I'm looking into buying a new motherboard and have been looking at memory and video cards. I have a couple of straightforward question for you.

First, would two sticks of 256 MB PC3200 DDR 400 MHz memory be better than one stick of 512 MB PC2700 DDR 333 MHz memory?

Second, am I correct in my belief that if I can get a 256 MB memory video card for the same price or a little more than a 128 MB memory video card it would be better (both being 8x AGP)?

I'm guessing there's more to this than meets the eye. Let me know. Thanks.

1. Yes two sticks will be better. Be sure to use the Dual Channel DDR slots on the mainboard.

2. Most say 256 isnt needed. But if you intend on playing Doom2 or HL2 it cant hurt. I am using a Radeon 9800 n/p 128 and i love it. Its gone down alot in price too. Also watch out for Nvidias new core the 6800.

If you have a P4/800FSB mobo setup, go for the 2 x 256mb PC3200.

If you have an Athlon XP setup, there's nothing to be gained by running dual channel...it doesn't hurt to do so however. Get either a single stick of 512 or 2 x 256, whichever is cheaper. Choose your RAM based on your CPU's FSB speed, or if you plan on overclocking. If your FSB is 166mhz/333 & you don't plan on overclocking, PC2700 will suffice. But if your CPU's FSB is 200mhz/400 or you plan on overclocking your 333FSB CPU, go for PC3200.

...there is no spoon...

Forgot about part 2...

At the current time, 256mb video is unnecessary. If you can get it for the same price as a 128mb card, I'd go for it...but don't expect it to be noticeably faster.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-12.html

...there is no spoon...

Thanks for the help, guys. I appreciate it.