2x2GB or 2x1GB Performance??plz advise

[4delta]

hi guys!! i recently bought my new rig except for the OS and RAM and that's where i get stuck....
i've got a:

C2D E6600
Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP
Artic Freezer 7 Pro
BFG 8800GTX OC2
X-fi XtremeMusic
850W Enermax Galaxy PSU

and want to buy 4 GB of RAM. i recenlty saw on alot of forums that Vista and XP 32-bit doesnt support 4GB RAM(it does but it doesnt show). so i thought that i will buy Vista Ultimate 64-bit and 4 GB of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220227
this RAM. what i want to ask is, will it be better to buy high performance 2GB RAM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=491422 and still use Vista 64-bit or should i rather now buy the 4 gigs and get it done and over with??? i am also planning to OC my PC (want CPU to run at 3GHz) and want to know if that will affect my RAM??

P.S - does anyone know if current games (HL2, CS:S, BF2, CoH, C&C3, FEAR) will be as playable on Vista 64-bit as on 32-bit??

Thx 4 ur help guys

 

[Track]

I see no reason to buy 4GB. I see no reason for 8GB either in the life-span of the PC u are building, so buying 2GB isnt going to become a bottleneck later on.

Also note that 2GB models come at higher costs and lower performance than 1GB models today.

The 4GB deal seems pretty amazing - 4GB for 300$ 8O
Its 6400C5, wich sucks.. but thats a pretty low price.

Anyway, please take a look at this picture I made last week of the best memory modules out today.

And this link wich tells u wich modules suck and wich are Micron D9.
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

If u do get more than 2GB u will have to get a 64-bit OS aswell, because 32-bit not only cant show 4GB of RAM, but it also cant use it, so its a waste of money.

 

[4delta]

why do you say there's no point in buying 4 gig or 8 gig?? isnt history going to repeat itself?? what i mean is, in the past we had to get 1 gig of ram to speed up games and programs in windows. now, with vista even more demanding, dont you think that "more is better" applies to this situation??

this will then olso affect my desicion(soz 4 spelling) on buying the OS. if 2GB is more than enough, whats the point going to 64-bit then.....
i'm basically upgrading to play UT III, Bioshock, Crysis and ET: QW without struggle and maxed out...(thats the reason for 4gigs)

 

[Track]

why do you say there's no point in buying 4 gig or 8 gig?? isnt history going to repeat itself?? what i mean is, in the past we had to get 1 gig of ram to speed up games and programs in windows. now, with vista even more demanding, dont you think that "more is better" applies to this situation??

this will then olso affect my desicion(soz 4 spelling) on buying the OS. if 2GB is more than enough, whats the point going to 64-bit then.....
i'm basically upgrading to play UT III, Bioshock, Crysis and ET: QW without struggle and maxed out...(thats the reason for 4gigs)

The only reason I see for buying more than 2GB is Vista and DX10 games. I doubt Vista needs more than 2GB and the same goes for current DX10 games, except that they havnt even been released yet.

"More is better" is very wrong. There is no reason to buy more RAM than u need.
Frankly, i saw no difference in XP going from 1024 to 512MB, and i got around the same FPS in F.E.A.R. on high with 2048 and 1024MB.

So all in all, u will not need more than 2GB anytime soon. You will probably not want more than 2GB anytime soon. And if u will, ull have room for 4GB and i assure u that u arent going to want more than 4GB.

If ur thinking of actually paying for ur OS, then there is still no reason to buy a 64-bit edition JUST for the RAM. Best idea is to get XP 32-bit and upgrade later on to Vista wether it be 32 or 64-bit.

 

[exarrkun]

I see no reason to buy 4GB. I see no reason for 8GB either in the life-span of the PC u are building, so buying 2GB isnt going to become a bottleneck later on.

Also note that 2GB models come at higher costs and lower performance than 1GB models today.

The 4GB deal seems pretty amazing - 4GB for 300$ 8O
Its 6400C5, wich sucks.. but thats a pretty low price.

Anyway, please take a look at this picture I made last week of the best memory modules out today.

And this link wich tells u wich modules suck and wich are Micron D9.
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

If u do get more than 2GB u will have to get a 64-bit OS aswell, because 32-bit not only cant show 4GB of RAM, but it also cant use it, so its a waste of money.

thanks for the link dude, great info there
also, can you tell me if there is a performance/ OC'ing difference between the micron chips? i'm a bit of a noob there

 

[sailer]

Ok, my 2 cents worth. For XP, there is no reason I know for getting more than 2 gig of ram. On my machine, I got better performance ith a 2x1 gig setup than a 2x152 mb, as there is less page filing occuring. But I can't say that such will happen on everybody's computer.

For Vista, especially Vista 64, there may be good reason in the future for having 4 gig of ram, mainly as games get bigger. At the moment, I'd recommend getting a 2x1 gig set of ram. If the time comes that games start needing 4 gig, you can either buy another set of 2x1 gig of ram or replace it entirely with a set of 2x2 gig of ram.

At the moment, the timings are not great with the 2 gig ram sticks. That may change as companies develop the ram in the future. As a result, I wouldn't invest in a 2x2 gig set right now, but I'd stay with a 2x1 gig set..

 

[Track]

thanks for the link dude, great info there
also, can you tell me if there is a performance/ OC'ing difference between the micron chips? i'm a bit of a noob there

Only if u want to reach speeds of 1000Mhz and up. The only advantage that Micron D9 has over the rest is that it can overclock to higher levels.. but only hard-core enthusiests will be interested in that.