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Currently I am considering an upgrade from Patriot Dual Channel Viper DDR3 1333MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB, 7-7-7-20) to a 6GB DDR3-1600 Obsidian Triple Channel Memory Kit (Three 2GB Memory Modules, 9-9-9-24). The upgrade would cost $100 (minus however much the original memory will fetch).

I am running an i7 920 on an Intel DX58SO board, so the voltage of the 1600 DDR3 is 1.65v, which is compatible. Considering the buzzword of triple-channel around that CPU/mobo combo, and the upgrade of 2 gigs at a faster clock speed (though iffy timing), am I likely to really get $100 out of the upgrade?

The computer is for lower end video games (WoW), and runs great; how do I evaluate the smarter upgrade between this vs. a new GPU? (I am currently running a single Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Video Card - 1GB GDDR3. No overclocking, new GPU wouldn't require a PSU upgrade)

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questions: do you plan to start using it for more modern high end games any time soon? do you currently experience any stutter (short sharp drops or spikes in FPS) while gaming? – Xantec Nov 5 '10 at 13:51
Ram is cheaper than GPU. GPU gives you video performance, ram gives you application performance. $100 for some ram versus $300+ (usually $400+) for a new GPU. – Chris Nov 5 '10 at 13:58
Considering the new version still won't peak tech requirements, it's less about running WoW in particular (whose biggest problem is ISP lag anyway), than it is about creating a benchmark metric for me on how to balance the gains of one upgrade over another. Then it's about how to measure the cost overall to the increase in performance. I am hoping more than anything to increase performance of the CPU and fine-tune the PC. As for more modern games it's less about better games then running a full screen movie on my other monitor while file-serving. – mfg Nov 5 '10 at 14:41
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Keep in mind that unless you pump a lot more into this machine, 1080p might be laggy on a non-primary monitor due to reduced hardware acceleration. The GPU upgrade seems like the best bet unless you really max out your RAM a lot because this is a pretty peppy machine already, but I honestly don't think you'll notice a difference in WoW either way. My cell phone could run WoW at a playable frame rate... – Shinrai Nov 5 '10 at 15:18
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Check out your RAM utilization by running the task manager while doing some rather intense stuff on WoW. Check back to see if the memory is even close to peaking (probably not). I wouldn't think that the GPU would be having any issues either. What type of performance degradation are you noticing. Those specs on your computer should be perfect. I think that a better GPU (1GB DDR5 possibly) could make a little difference, but it seems that you should be able to run WoW with no issue.

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