How much does RAM effect MMORPGs?

[Roland]

This is gonna look a bit sloppy, so bear with me. It's from a spreadsheet that I just spent the last few hours compiling (as in building from scratch ;)).

High-End Gaming Platform

• Category Description Manufacturer Model # Item # Price
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• Case XaserV WinGo Full-Tower Thermaltake V8000A N82E16811133130 $116.00
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• Power Supply Purepower Butterfly 480W Silver Thermaltake W0020 N82E16817153013 $77.00
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• Motherboard I875P Neo-FIS2R MSI 875P NEO-FIS2R N82E16813130414 $178.00
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• Processor Pentium 4 2.8C Ghz Intel BX80532PG2800/D N82E16819116161 $186.00
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• Memory HyperX Dual Kits 1GB DDR PC-4000 Kingston KHX4000K2/1G N82E16820144137 $306.00
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• Video NVIDIA GeForce FX5900XT 256MB 256-bit Golden Sample Gainward ULTRA/1300XT GS N82E16814128184 $278.00
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• Audio SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Creative Labs 70SB035000000 N82E16829102162 $88.00
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• Storage Caviar SE Serial ATA 200GB 7200RPM Western Digital WD2000JD N82E16822144153 $168.25
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• Monitor G90FB 19" Flat Screen CRT ViewSonic G90FB N82E16824116282 $219.00
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• Speakers MegaWorks THX 5.1 550 Creative Labs 51000000AA277 N82E16836116118 $202.00
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• Total Cost $1,818.25
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• Extra Case / CPU Fans for added cooling are recommended.<>
  [st]
  Low-End Gaming Platform
  • Category Description Manufacturer Model # Item # Price
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  • Case Centurion 2 Silver Mid-Tower Cooler Master CAC-T02 N82E16811119036 $52.00
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  • Power Supply Silent PurePower 420W Silver Thermaltake TT-420AD(DUAL FAN) N82E16817153006 $44.00
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  • Motherboard I865PE Neo2-PFS MSI MS6728-110 N82E168131304507 $80.00
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  • Processor Pentium 4 2.4C Ghz Intel BX80532PG2400D N82E16819116157 $165.00
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  • Memory Value Select Dual Pack 1G DDR PC-3200 Corsair VS1GBKIT400 N82E16820145440 $177.00
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  • Video NVIDIA GeForce FX5700 128MB 128-bit MSI FX5700-TD128 N82E16814127112 $141.00
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  • Audio SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Creative Labs 70SB035000000 N82E16829102162 $88.00
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  • Storage Caviar SE Serial ATA 7200RPM SATA Western Digital WD800JD N82E16822135106 $86.00
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  • Speakers Inspire T5400 5.1 Creative Labs 51MF4025AA002 N82E16836116137 $86.00
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  • Total Cost $919.00<>
    [st]
    For the purpose of saving space and due to such widely varying brands / personal tastes, NIC cards, modems, network cables, and the like have all been left off. Depending on your needs, you can tack on an additional $25 - $100. Most of those, however, you can probably get from an older PC that you no longer need them for.
    
    As you can see, some of the components are the same, or are at least in the same brand / league as one another. The prices, however, differ greatly, as do the amount of features and overall performance (the low-end PC costing roughly half what the high-end PC costs). This is just a rough outline of two custom-built PCs, crossing the spectrum of low-end directly to high-end. Obviously, since we are talking custom PCs, you can mix and match any parts to your liking. You may even find parts not on either of these lists that you want instead. These are given just as a rough guideline for building a PC, to guage prices versus performance. In all cases, as is custom with me, I tried to choose the best components available for each group, waying price with features, extras, reputation, etc. Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the required parts for a full PC you may already have, and can pull from another computer, thus saving you money.
    
    I did this especially for you, Warlocke, as I know you mentioned you were looking for a graphics card to tide you over for your future new PC. I figured these guides will help you out a bit, in terms of price planning as well as parts planning.
    
    One special thing to note:
    The Intel Pentium 4 processor, combined with either of the listed motherboards (or any motherboard with an Intel 645 / 675 Northbridge chipset and built-in overclocking abilities) can be overclocked from a 800MHz FSB to a 1,000MHz (or 1 GHz) FSB, GREATLY boosting performance far beyond normal levels. While this is NOT recommended for a 3.0+ GHz processor, this CAN be achieved safely, with stock cooling (normal fans, etc.), on a 2.4 GHz - 2.6 GHz (2.8 GHz should be possible, but it hasn't been tested). The overal speed will increase from 2.4 GHz to 3.2 GHz, or 2.6 GHz to 3.25 GHz, but the overall performance will surpass a stock 3.2 GHz processer by about 10% (2.6 GHz OCed to 1 GHz FSB, resulting in 3.25 GHz). Of course, this IS with DDR PC-4000 (500 MHz) memory, which is a little harder to find at the moment (PC-3200, or 400 MHz, runs synchroniously with an 800 MHz FSB, and as such it is the new standard of memory, thusly it is MUCH more common; PC-4000 is available, however, and is becoming more common), so unless you have that type of RAM, the performance boost will probably be not quite as high. Still, it will probably result in roughly a 20% performance increase over a stock 2.6 GHz processor, if you overclock it to a 1 GHz FSB, regardless of RAM speed. Higher RAM speed, however, is ALWAYS a plus, provided your motherboard can handle it.
    
    It is for this reason that the 2.4 GHz / 2.8 GHz processors are listed, rather than shooting for the higher end 3.0 Ghz / 3.2 GHz for the high-end PC, because it will be far more cost-effective to get the 2.8 GHz and simply overclock the FSB, and/or the multiplier. Even if you don't choose to overclock, however, it makes more sense, cost / benefit ratio-wise, to opt for the slightly lower processor speed, as the 3.0 and 3.2 rise rather sharply in price ($240.00 & 290.00, respectively).
    
    FSB Overclocking Review (used for reference in this post):
    http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboard/2.../ddr500-05.html
    
    Hope this helps!