remember that ram is to speed as cubic inch displacement is to horse power in other words ram is one of the more important factors in computer building as is bore x stroke is to cubic inch configuration  in engine building, they are both needed for power and that my dear Mr's. and Mrs's.is my take on this survey. More is always better in this particular instance.


p.s.

Good question how about this one?  Ram power vs Processor power where does that equation stand in the mix of things and which one has more importance?

It is almost always cheaper to upgrade ram vs. a processor and the benefits are usually greater.
Unless you have my PC I built it 3+ years ago I have a P4 2.26 533fsb w/ 512Mb of PC1066MHz Rambus. I could upgrade to a 2.8-3.0 w/ H.T. proc but it would cost near $500 to upgrade my ram to a gig. Rambus cost the same as it did 3 years ago. and beside my Mobo only supports 4x AGP.
So if your in my shoes your screwed. But if you have DDR a 1 gig module runs for approx $100.
Upgrade ram first and later when ya have the cash upgrade the CPU as prices will have dropped on that flag ship proc by then.
 ;)

How's it go swimmer
   
                                  That was the point I was trying to elude to, as in engine building there is no replacement for  cubic inch displacement, which is equal to ram in my uneducated mind, it always boils down to cost

                                                                                         

(As milchama mentioned there becomes a point that a new cpu is needed.  If you are going to do a new system to day say based on an AMD 64 bit cpu.  The difference between the processors, 3000 v 3200, is between 10%- 20%.  Which mean that you pay more for the 3200 but you really never see the extra speed.  However, RAM... you put an extra 512mb in your system you will see performance difference.. you can store more which means that less hard drive access.   Having to go to the hard drive for information is a performance killer!  Now if you have 2 gigs in a 650MHz computer it is time for you to upgrade.  If you have a Athlon 64 2800+ with 512mb of ram.. and you think your system is "slow" i would recommend the memory upgrade.

If you are going to build a system.. Unless you have to have the latest chip and are using money that you really should you for ram.. I would get the one below  the processor and get more memory..

If you are looking to upgrade your system.. Unless you have at least 400-500 bucks dont wasted your time.. You are going to have to get a processor, motherboard, and memory..) that was a quote from one of our mods that has been here for a long time, your question was answered before you asked it

                                                                                 Fred

and to determine how much ram you are using go to tweak now.com and download their utility called ram idle

lol, you took the words right out of my mouth

i have 640... because i got tired of running xp home with only 128mb of ram so i bought 512 more