2 GB RAM instead of 4 GB ?

[amrikove]

I got this new PC and I had to get DDR3 cause of the motherboard only supports it. But I ran out of money and I had to get 2 GB of DDR3 ram instead of 4GB as planned. My question is, How bad is my situation ? How long will the 2GB be sufficient ?

 

[Zenthar]

It will probably be enough until you upgrade to Vista or use really heave softwares (CAD, Oracle, 2-3 Eclipse, ...).

 

[curryj02]

I was in the same boat until about a month ago. I've now got 4GB running in Vista home premium 32bit. It hasn't really made any noticeable difference in perfromance, but then again I haven't run any benchmark comparisons yet. I did get a noticable better frame rate in supreme commander and crysis.

Basically, I wouldn't stress too much about only having 2gb. DDR3 prices will go down over time, especially with nehalem + X58 (which ive heard is going to use tri-channel DDR3) release coming before the end of the year. so if I were you, just wait until next year before stepping up to 4gb or 6gb. remember also that if you are running a 32bit OS, you will only be able to use about 3gig, not the full 4gig. in order to use more than 3 gig u need a 64bit OS.

 

[Houndsteeth]

Unless you are encoding video or working with large graphic files or databases, there are very few applications out there that will require you to go beyond 2GB yet, let alone require 4GB. You can get to a point where it is beneficial for you to access more than 2GB if you run several applications at the same time or are running multiple guest operating systems on the same machine.

You should be fine with 2GB for the foreseeable future, and even then, you can just upgrade at any given time by adding another 2GB.

 

[ZOldDude]

As long as you use XP you don't need truck loads of Ram.
Most games and home software take up less than 1GB.

I run 4 security programs,6 torrents and play Frontlines:FoW all at the same time and only use 49% of 2GB of RAM.

 

[tomasf]

you are fine with 2GB, that's enough for most user.

 

[jerreece]

Using Vista 64bit, I can tell you I saw a pretty noticeable difference when I jumped from 2GB to 4GB. Both at my desktop (web browsing, etc) and in games. Also, I noticed that the extra RAM made a HUGE difference in how quickly I could ALT-TAB out of games to the desktop.

However, when I was running XP 64-bit 2GB was plenty, and everything ran smoothly. Vista however eats up more resources.

 

[amrikove]

Well, The programs I use are not all memory hungry. I was concerned only for the gaming and Now I can clearly see that If I am using XP I don't need more than 2 GB for now.

Thanks for the headsup.

 

[gan d]

Since XP only recognizes 3 gb of RAM, what problems can be expected installing a 4 gb kit? I'm using Photo Shop and do not want Vista.

 

[Zenthar]

There should be no problems. It's just that XP will only see and use the first ~3.5GB of memory.