WORTH GOING TO 4gb RAM

Wow, 62 views and no answer..... Well, the answer to your question is, maybe. I assume you are running XP, so it is hit or miss if your install will recognize more than 3GB. I haven't read about any pattern or way to tell without trying it. Some XP installs will see 4GB and some won't.

So my real answer is, if you plan to upgrade to Vista then move up to 4GB as soon as you come across a sale. Otherwise wait since you system is performing well now.

Hey there.I would only upgrade to more ram if like buddy says,you are moving up to windows vista as soon as it comes out.Otherwise I would sit back and wait for the sales to start.Most likely prices will come down in the new year.Computer parts are always more expensive at this time of year,what with x-mas coming.So ya I would wait,(which is exactly what I'm doing),until the new year.I see no problems with your current system as it stands.So enjoy.Goodluck.

Dahak

AMD X2-4400+@2.4 S-939
EVGA NF4 SLI MB
2X7800GT IN SLI
2X1GIG DDR IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR 1280X1024
ACE 520WATT PSU

I vote no for now. Like he said above, maybe if you get Vista do it, even still 2gb is fine for Vista of course. But Vista + a large video editing program, 2gb would be fine but not as good as it COULD be. I say if its a heavy audio/video editing machine, 4 gb would be good. But if its not, then don't bother until at least (if ever) you get Vista. Unless of course there's some crazy deal on your RAM at some point, then do it.

Thanks guys for your input.  

I am currently running xp pro and just downloaded vista rc1 to try on another partition. Like I said earlier, everything is running smooth, just bored I guess LOL.

Again thanks

I thought Vista was the same as Windows XP in that it won't be able to use 4 gig of RAM unless it is the 64 bit version. Am I wrong?

Fuzzy

Last I knew Vista is supposed to be 64 bit. I am not sure if the lower "Home" type versions would be limited to 32 or limited on memory.

As for the extra 2G, I would only get it if you "need" it. I have heard in general you will see a small performance hit by going to 4G, unless you have apps that are memory hungry such as CAD, or multitask a few programs that like more memory.

I am not sure what to say about sales and prices. I have been thinking about doing the same thing, and memory as gone up as more Fabs are switching to DDR2. I am keeping an eye on it, and might do it, but I run some CAD. That is the main reason.

I am not 100% sure but I thought I read Vista was supposed to "fully support" up to 8GB? Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Also, did anyone else remember seeing something about using flash memory as RAM? That would be stupid, tricking people into thinking it will be fast like system memory.

I am not getting Vista for a long time, so anyone that has done more reading than I, please correct me.

Assuming your OS recognizes it, the only use I can see for that much memory today is if you either (a) run large simulations, or (b) use fast use switching and have like 7+ users logged in simultaneously.

Of course, Vista will be a whole new ballgame.

p.s. Not a good time to buy RAM now anyway, I'd wait for prices to go down.

Cheers  

There will be 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Vista all the way up to Ultimate. The basic edition will only be 32 bit.

First off, all Windows 32 bit based system can only allocate 2 GB of memory to any given task.
32 bit system by nature can only do 4 GB. But Windows splits that 4 GB in to two halves. First half is for applications and the other half is for the OS kernel.

You can install the MS /3GB switch to allow you to allocate 3 GB to applications and 1 GB to the OS.

However, most Windows applications currently are written to really only address 2GB.

And unless you have multiple memory hungry applications - I doubt you will be needing more than 2 GB for now.

Even with Photoshop, DVD encoder and a game running, you will likely be eating somewhere between 1.2-1.7GB of RAM.


The short answer is no. Stick with 2GB for now.

First you need to understand that 64 bit is slower than 32 bit just as 32 bit is slower than 16 bit. AMD takes about a 16% hit in going to double precision from single precison. EM64T is about 42% until Intel adds more complex instruction decoders. Core 2 has only 1 complex decoder per core vs 3 for AMD. For most every one I don't see the need for 64 bit software because only very large video editing or engineering software uses files large enough(over 2 gb where 32 bit has to resort to harddrive swap files) to justify 64 bit. For smaller file s you are going to slow down. XP can't see more than 3.5 gb and with the perverse MS code 2 gb is the maximum efficient amount of memory in 32 bit dual channel unless you are running Red Hat Linux 4.0 or Suse 10 in 32 bit. I would add the additional 2gb only if I were using something that absolutely needed the memory. I currently run XP64 with 4x512 winbond BH-5 memory and that is more than enough for Solid works 64 bit.

That depends on what you are running on that pc. If you want gaming and common applications then 2Gb of ramage is good for XP. However if you run bigger applications, files, musics and etc, then 4Gb would be good. But I keep hearing that Vista would require a minimum of 1Gb ram for the system to run. So it truly depends on your applications.

Again, thanks for the imput. My normal fully loaded system @ 1 time is:

Playing music (Media player or AOL Radio)
Copying & Burning DVD
& playing large game (HL2, FEAR, BF2....etc)

once in a while I will copy files over.

That is not the everyday norm though. But when I load it up, it's usually that way. I just though I might need more ram because sometimes under that type of load, my system will hickup from time to time. I just assumed that it was ram.

I only said there were both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Vista to respond to a post that implied that the 32 bit version had been relegated to the low-end. I'm not qualified to comment on the difference between the two since I only have experience with 32 bit. Thanks for the information though.

I say stick with 2 GB for now. New memories are still kinda expensive right now.

I thought Vista was the same as Windows XP in that it won't be able to use 4 gig of RAM unless it is the 64 bit version. Am I wrong?

Fuzzy

You are correct. Vista will come in 32 and 64 bit versions on the same disc, the OS will detect the processor capability and install the correct version (in theory).

So yes on 32 bit systems you ahve the problem above 3 GB on 64 there is no issue.