Question about RAM...

I only have 512mb in my Intel iMac. I notice that my iStat nano sometimes indicates as much as 1gb in 'swap'. I assume that means the iMac is using the hard drive or level 2 cache to help it run whatever apps i have open?

I saved enough $$ over budget to get some more memory. Should i get the entire 2gb? - I would like to rip some DVD movies using Mac-the-ripper while at the same time compress a ripped movie using Media Fork - right now I'm afraid to try to run both with so little RAM.

Thanks for advice.

I would invest in the 2 Gb of ram.

Like many things in life, you can never have too much RAM, but IMO, 1GB is the sweet spot. I saw no improvement moving to 2GB, but I can also now comfortably run XP in Parallels, allocating a full 1GB to it.