2Gbs or 4Gbs of Ram?

[Mithness]

Hello, I'm getting some money soon and I'm wondering is it worth getting 4Gbs over 2Gbs?

I understand 2Gbs is gonna be a big improvement but is 4Gbs gonna be that big of an improvement when most of the time my system won't be using it?

Also will the things i list run better, Same, etc?

Rendering Videos (Will it render faster?)
Gaming (in General) will it raise my FPS any?

And my last question When I record with fraps currently My audio is always out of sync. If i get 2Gb or even 4Gb should my audio resync? and could it just be an issue right now that its not getting enough ram to actually keep up with the audio and stuff? I've read places that the system starts using my Pagefile and that slows my harddrive which in theory desyncs my audio and slows my game when recording?

Thank you
-Clay Ness

 

[venjhammet]

First what is the spec of your PC? How is your ram setup? Is it in 1 x 2gb ddr2 or ddr3? If you're planning on getting more ram atleast 4gb would be the minimum nowadays.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

Upgrading to 4GB might improve the performance of your recordings, yes. I say "might" because the RAM may not be the cause of the problem.

It would certainly boost the everyday performance of your system though. Your games and rendering would benefit too.

 

[Mithness]

Okay my current Specs are....

AMD Athlon 64 x2 5600+
ATI Radeon HD 4350
1Gb 667Mhz DDR2 (2x512mb)
160Gb HDD
500Watt PSU
Windows Vista

And why do you say 4Gb is the minimum? Most games don't even use more than 2Gbs. Espically at the resolution I play games at. I can see how Rendering would benefit 4Gbs. But 4Gbs Minimum? I think thats a little extreme for average computer users. I don't have a ton of money to spend on my PC.

Anyways. Could someone show me a benchmark or give me an estimate of how much of a performance increase i'll get from going from 1gb to 2gb or 4gb?

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

Here -- read through all six pages of this article: Is More Memory Better?

It's from 2008 (three years ago today, in fact), which is the last time 2GB was even considered adequate. 4GB is the minimum for systems nowadays.

When you can buy a 4GB kit for $50 or less, we're not talking 'a ton of money'. You will get an immediate benefit in almost everything you do on the computer. About the only thing that won't be boosted is web browsing, because that just doesn't take much memory.

 

[Mithness]

Well not not buying from an online retailer like newegg (wish i could) so the prices are a complete rip off. about $80 for 4Gb and $40 for 2Gb (you have to buy two 2x2Gb packs).

Thats why it is a lot of money i would rather keep for an upgrade on a harddrive,Gfx card and such. and Could you possibly explain why 4Gb is the minimum? Just wondering now. I'm reading through the article and its very informative. but why is 4Gb the minmum? is it because the OS nowadays use so much memory?

Thank you for your time
-Clay Ness

 

[Mithness]

Sorry For Double Post!!! I couldn't edit.

Anyways I have a question I found some 2nd Hand G.Skill 1000 Ram 2x2Gb for $40
Thats a perfect deal.

But the problem is I don't know the if my motherboard supports it.

Okay so my motherboard is a modified foxxconn Mobo
and it says

Memory: Dual channel DDR2 800 / 667 x 4 DIMMs, Max 4GB
Okay the G.Skill DDR2 1000 Runs at 1000Mhz but my mobo only supports 800mhz so will the ram work just downgrade the speed to 800mhz? Or what becuase i'm perfectly fine with that?

Thank you and once again sorry for the double post.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

With anything below 4GB, your system can run out of memory and start using the hard drive as memory space. The more memory you have, the less the system has to do this. 4GB is the minimum because that's when you really notice that the system has very few slowdowns caused by using the hard drive as memory space.

As long as you get DDR2 memory, your board can use it. It will slow down to match the speed of the other memory you have, which is 667MHz. Like I said before, just having more memory will speed up pretty much everything your system does.

 

[Mithness]

So let me confirm this because i don't want to waste my money. If i buy the g.skill 4Gb ram (2x2gb) running at mhz it'll go down to 667mhz? Why not 800mhz? I'm not keeping my ram from before, i'm going to take it out.

Answer this last question and I think I'm done. Just want you to confirm if that Ram will work in my mobo.

Thank you so much.
Clay Ness

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

I just assumed you would be keeping the other memory too. If your board will support 800MHz, then it would run at 800MHz. You may have to set it manually to that speed in the BIOS.

 

[Mithness]

I know each bios are diffrent but could you give me a estimated name for that option? and you are my best answer thank you.

 

[Mithness]

Best answer selected by Mithness.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

It's probably called DRAM Speed or DRAM Frequency.

 

[Mithness]

Okay. Thanks for all the help