RAM 4 GB of 800 or 8GB of 667/566

[dboy32]

My Intel board will take 4 GB of 800 MHz, or 8GB of 667/566 MHz. Which is the one I should get? The buss speed is1066 MHz, but Intel says that the Max is 800 MHz for RAM. If "More is Better", then 8 Gb is the one to go for, maybe.
dboy32

 

[Maziar]

In terms of performance 8GB is a better choice,do they both cost the same ?

 

[dboy32]

I expect to upgrade to Windows 7 64 Bit. Currently have 2-512MB=1GB of RAM. Have to deal with RAM addition anyway. It is my understanding that the 4 MB is all the 32bit OS will handle. 64 bit OS will handle quite a bit more.
dboy32

 

[Scotteq]

How Fast the car goes, and how BIG the car is are two different topics, correct?


How FAST the RAM is and how MUCH you have are also two different topics.


Therefore, it would make sense to keep an eye on how much memory you use now. Make sure your new build has more than that.

/end_thread

 

[Maziar]

not really, every RAM test I have read states after 4GB there is no improvement in terms of speed for consumer PC software

I tested 8GB vs 4GB(in my old rig)and didn't saw a noticeable difference in most games and apps but however in some i saw improvements

 

[keytthom]

well if you don't use more than 4gb what's the point? there is no point having more than you will use, i have 6gb ddr3, and with every heavy utilising thing i can think of it doesn't use that much, I'm talking sibelius, video capture, photoshop, code editing, and a load of other things, it still doesn't use above 3.5gb. Win7 is amazing at memory management.

 

[Confused Stu]

I went from 4GB to 8GB of DDR2 last year (admittedly, running at 1000ish) and use my PC for mainly gaming - I only noticed one difference. Where before, after playing GTA4 for a little bit and then quitting back to desktop, my desktop would take approx. 2 seconds to redraw in fully and be usuable. After I changed to 8GB, it was usable straight away.

I think we can all agree, that really isn't worth paying any extra for!

Since then, I've only once run out of memory - last week I was playing against the final boss in Crysis and the game slowed to a slideshow. Checked Task Manager (when it eventually came up!) and Crysis was using 6.5GB of RAM! Nice memory leak!

Short version - if you do things that will benefit from having more than 4GB (several concurrent Virtual Machines comes to mind), you will already know how much you need. If you don't KNOW you need more than 4GB, you almost certainly don't.