More RAM or Faster CPU??

[GuyGadbois]

I need some advice on a small server I am building. This server will be holding the database for our small store's inventory and 2 'cash register' PC's will be accessing it. The server will also serve as our back office machine used to receive new inventory into the POS software (WASP Point Of Sale) and perform accounting (Quickbooks Pro). As we are on a somewhat limited budget, I need some advice on where to spend my money.

Currently I am looking at buying an AMD Sempron 2500 CPU and 1Gb of Ram. But am now wondering if I should perhaps get a faster CPU and less Ram (ie. Sempron 3000 *which has 512kb cache instead of 256kb on the 2500* and having just 512Mb of RAM).

The server will be running Win XP Pro, the WASP software (which only recommends a P133 CPU and 128Mb Ram), and QuickBooks (recommends PII-500 and 256Mb of Ram).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Guy

 

[GuyGadbois]

Well, I just bought 2 WD 120Gb SATA drives at Fry's today cause they were $50 each after rebate. I plan on having those in a redudant RAID array (RAID 1). This way if one fails, we have a backup and also I think having 2 drives with the same data could help with access times?. I did consider the 10k RPM drives, but they were a bit out of my range.

I appreciate the input. It does sound like spending the money on the RAM is the better option then. I'll also be sure to keep that server defraged on a daily basis. I would think that would help access times also?