need help in buying sound system and ram~

[-Major-]

for the sound, I'm looking for a 2.1 for max 100 euros (preferably not more than 70~).
what I'm currently considering is:

Wavemaster MX 3+ which would cost 464SEK / ~49 euro
and
Logitech Z523 which would cost 604SEK / ~64 euro
I'm not very knowledgeable about this stuff, altho I suspect you'd need to find some private reveiwer to actually find out which one sound better.
Mostly I'm gonna just use it alone, or sit a bit back with 1 or 2 people.
so which one should I pick? the price difference is not too important. if you got any other suggestion, that is welcomed too.

for the ram.
I'm interessed in is mainly buying 2x 1gb memories, but I'm not sure which way I should go.
2x Kingston DDRII PC1066 1GB CL5
or
2x Kingston DDRII PC800 1GB CL4

Currently I have 1x 2gb corsair DDRII PC800 CL5. I'm not sure what the maximum memory module size is, SIW says it's 1GB, but SIW also says maximum memory capacity is 4gb. the maximum capacity is 8gb ddr2(altho isn't it  max 4gb on windows XP?) and 4gb ddr3. so I suspect it's counting on the values for the ddr3 part (which would either make mmms 1GB or 2GB for ddr2). I wasn't really caring too much when I originally bought all the parts, so I'm not sure if I made a small mistake there.
Anyway, I'm gonna dual channel the 2 kingston rams and run the Corsair one alone (hopefully this wouldn't cause anything to miss-match?).

Current computer spec (nothing is clocked, and I'm not going to clock it either):
Mother board: Gigabyte, GA-EP35C-DS3R
CPU: Q6600 2.4ghz
RAM: Corsair DDR2 800 2gb cl5 (CM2X2048-6400C5) -:- CM2X2048-6400C5 Google PDF
GFX Card: Radeon HD 4850 1gb

I'm quite clueless when it comes to computers nowadays, this one was bought in 2008 (I think atleast), and the one before that was in like 2004 or something. I really started to not care about computer related things in 2006-2007. so I wasn't entirely sure what I did in 2008 and even more clueless now, so I thought I ought to ask.

[Clawbug]

I'd suggest you to get another 2 GB stick to your system, similar to the RAM you already have. The reason is that then you have two sticks of RAM which would run in dual channel, meaning twice the theoretical maximum memory bandwidth, which means more performance. Oh, and just get any PC800 DDR2 RAM, there is no point getting any faster RAM since your CPU runs at the default FSB, and the present RAM is PC800 too, so anything faster than that would be downclocked to the same speed.

[jrgp]

(altho isn't it  max 4gb on windows XP?)

On 32-bit XP the limit is 3GB. (that's the max it'll see). On 64-bit XP, the memory address space is much higher.

[Dusty]

(altho isn't it  max 4gb on windows XP?)

On 32-bit XP the limit is 3GB. (that's the max it'll see). On 64-bit XP, the memory address space is much higher.

The memory limit on 32-bit XP is 4GB minus the memory of the GPU.

[-Major-]

I'd suggest you to get another 2 GB stick to your system, similar to the RAM you already have. The reason is that then you have two sticks of RAM which would run in dual channel, meaning twice the theoretical maximum memory bandwidth, which means more performance. Oh, and just get any PC800 DDR2 RAM, there is no point getting any faster RAM since your CPU runs at the default FSB, and the present RAM is PC800 too, so anything faster than that would be downclocked to the same speed.

well, I'm not sure what the motherboards maximum memory module size is. and if SIW is correct, then it would be 1024 (which means buying another 2gb memory would be a waste).
also... shouldn't it be faster with 2x than 1x? shouldn't it be twice the bandwidth (atleast I think 2gb sticks never get below CL5)?
I can't figure out wheter the mmms is 1gb or 2gb..

also, as the other's are saying... 4gb-GPU (where mine is 1gb) would leave 3GB of RAM left, which makes it almost unecessary to buy 2gb, but I will do that anyway (either 1x2gb or 2x1gb)... I might later choose to switch to win7, when it's more stable and can run most old things (if it ever will be).
or change to XP 64, but last time I tried it, nothing was supported (couldn't play any games, I'm not sure if even there were drivers available... but that was with my previous computer).

nobody knows which sound system I should go for?

[Fireman]

# 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory(Note 1)

wat? Just get another 2GB and everything will be fine.

About the Sound system, get either the Swan M10's if available in Europe or the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers set. Some Antec Lansing sets are okay too. Depending on where you buy them, it may be cheap or expensive

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=Klipsch%202.1&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283 link to Klipsch ones on ebay, I saw only 5 Swan M10's but they're US only

http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php/p/swan-m10/products_id/89

The Logitech ones are okay but the ones above are much better usually but they got good customer service (can replace your crap easily since it's cheaply made lol ). I am not sure as to what to advise since you're located in Europe. Do you have any websites/retailer websites that you use?

[-Major-]

mostly I use "prisjakt.se". it's a big site that lists many companies and brands and then checks where it's the cheapest and who got it cheapest in stock etc etc.
it doesn't have everything.... and I can't really find those 2 others in europe it seems.

well yes... since 8gb/4 = 2gb... then the mmms should be 2gb... any other way to find out? then I probably should go for a 2nd 2gb stick.

[Clawbug]

(altho isn't it  max 4gb on windows XP?)

On 32-bit XP the limit is 3GB. (that's the max it'll see). On 64-bit XP, the memory address space is much higher.

Actually, 32-bit Windows XP sees all the RAM, however, it has 4 GB address-space. Windows XP also likes to map all the other devices' storage(e.g. RAM, registers) to this map too.

(altho isn't it  max 4gb on windows XP?)

On 32-bit XP the limit is 3GB. (that's the max it'll see). On 64-bit XP, the memory address space is much higher.

The memory limit on 32-bit XP is 4GB minus the memory of the GPU.

Correct, though all the integrated, external ISA, PCI, AGP, PCI-E have to map their RAM too, hence it is more than just the available VRAM. Then again, these days (of the external devices) other devices than the graphics card have practically no impact on this, since their RAM is fraction of VRAM on high-end cards.

So yeah, going over (about) 3 GB on 32-bit OS(applies to linux too, unless using kernel with PAE) these days is more or less waste of money.

On the memory sticks one can see the CL numbers. The lower the CL is, the faster the RAM operates internally. However, to end-user this has no practical impact. Yes, one could possibly see a small increase(<5%, going from e.g. CL6 to CL4) in execution speed of memory intensive code, but that kind of code is rarely used in games, or even everyday programs. Then again, if one wants to overclock their RAM, higher CL can possibly allow higher clocks. Though, usually higher RAM frequency is more important than low CL.

[-Major-]

then the ram problem is fixed. I'm gonna buy another one of those memory sticks (2gb one)... but for the sound system :/...

[Fireman]

I have looked myself and haven't found anything either

on Ebay there's only US and international would be too much

I guess you can go for the Logitech's, :/ just don't turn it up too high ( fuse, or something else might break lul ) just try to get them for cheaper or if you got a craigslist-like local website, look for some there as it's usually cheaper ( sometimes )