Video vs. System RAM

I've got an ATI x300 (so PCIe bus) with 128MB, and 512MB system memory. In clubs, etc I get serious clientside lag, with a very busy HD. I assume the card needs to swap out textures?

Would I do better to upgrade my video card, or add system RAM?

(Alternate possibility: Add a cheapo 128MB video card PCI (not PCIe video card for the extra video memory? Access across the PCI bus would be slow, but still lots faster than the HD...if that'd work at all.)

increase both really

a 512Mb graphic card and 1Gb of system ram will bring you a long way

System ram , video doesnt do much for SL above 256mb, 128 is abselut minimum req on vid card > sl.

1-2gig ram highly recommended, reason your harddrive working insane much is due to virtual memory swapping cause you ran out of ram.

No matter how much RAM you get SL will always have clientside lag.
I have a fairly quick system that runs all the latest games and applications with ZERO lag, or crashes.

I have 2GB of system ram and 256MB video ram, i lag on any sim that is not an island.
There is no avoiding it, I suppose the only way is to have the fastest CPU and Best video card out today , which would cost at least a thousand.

im running 2gb system ram with 512mb video ram (nvidia 7900gtx) and a rather spiffy processor to boot, and I get client lag, even on busy island sims.

The ATI x300 is a bottom of the barrel PCI-e card really. Don't do the PCI route, that would make matters significantly worse and video memory sweet spot is 128megs, less and you lose performance, over 128 and you really don't see much difference. You would be better off with another 512 megs of system memory for sure but you will see a marked improvement if you upgrade your video card to an Nvidia 6600 GT or 7600 too.

I agree with Kathmandu Gilman,

Just throw in an extra 512MB of Ram and get yourself a better AGP video card and you should be fairly good to go. I just purchased the Nividia 7600GS (256MB), and I love it, love it, loveit! It works wonderfully for SL. A person doesn't have to go overboard with a 512MB or 1GB video card when the textures will still look the same. I went over to a friends house who has a 512MB video card and had the resolution cranked, the textures looked no different than mine. Just a tiny expense and you should be totally happy.

Donlizard

I just bought a 7600GS and it works great for SL. It's the fastest nVidia card I could find with passive cooling (no fan, no noise). It's nice to walk into a place and have all the textures rez. I'm able to boost all the detail to max.

Actually sl runs *QUITE* well on a 6200 so long as it has at a minimum 128 megs native to it...

And these cards can be had as little as $50 us after rebates etc

*addendum

so long as you keep the resolution at/below 1280x1024 and don't use fancy features like anti-ailasing etc, SL barely uses any shaders at all and is in reality almost entirely cpu bound, so any of the 6xxx or newer series will have enough oomf... A slightly faster card will be slightly noticable, but in all honesty in SL, a $500 video card won't outpace a $50 one all that much, (unless you buy *THE WRONG* $50 one of course)

I can run SL with 1gb system ram and 256mb video (ATI9600XT AGP 4x) with little lag both in windows or in Linux.
Specially after I upgraded my net to 1000kb/s