a year you could probably get twice as much for less money.  It just changes that fast.

I would recommend deciding ahead of time what your budget is, (even a ballpark) then start looking for options.  Go for amount first, but keep in mind the limitations of your motherboard and operating system.  (32 bit systems can only recognize up to about 3 gigs of ram) even though many mobos can support  up to 8 gigs.

Also note that paired ram can be faster.  For example two sticks of 512 paired (identical ram on a motherboard that supports it) will be faster than a single 1 gig stick of the same clock speed ram.

Those few factors should give you a pretty good idea of what options you have in your budget.  Then you can just balance speed and brand to find the best fit.