i on the verge of upgrading my motherboard (not sure yet), processor (probably XP2000) and ram. However i’m not sure what ram to go for, 256mb of ddr2700 or 512mb of pc133. which will make the biggest impact on render times etc… does it make any difference to blender? :-?
why can’t you go for 512 of ddr ram?
I would lean towards “the more the merrier”, but I’m not exactly a hardware guru.
Rendering is CPU intensive. If you max on RAM either DDR or PC133 you will be rocking. Get what the Fastest CPU you buy runs on. IF the CPU require DDR then get DDR. What Video options are you looking at?
muffrules - I’m on a fairly tight budget so it’s a case of one or the other.
So my main query was whether I would see more benefits from either 256mb faster ram or 512mb slower ram.
my video will have to remain a 32mb tnt2 pro card for now until i’ve scraped together a few more pennies. 
512 slower, expecially on windows, expecially if your Blender files goes over 100000 vertexes…
Stefano
Right, S68, but RAM isn’t that horribly expensive right now. If it were me, I’d go with the (much faster) DDR, knowing that perhaps later I could bump up the quantity. I rarely run over 180-190 MB RAM use during my renders, and I do some okay looking stuff. Buy the DDR. Wait six months. Buy some more if you need it. There’s no reason to lock yourself into an older, slower standard just for a couple of months of (possibly) not needed larger RAM.
Yes… I’d definely have to agree with harkyman.
You leave far more options open with the DDR ram.
Wait 6-12 months and the proce would have dropped even more tha tyou’ll be able to afford more. Otherwise you’d probably have to buy a new motherboard to upgrade to DDR.
I don’t know much about DDR ram (I really should look into it), but it should also be a lot faster.
I’d go for the DDR myself.
cheers guys,
i’m going the DDR route, 256 now and as much as i can get my greedy hands on later!
now, should i have a thin spread of jam on my toast, or twice as much honey…damn, will these choices ever let me rest!