256MB DDR or 512MB SDRAM for 3D Games

[cliffboy]

Consider this situation:

You have two PC units. They are identical in every way, same processor and same graphics card. The only difference between them is their memory modules. One uses a 256MB DDR and the other a 512MB SDRAM PC 133. In 3D Gaming, which between the two do you think would give better performance, the one with the 256MB DDR or the one with the 512MB SDRAM?

Hope to have your straight answers...

[Blakhart]

Ok this can depend on the mem and the os. If the mem with just 256 can run at its fastest settings, but the 512 amount has to default to lower settings, you may be better off with the 256.
As for the os, 256 is great for 98/me. More will be wasted as far as I am concerned. As I recall, going from 128 to 256 showed no great improvement in 98/me. 2K would tho.
XP, on the other hand, gets about 5 fps diff from 256 to 512. This in q3 bench by maxpc mag. 512 being 5 fps ave faster. I run 512 in my xp box. It runs my fav game at 100fps pretty steady, it would be higher but I run with vsynch enabled.

[Trent Steel]

It also depends on what processor you are using. If your using a slower processor then the 512MB sdram would probably be faster, but when dealing with higher end processors they become limited by how fast the ram can feed information to them, hence the advantage of ddr ram. Bottom line, my money would be on ddr on any pentium 4 or athlon xp class processor unless what your running has to dip into virtual memory to run where the 512 could take to lead. But why are you asking this question. With the price difference between ddr and regular sd ram just go for 512 ddr which is the best of both worlds.

[Alienware_Dude]

I'd go with the DDR for the reason Trent Steel said: the faster RAM feeds the hungry P4/Athlon XP. If it were a PIII/Athlon, I would go with the SDRAM.

[Nelreem]

yes, but notice = "They are identical in every way, same processor and same graphics card. The only difference between them is their memory modules"

[Tuf]

256mb of DDR would be faster than the same system with any of amount of SDRAM. If you want to see a really slow P4 system check out one using SDRAM.

[Alienware_Dude]

Originally posted by Nelreem yes, but notice = "They are identical in every way, same processor and same graphics card. The only difference between them is their memory modules"

Oops, I didn't notice that. In that case, I would go with the DDR, from first-hand experience.

[cliffboy]

Thanks a lot people for your comments. So, it's the 256 MB DDR.

By the way, the processor in question is an Athlon XP 1700+.