4 or 8 gigs of ram

[rapigan]

I just built a new computer, its running Vista 64, on a q9450 that idles at 39 degrees and its load is at 43 degrees on stock settings. What im trying to say with that is that the problem isent my cpu at all, which is always at pretty low usage, but im thinking about getting more ram. I have the 2x2gig corsair ram at 800 mhz, and Im getting huge slowdowns. My ram's usage never drops below 45%, and ive had it spike way up to 98% really often, I dont know whether its vista, or the apps i have open or what, but id really like to get some more ram to avoid these slowdowns cause when i get something brand new, i want it to work well, so im wondering whether getting 4 more gigs of ram (I can spend the 100$) and if it would lower my ram usage and get rid of the slowdowns.

 

[th_username]

4gb is more than enough

 

[htoonthura]

I just built a new computer, its running Vista 64, on a q9450 that idles at 39 degrees and its load is at 43 degrees on stock settings. What im trying to say with that is that the problem isent my cpu at all, which is always at pretty low usage, but im thinking about getting more ram. I have the 2x2gig corsair ram at 800 mhz, and Im getting huge slowdowns. My ram's usage never drops below 45%, and ive had it spike way up to 98% really often, I dont know whether its vista, or the apps i have open or what, but id really like to get some more ram to avoid these slowdowns cause when i get something brand new, i want it to work well, so im wondering whether getting 4 more gigs of ram (I can spend the 100$) and if it would lower my ram usage and get rid of the slowdowns.

It depends on how you use and what programs you use. I also have Q6600 at 3.3 with 4 gb and vista 64. Vista uses around 1.4 during normal use but it caches all of the physical memory . When i run virtual machine , encoding dvd ,for example, i see it shoots up to 3.8 gb. Basically, it is fine with 4 gb but 8 gb is definately better especially with vista os. Unlike previous os , vista can take advantage of your memory. If money is not an issue, go for it. I am thinking to drop in 4 more gb.

 

[sailer]

From the sound of it, your computer is reaching into virtual memory enough that it becomes a noticeable problem. Ram is very cheap right now, so boosting the ram to 8 gig is not a great expense. I did it myself, and though I had to turn the overclock down a bit when doing it, my computer speeded up overall.

 

[dagger]

You need to disable some of the things that are hogging your ram such as Windows sidebar.

There is no way anything in that side bar can possibly use that much ram. Disabling them will make no dent on 98% of 4gb at all.

Open task manager, switch to process tab, and see which process is hogging all the ram. It could be some spyware/malware. Consider scanning and removing them if they're there:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

 

[halcyon]

You could go for putting 8GB in, since there's no reason not to, especially since you've got a strong OS. The cost is low. ...but for average use 4GB should be plenty for great performance.