Help with PC upgrades

hey i am wondering if 512 mb ram is enough for gaming? i plan on getting a ati 9800 pro and want to play doom 3. if more mb of ram will make gaming faster should i get pc 2700 or 3200? will 2700 and 3200 run with each other cuz im not sure what ram i am using.

specs
emachines w4685 ;P
p4 2.6 ghz
512 mb ddr ram
geforce fx 5200 256 mb

plz help im not all that smart with hardware!! reply or email if possible
rayhnatkovich@hotmail.com

 

to be honest im not really all too sure about if your systems ram is going to help in gcard performance..(someone jump in if im wrong plz..) i think thats mostly for how much ram is on your gcard, and typically 512 is enough for the average user/gamer

you shoudl get the 3200 if you plan to overclock and the 2700 if not...(the difference between the 2 is how far you can push your fsb.. if not overclocking there is no point for the 3200 although they are usually only a small dollar difference)

check to see if your mobo supports dual channel ram.. if so get 2X 256mb as it will increase performance instead of 1 stick of 512

if you have say 2700 now and get a 3200 ram stick... it will only run at 2700 i believe.... but still compatible(again someone jump in if this is wrong info)


hope this helps!

my $.02

 

512MB is plenty as long as you dont leave memory intensive programs running in the background (like video and photo editing junk )

a 9800pro plays doom3 ok, but if you have time to wait for the 6600GT to come out in an AGP8X version, i would sait and see the debuting price. It is supposed to be around $200 and will be noticeably better than a 9800pro.

 

hey guys thanks alot for ur help, ive been askin around at skool and havnt gained the right answer yet.