Is it worth getting 4gb of ram

J

Jon Boy

New Member
Hey im running Vista Home Premium 64bit with 2gig of ram. At the moment the gadget by Microsoft says about 43% of my ram is being used and I'm at idle. Do you think its worth upgrading to 4gb? (can't do 3 gig as they only sell my sticks in pairs).

What performance benefits would I actually notice? and would it push my 3D mark score over 10k (check sig). I know I can probably get almost 1000 more by OC the processor (apparently) but I don't want to void warranty. So comments please.

Jon
 
Since you are using the 64 bit OS then I would say go for the extra 2 gigs. With vista 2 gigs is a minimum amount of ram to run (I know they say 1 gig is mim, but I don't believe it), so any increase would be noticeable. If I were running vista (which I don't plan on doing any time soon) I would want 3 gigs. Since I would be running the 32 bit OS and not the 64.
 
Yep, the 64 bit Vista will be able to recognize the 4GB you put in. While 32 bit OS could only go up to 3GB I believe.
 
RAM does not increase performance unless you actually utilize it. So, no, it really is not worth it. You could have a Terrabyte of RAM and it wouldn't increase your 3D mark score say over 2Gig, because the application won't utilize more than that.
 
Kornowski dont get 3 Gb please ! 2 Gb with Duel channel is so much more valuble than 3 gb single channel IMO and benchmarks prove it
 
How does having two channels makes it more efficient than having a single channel?

I know, noob question, I'm trying to learn lol.
 
Im not 100 % sure but i think its the bandwidth you gain is a lot.

My course tutor benchmarked 2 x 512 stick in duel vs 3 x 512 in single and the 2 x 512 performed 5 % faster despite being less ram
 
again, dual channel does not significantly increase performance over everything. What it does, is it pairs memory sticks into a parallel type mode, so instead of the processor sending out instructions to 1x 64bit channel the RAM is paired into a 128bit channel increasing bandwidth. However, if you are already over clocking and thus making your system less stable this can cause issues. it does increase performance but again only if you utilize it. It basically increases bandwidth from the processor to the memory controller, to the RAM itself, to the rest of your system.

It really depends on how you build a system. Otherwise Dual channel could increase performance or it could not do anything really at all. It also depends on how you use it.
 
paratwa said:
Since you are using the 64 bit OS then I would say go for the extra 2 gigs. With vista 2 gigs is a minimum amount of ram to run (I know they say 1 gig is mim, but I don't believe it), so any increase would be noticeable. If I were running vista (which I don't plan on doing any time soon) I would want 3 gigs. Since I would be running the 32 bit OS and not the 64.
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My dorm mate's eMachine has Vista w/ 512 MB of RAM. SLOW AS ALL HELL. i have 4 GB w/ Vista 64 and it runs pretty smoothly. I say go for the 4 GB.
 
Wasn't that cute how some guy gave his advice on how much memory he thinks Vista needs when he doesn't even own Vista? Awwww.

Anyway, I have Vista on two machines and the desktop ran fine for a week on 512MB after one stick went bad. 1GB is stellar. It has 2GB now which is noticable in Battlefield 2 but not a whole lot in Explorer.

Contrary to what people apparently believe, if your machine is using 43% on idle now, which is normal, it won't just go down to ~21% when you add another 2GB. By that logic, if it were using 51% now, it would want 102% if you were to downgrade to 1GB.

The system takes note of how much is available and rations it to programs that want some. Your RAM usage will drop some (not by half) and programs will run a little faster.
 
taylormsj said:
Kornowski dont get 3 Gb please ! 2 Gb with Duel channel is so much more valuble than 3 gb single channel IMO and benchmarks prove it
Click to expand...

word.

And for the thread starter, it depends on what you're using vista for. If you're a gamer then you should upgrade. or if you use your pc for media then yes. But if you use it just to surf the web, I wouldn't bother.

Or you could go back to xp...
 
Kill Bill said:
4096mb will go better with vista and quad. I hear since it uses 4 cpus each cpu uses 1gig
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You heard wrong. CPU's don't "partition" ram. The ram consists of nods (kindof like a graph) and the instruction set tells it where the data is stored on the ram so they don't need to partition it up. Now cache is a totally different story, but i will trust your abilities to google ;)

As for upgrading ram; it might help, it might not. Occasionally look at your ram usage and see if it ever goes into virtual ram, if so then upgrading ram will yield better response times.
 
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