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4GB ddr3 vs 8GB in windows 7

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Napoleon

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2002
Location
Richmond, VA
I'm building a mid-range AMD Quad comp for a friend, and im wondering if it's worth the extra 100 or so to get 8gb over 4? The comp is for a casual gamer and someone that likes to do a lot of photo editing. here are proposed specs for reference:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX945WFGMBOX

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
(looks like good bang-for-buck)

ASUS EAH4870/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( purchased )

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL ( looking at any 2x2GB DDR3 1600, cl9 is fine for our purposes )

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Antec 900 Case (purchased )

FSP Group Blue Storm Pro 500 500W ATX2.3 / EPS 12V 2.92 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply (purchased)

Thanks for the help!
 
Not a bit, having 4gb is plenty.
Sometimes. He said his friend is doing some photo editing. If this is "casual" and he won't have a lot of files open, then 4gb is enough. During some of my product reviews, I've pushed my system past 9gb memory usage. It is easier than you think when you are running a lot of programs.
 
Interesting, I mean I'm going 6GB on my core i7 comp, I imagine itll be sufficient.

What kind of tests did you do to hit the 9gb mark?
 
What kind of tests did you do to hit the 9gb mark?
I'm not sure what you are asking, it wasn't a test. I had that many programs open in combination with 100+ images that it just took up that much space. Obviously, this is an extreme example, but it should be considered.
 
If you're going to use or planning to upgrade to a 64 bit version, then better get an 8gb but if you're just using 32 bit and not planning to upgrade then 4gb is more than enough.
 
If you're going to use or planning to upgrade to a 64 bit version, then better get an 8gb but if you're just using 32 bit and not planning to upgrade then 4gb is more than enough.

Does a 32 bit OS use 4GB?

Just wondering because when I check while I had a 32 bit it said 3GB usable.
 
Does a 32 bit OS use 4GB?

Just wondering because when I check while I had a 32 bit it said 3GB usable.

Actually it uses 3.25+ if you have 4gb, but if you only have 3GB of ram, you will only see 2.9GB. There's not much of a difference if you're just browsing/folding but you'll notice the difference when you start to multitask.
 
If he really does a lot of photo editing then i would really say go for 8GB RAM. When i have Lightroom 3 + CS5 open, it is EASY to use 90% of my 6GB of RAM. Especially when i merge multiple photos like panoramas or HDR images exc. I also keep a good amount of page filing on a separate hard drive so it doesn't slow things down.
 
+1 ^^

I've maxed out my 4GB on Photoshop CS5 with half an hour of editing a single photo. He's going to want that 8GB.

4GB is plenty for gaming. Not for photo editing.
 
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