Windows Vista Memory Issue

[gokhan76]

Hi Guys,


I jsut want to know that for Windows Vista Ultimate how much ram is reasonable?

I know recommended is 1GB but Currently I have 2 GB Corsair 4-4-4-12 6400C4 's (1GB x 2)

Should I put another 2 stick of 1GB and make it 4GB of total or 2GB is enough realisticly.

Because, If you guys say 4GB is ideal I need to buy another kit of 2GB. That will be around $288 USD.

I mean is it worth going in to 4GB that is the question unless if I stick to normal XP pro than I dont need it of course...

Just give me some idea guys please,

Thanks,


PS: I am a midrange gamer....

 

[Mondoman]

Unless you go to 64-bit Vista, the OS will only be able to address a max of about 3GB of RAM, so don't bother going over 2GB.

 

[gokhan76]

So what happens if I go to the 64bit Vista Ultimate

Does 4GB gives me anything ?

Or should I still stick to 2GB...?


Thanks,

 

[Gorgon]

2 Gigs is more than enough. I've been usisng Home Premium for 2 weeks now and the maximum usage for my 2 gigs of RAM has been 46%...not even half of those 2 gigs. Games and other memory intensive applications will use up the rest.

Don't bother using more, you don't need it. Plus, if you add 1 gig more you loose Dual Chanel, if you use 2 gigs more you get dual chanel but only 3 gigs or so are recognized.

Stick to your 2 gigs unless you go 64bit.

 

[hassa]

So what happens if I go to the 64bit Vista Ultimate

Does 4GB gives me anything ?

Or should I still stick to 2GB...?


Thanks,

It won't give you anything apart from a whole bunch of driver issues since the 64 bit version is not as fully supported by vendors as the 32 bit version is.
4GB on 32bit is the maximum address space the OS can reference

 

[Gorgon]

So what happens if I go to the 64bit Vista Ultimate

Does 4GB gives me anything ?

Or should I still stick to 2GB...?


Thanks,

It won't give you anything apart from a whole bunch of driver issues since the 64 bit version is not as fully supported by vendors as the 32 bit version is.
4GB on 32bit is the maximum address space the OS can reference

Theoretically, but 32bit won't recognize those 4 gigs in full, so stick to 2 gigs in dual channel mode.

 

[Gorgon]

So what happens if I go to the 64bit Vista Ultimate

Does 4GB gives me anything ?

Or should I still stick to 2GB...?


Thanks,

And by the way, why go Ultimate? Unless you need data encryption or want to stick a dual cpu board and other worthless features for most users, I dont see the point.

 

[hassa]

And by the way, why Ultimate?

Maybe to play UNIX games

 

[Mondoman]

.... Plus, if you add 1 gig more you loose Dual Chanel, if you use 2 gigs more you get dual chanel but only 3 gigs or so are recognized.

Stick to your 2 gigs unless you go 64bit.

This all depends on the specific MB and chipset. Certainly, adding 1GB more as 2x512MB sticks should run in dual channel mode in most systems.

 

[canuck21]

This all depends on the specific MB and chipset. Certainly, adding 1GB more as 2x512MB sticks should run in dual channel mode in most systems.

Which chipset and which MB will let me add 2 x 1 GB and 2 x 512 MB for the total of 3 GB without loosing dual channel mode?

 

[Mondoman]

Just about any modern Intel chipset board should allow that, and socket 939/AM2 as well, I would think. See MB manual for details.

 

[bberson]

And by the way, why go Ultimate? Unless you need data encryption or want to stick a dual cpu board and other worthless features for most users, I dont see the point.

Or unless he's sick and twisted like I am, and has an Active Directory running in his home, in which case Ultimate is the only way to have a domain member with all the media center widgetry.

Not that encryption wouldn't be a bad thing to have, by the way. If all you do is play games then who cares, but the moment you start saving personal or financial documents you do need to start thinking in terms of what would happen if the PC gets stolen, etc.

Not to go off on a huge tangent here but a young woman in my apartment building tossed out her iMac a couple of years ago and I trash-picked it. Then I had tons of fun digging out her docs and pics, checking out her shopping history, finding out her names and passwords for all kinds of stuff (didn't do anything with it though), AND [drumroll...] found the pr0n site she was posing for! Which I suppose answers why she could afford to shop at Coach.com, etc.

She thought that opening the bottom cover and taking a pair of scissors to the IDE cable was enough before she left it in the bin. Har!

-Brad

 

[grifter33]

It won't give you anything apart from a whole bunch of driver issues since the 64 bit version is not as fully supported by vendors as the 32 bit version is.
4GB on 32bit is the maximum address space the OS can reference

I may be wrong but I thought the only way any vendor can get a whql certified driver for vista is to produce a 32 and 64 bit version. It's ms way of forcing vendors to support 64 vista and avoid the driver problems that held back xp 64.

 

[Mondoman]

But not all vendors bother with the whql certification.

 

[hassa]

But not all vendors bother with the whql certification.

And even then, just because the drivers are certified, it DOESN'T mean that the 64 bit ones compare with the 32 bit ones for performance etc...
e.g. look how much performance ATI and Nvidia get with mature drivers. 32 bit is where the major user base is, therefore why would vendors put as much effort into optimising 64 bit drivers as the 32 bit ones???

 

[croc]

So what happens if I go to the 64bit Vista Ultimate

Does 4GB gives me anything ?

Or should I still stick to 2GB...?


Thanks,

It won't give you anything apart from a whole bunch of driver issues since the 64 bit version is not as fully supported by vendors as the 32 bit version is.4GB on 32bit is the maximum address space the OS can reference

And this is posted as experience for Vista Ultimate x64 or just as supposition... (ie FUD)

 

[croc]

Vista is a memory hog, agreed. But 2 GB of ram in Vista x32 (any version) should get most gamers by quite nicely. Unless you are sharing ram for your graphics, then 3 GB might be better.

In Vista x64, the more ram the merrier....

 

[airblazer]

I'm running 2GB at the moment but am upgrading to 4GB next week. (getting the 4Gig for €150 so that's why I'm upgrading).
Depending on the graphics card you have Windows will read from 3.02 to 3.5GB. If you've an 8800GTX like I have then you're looking at the lower end of the scale.
However I reckon by the end of the year more and more drivers/apps and games will be 64bit compatible to take advantage of more memory etc.
HL2 already supports 64bit and is supposed to run flawlessly on it.
Already games are demanding 2GB memory and this will grow and grow.
2 years time?? Reckon all hardcore gamers will be on 64bit os with at least 8Gig's ram.