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Vista: 2gb or 4gb?

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As I have to order a new DVD-RW (Mine randomly broke :() drive off of Newegg anyway, I was thinking about picking up an extra 2 gigs of memory for my PC. I currently have 2gigs of Corsair ram in my system (4-4-4-12 @ 2.1v):

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820145034

I was thinking, will an extra 2gigs help much? I noticed whenever I am done with playing Halo 2 or AOE3, my ram usage is lower than normal, which means Vista is filling the page file with its stuff instead. The extra 2 gigs should give Vista more room to leave its files in memory.

But, will it make much of a difference? Anyone seen noticeable performance gains? I saw this article, http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3135&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=0, which they have about a 10-15% average gain in FPS. That's a start, but maybe not noticeable without FRAPS displaying the FPS.

I mostly just do the occasional gaming, but that's mostly it.

The ram is only $29 after the rebate, but that's still $29 which could go to something else.

I also have Vista x64, so my computer is able to address that much memory.

Thanks. :toast:
 
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Maybe not the best technical advice, but the more the merrier. And as you found in that article, and I know there is a similar thread on here too, having more memory generally does help improve how everything runs, games programs, and that stuff. Personally I would get more ram.
 

panchoman

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vista is a memory hungry beast. 4 gigs would really help your system.
 
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when it comes to vista ... more the merrier ..
 
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Well as someone who recently switched from 2gb to 4gb in vista i have to say that there is a difference... so long as you're running something intensive. In just general vista use there wasn't a big deal but if i was playing a heavy game like crysis the extra ram helped huge. If its cheap just pick it up, i doubt ddr2 will get much cheaper.
 
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Hmm, alrighty. Thanks everyone. I dont run *too* much. I do however do a bit of video/image editing every once in a while, so it should help out there.
 
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I run Vista 64-bit and can tell you safe YOU NEED 4GB, i sold 2GB of my 4GB of A-DATA and dear god what a hit happend.... just trust me get a 2x2GB kit and you'll be happy.
 
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ya i would recommend 4gb on Vista 64, a 2x2gb kit would be better though. but it does make a noticeable difference
 
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Just bought 2 more gigs of memory.

Vista will be quite happy! :roll:

Thanks everyone again.
 

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Well, I decided to max the board out with ram. Everything seems a little crisper verses 4 gig. Plus as already stated in this thread, ddr2 is so cheap. Just do it.
 

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Lol, very nice.

Yeah DDR2 ram is so cheap now. There was an article on Toms which they had 8gb of memory, and they were even able to disable to pagefile. :p There was a bit of a performance increase as well.
 

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i wonder when ddr3 will be as cheap as ddr2 is now...
 
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Lol, very nice.

Yeah DDR2 ram is so cheap now. There was an article on Toms which they had 8gb of memory, and they were even able to disable to pagefile. :p There was a bit of a performance increase as well.

I thought about disabling the pagefile. Greg at the Mushkin forums said some programs look for a pagefile and will crash if not detected. Even though it has 8 gig to work with, go figure.:rolleyes: So I took his advice and set it to the lowest possible = locked at 400mb
 
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If you're gaming, 4GB. I'm gaming on two, and it's rough. Although, I do only have Vista 32 grr.
 
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I have found that OC the RAM is more difficult on 4 sticks of 1GB than it was with 2 Sticks of 1GB. For instance my Tracers would clock higher, now they just won't boot at the same settings they were on with 2?
 

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what happena if i add 2x1gb of ram to my current 2x1gb setup and the ram timings on both sets are different?
 

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I run Vista 64-bit and can tell you safe YOU NEED 4GB, i sold 2GB of my 4GB of A-DATA and dear god what a hit happend.... just trust me get a 2x2GB kit and you'll be happy.


i have vista x64 2x2GB i can tell you i also have a 2x1GB kit i throw in to tinker with stuff and the 4gb well lets just say ill only go up never down...ever

what happena if i add 2x1gb of ram to my current 2x1gb setup and the ram timings on both sets are different?

you adjut the voltage and timings to make them play nice but honestly if their both the same rated speed you should be fine its when their diff speeds they get angry
 
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I dont know about you Solaris, but when i played company of heroes trying to alt-tab out with 2GB was a NIGHTMARE, and even using my 8800GTS i was forced to use lower settings because my memory started becoming maxxed out.. When i finally got 4GB back i was far happier... and load times improved...
 

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Benchmark Scores I dont have time for that.
o ya most deff 4GB all the way lol when me and erocker and some of the other ut3 guys got together i was alt-tabing and posting while playing the game..smooth as glass to
 
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Mine runs a ok with 2 gig but an extra 2 gig will not only give ya better performance but also futureproof your system.
 
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2 more gigs are in the mail now. :D That will make my system have 4x1gb in it, which is pleanty for me.

I thought about disabling the pagefile. Greg at the Mushkin forums said some programs look for a pagefile and will crash if not detected. Even though it has 8 gig to work with, go figure. So I took his advice and set it to the lowest possible = locked at 400mb

Yeah. I think some of the older applications do that. One of them which I know is Photoshop, not CS2 or 3. When there isn't one they freak. :shadedshu
 
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I recently installed vista64 on both my PCs (one is the one shown in specs, and the other is a Media center with e4500, 9600gt silent) it was apparent that 2gb of ram was not enough for the type of useage of each PC... The first I use for gaming, with all settings on high, while many things running in the background, and the second (htpc) I use for movies, as a hi-fi, but also for decoding video and sound, with also many things happening in the background.... Now I use 4x1GB (geil) 800mhz@ :rockout: 960 mhz for the first and 4x2GB (mushkin) 800mhz, no OC.

The results are great....:D
To give you an example.... when playing {The Witcher} with only 2gb ram, the game would crash after about a couple of hours, but after adding the extra 2gb...Never had a single memory problem....:roll:
 
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All I can say is wow...

Newegg delivered them yesterday, speedy shipping!

Vista is much snappier, and alt-tab'ing out of anything is so easy. The 2 extra gigs even raised my FPS in Halo 2 from 29-30-ish to 41-42 fps on the title screen. Min-fps is also much higher. There used to be a 0-1 min fps (on loading), but now it hasn't dropped below 20. :twitch:

Such an improvement for just $29! :roll:

I'm quite happy. :D
 
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:toast: good to hear! enjoy.
 
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