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Vista and RAM Question????

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by smeagol75, Jul 15, 2007.

  1. smeagol75

    smeagol75 Guest

    Hello ALL,

    OK, a quick question for the Guru's! I have installed Vista Ultimate 32-Bit. I have upgraded my RAM (PC3200), and now have a total of 3GB's RAM(My Maximum RAM is 4 GB). My Question:

    Q: What performance gain, if any, would I garner by upgrading my RAM to 4GB's (Total - This is the maximum my system can handle))?

    Thanks ~~ Smeagol (Where is my Precious)
     
  2. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Having an even number of RAM sticks means your PC will run slightly better, and you can run an enormous amount of applications at a time. For the moment though, 3GB is all you'll need. I do quite alright with 2GB.
     
  3. Waymon3X6

    Waymon3X6 Regular member

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    Btw I think you need Vist 64Bit for it to recognize anything over 2GB of ram. I think the 32bit version will only recognize 2GB as its max.
     
  4. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    No it will recognize upto 4GB. I think if you go upto 4 GB, you can only use 3.5 gigs and the rest goes to something else.
     
  5. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Didnt know about that, I know 4GB is the maximum, but as far as I was aware you were allowed ot use it all.
     
  6. pcrepair

    pcrepair Regular member

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    depending on where you look systen info or system properties windows recognises the graphics ram as part of 'ram' so you will only see whats left after it's deducted the video ram ( bloody annoying) assuming it an amd board without dual ram capability you probably would'nt notice any difference with the extra gig

     
  7. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    I don't ever recall that being a problem, I though that was only the case for shared video memory because it was part of the system RAM?
     
  8. pcrepair

    pcrepair Regular member

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    oops
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2007
  9. pcrepair

    pcrepair Regular member

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    go to system properties in the start menu it will tell you the correct amount of ram
    then press the windows key and pause break to get system properties from system :) it will show you a different amount lol

    we have tried with thw help of various 'gadgets' in vista to use all our ram but it barely gets above 2 gigs even with virus checkers and anti-spyware AND video encoding going at the same time

    perhapd the 'new' games and programs will use it better might start using the quad better too
     
  10. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Doesn't explain how a slower CPU (2.7Ghz X2 versus 3.0Ghz C2D) runs significantly better using the same graphics card though. The only thing in it is that I have less RAM.
     
  11. gozilla

    gozilla Regular member

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    4GB is the max a 32bit processor (and OS) can support.
     
  12. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Indeed, although that has been said several times in this thread now, at least everybody knows!
     
  13. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    I found this on a motherboard's specs. This motherboard has no onboard RAM.
     
  14. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    yep, but as far as I was aware that meant you got 2046MB out of your 2048, for example.
     
  15. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Oh ok. I don't really remember but I had read the 3.5 gigs out of 4 somewhere. I just cant remember. By the way have you guys noticed any gains when you bump up the speed of your RAM. Does that give good performace boosts in Vista?
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2007
  16. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Lol how about XP? My motherboard won't let me install Vista. Not that I particularly want it anyway...
     
  17. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Or XP, it doesnt matter as long as there is a performance boost. I'm asking because I bought some PC2-8000 RAM and I was wondering how much of a Performance boost that would give.

    EDIT: Vista is really fun, why wont your motherboard let you install it?
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2007
  18. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    PC8000 won't make much of a difference over 6400.
    As for vista, a) I can't run all my programs on it, and b) I can only assume that one of my motherboard's integrated drivers doesn't support it, because the installer always crashes in the same place - Installing devices.
     
  19. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Oh well for 35 dollars it was still a good deal. Well I just switched back to XP, Vista was fun but the PC I am using right now it too old. My new build was gonna be nice, but they motherboard just HAD to be faulty. Just my luck lol.
     
  20. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Been there, done that!
     

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