Vista Workshop: More RAM, More Speed

Combine 64-bit Microsoft Vista and 8 GB of RAM ($198) and you'll see a measurable improvement in performance. We show you how to do it, talk about the gotchas, and provide pointers on tweaking your system.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/0 [...] index.html

Can't find right words to express my displease with this article. Really don't know what author wanted to do with it.

Speak a little bit about more ram more speed, than about Vista, than turn around and speak about Cinderella, bad wolf , global warming . . . . and a little bit more about how to disable paging and it's enough let's conclude this with story of how (and can you) upgrade your vista.

Ahhh by the way trust me because i say so, it runs faster.

O my God this was bad article.

The thing that ticks me off, is that there is no "reasonable cost" alternative to those people that built systems with OEM copies of Vista 32. We've got to buy a full retail copy with another license in order to get Vista 64, bulls**t. I'll wait until Windows 7 or maybe find another OS.

Tom

That's all fine and dandy, but in what way exactly does performance increase? And most importantly, compared to what? To 2GB of RAM or less? Well duh.

I'd like to see some actual tests comparing performance (in regular day-to-day, in gaming and in heavy video-editing situations) on 2GB, 4GB and 8GB of RAM. Especially 4GB vs 8GB. I have yet to find a convincing argument to choose 8GB over 4GB and this article doesn't provide any, other than "because it's cool" and "because it's not expensive". That obviously won't do.

So, anyone have any real experience with 8GB vs 4GB?

This article does seem like it was not finished. We would all like to see more data on the actual results.

Furthermore, I'd like to see what the differences are between XP 64 and Vista 64.

This actually works?

If it does work then surely you must have purchased Ultimate to begin with right? Else your key will not activate Ultimate?

If you have an OEM of any version the key would not work with anything DL from MS either? Right? Since you are buying retail from MS, not OEM, unless you are a dealer?

Not arguing here - just asking.

Toms you are getting worse by the day, one of these days you will not see my feet at this site any more!

Where are the Windows load times?

Game load times?

Game benchmarks?

Opening multiple applications?

Speed differences between 32Bit and 64Bit?

I hope this was a mistake on the posting of the article, because this cant be a full article at all!

I expect more!

Scotteq, did implementing the run command turning hibernation files off free up space on your hard drive? My system already boots to windows fast, but I'm missing approximately 8 gigs of hard drive space I have never been abole to find. I've searched for it many times without finding where it possibly is until today.

Why would anyone want to shell out almost 600 bucks on Windows "Ultimate"?

If you want to take real advantage of 8 gigs of memory do the following:

1. Install Ubuntu 64 bit edition. Then install Wine and run your Windows applications that way. You can keep Vista on there if you'd like, and dual boot the system.

2. Buy a Mac. Leopard fully supports 64 bit software applications, and has a much better 32 bit emulation built into it.

It's good to see Microsoft finally coming to the 64 bit bandwagon, it's sure taken them long enough. However with the driver issues alone, that makes that 300 - 500 dollars you're shelling out for an OS that may or may not run your programs very expensive.

Gee, most users will have to replace their motherboards and RAM just to experience 64-bit Vista nirvana? SHeesh. XP Pro seem to deliver great performance just fine already. Oh it's all about the Dirtect X 10 gaming for the hassle? Please.

Lat time I turned my system off was 60 hours ago.

My system runs so great, I hate to start shutting windows functions down. Anyway, I have almost reformatted the hard drive and reloaded my OS because of that hard drive space I couldn't seem to account for. I haven't formatted Vista so many times and I remember during this install when formatting 8 gigs or (8 mbs?) was saved from the previous Vista 32 installation. I have been tempted to reformat so many times and didn't. Now I know where 8 gigs of HD are at, I think.

Well I've got Parallels running UT3, Crysis, Bioshock, Orange Box, etc on my dual quad Xeon MacPro with an 8800gtx video card and 8 gigs of RAM. Runs like glass. I don't even have to leave the OS environment. I've also got the Adobe CS3 apps running on a core2Quad 4 gigs of RAM through wine in Ubuntu 64 bit. It also runs great. I just don't see the point in paying for software that doesn't work, like Windows Vista.

I used to use hibernate when I was dual booting Vista32/XP. Really, I don't know why I stopped when I loaded up Vista 64...heard there were hibernation problems I guess. I didn't have any problems with Vista32. Also, heard upcoming SP 1 will deal with hibernation issues. Also read on an earlier Forumz post addressing upcoming SP1, memory issues like an overhaul of Superfetch are in the package also, I believe? That should be interesting. Anyway, I guess I should think about usng hibernation more. Would using hibernation save a lot power/money considering I don't shut down but a couple times a week unless I have to?

So if I buy a massively overpriced Mac I could build myself (and OC!!) for FAR less I can run my Windows games inside an emulator. Great.

I paid $179 for VISTA Ultimate 64. Moving up to a 64 bit OS was something I had wanted to do for years. As far as my personal computer goes, I would never go back to 32 bit, especially XP. I use XP in our office machines everyday.

So you want equal billing for an OS about 1% or less are using? Linux is very 'advanced' as a pure geeks OS but for the average user it is actually quite antiquated. There is a reason MS dominates and it's not just marketing and muscle - it's an OS which is easy for the average Joe to use and THAT takes a LOT of effort. If all you want to do is boot Ubuntu and use the built in apps it's great, but woe to the average user who wants to start installing other stuff. Keep your vain leetism to yourself. We don't care.

I like using operating systems that don't spy on me, and aren't prone to infections from most viruses. I only use Windows to game. Even then, I've tuned my build to be optimized for that purpose, cutting out the rest of the Windows bloat.

Maybe you can't write off machine purchases during tax time, my condolences to you.

Attention Mac People. The Airpoo. (take the tour, you'll be sorry)

http://www.airpoo.com/

Hello, Toms? Anybody home? Your article is just hanging out there and it needs fixing. Hello?

For those of you out there who are likely to change motherboards, consider buying an upgrade version of vista instead of the oem version. It is $145 vs. $110. When I went to 64 bit, I ordered the $10 64 bit cd to upgrade. I found out that you can't upgrade to 64 bit from a 32 bit os. The solution is simple, install the 64 bit cd, but DON'T enter the product key. You now have a 64 bit vista from which you can do the upgrade. From this, I come to the conclusion that Microsoft only produces two different cd's, a 32 bit version, and a 64 bit version. Each is capable of installing any version(basic, premium, business, ultimate). The only difference is the product activation key which identifies which version, and whether it is retail, upgrade, or oem. It is really the product key which you are buying.

I upgraded to 8gb, primarily because it was cheap, and I had notions of using part of the added memory for a ramdisk. I may yet do so. I have had no problems. My perception is that it is a bit faster, and less susceptible to interference from competing tasks. I do not do lots of multitasking, so I am a bad candidate to get much benefit. If you regularly run a number of concurrent jobs, then 8gb is the way to go.

Haha, the airpoo...the double tap will come in handy.

Bad in what way? Sorry but these anti-vista posts are always so damn vague. My games are smotth as butta on Vista 64 - no complaints. Same with many of us here and elsewhere. You try recently, or right after Vista shipped, because Vista today is nothing like when it shipped.

NOTE I actually list the basic settings, WHAT GAME, how many FPS.. That is called INFORMATION, this helps everyone understand better what you are experiencing...

Oh and Vista 32 bit is on my laptop (listed in sig there i go providing INFORMATION again!!!) plays COD4 all settings maxed at 1440x900 NO PROBLEMS... SMMMOOOOOOOTTTTTTHHHHHH

I jsut love posts like, tried vista it sucks i use xyz super duper os it uses ALL my memory... Wow so helpful.. Funny how Vista 32 and 64 bit are working great for me on my laptop and my desktop... HMMMMM

Badge i really hope the missing ~8gb of space on your 150gb raptor is not just because you don't realize that hard drive manufacturers quote hard drive space in a special way where 150gb = 150,000,000,000 bytes which does not equal 150gb in the real world it actually is something like 140 gb.

As the western digitals site disclaimer reads "One gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment."

In regards to the person who said to buy a mac for 8gb support, I guess hes never seen the price of ram for mac's cause right now to get a mac pro with 4gb instead of 2gb is a 500 dollar upgrade and for 8gb instead of 2gb is a 1500 dollar upgrade. So yes if you wanted a mac that had and supported 8gb you could pay 1500 dollars and get it, or get 8gb in the real world for 200 dollars and buy vista ultimate for 150-300 as people mentioned above.

I also agree this is the one of the worst articles ever, really shows the quality at tom's.

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