Which affects speed more? Processor or RAM?

[koshman]

A little OT, but I don't really like this fashion statement of sorts that RAM speeds up a computer. That's just not true. If you do anything that actually requires speedy system RAM is not gonna help you - that's why they call these tasks CPU intensive. As for the user experience as the whole, sure, it gets better, because you don't have to wait for the computer that much, but it doesn't give you more FPS in a game.

[koshman]

What exactly do you mean in practice? Is it the dynamic loading of new areas while traversing the capital wasteland? I would still say that this is rather the overall experience than higher speed as such. E.g. when I'm playing a game and it stops for 5 seconds every 2 minutes to load a new area it's a little annoying, but I can tolerate that and I know that when the area loads the speed will be (should be) the same on my 2GB system as on my neighbour's 4GB system. It's the same as loading at a start of a new game only it takes place in the course it.

EDIT: I completely agree that the game can be more enjoyable with more RAM, but it doesn't technically run faster - if the screen refresh during combat is low, buying more RAM doesn't solve that.

[koshman]

Yeah, I totally agree with the VRAM issue. My poor 8800GS with 384MB... :-)