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- Oct 23, 2008
Anyone know if there is a real advantage to using 4 gigs of ram vs. 8 gigs of ram in gaming for vista 64?
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4 gigs vs. 8 gigs Vista 64
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- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
no.
if your not using 4G you wont use 8G.
if your running out of ram, then get more, but if your not using it, then no, you would not see any advantage
if your not using 4G you wont use 8G.
if your running out of ram, then get more, but if your not using it, then no, you would not see any advantage
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My thinking is this, Why did you get 64 bit if you aren't going to use more than 4gb, it's a waste. I had 2gb and 4gb before my Vista Ultimate 64bit upgrade and since then I've upped to 8gb on each of my two machines, and I'll not be looking back.
Now the real question in my mind is, Are you running DDR2 or DDR3? There is a huge price difference.
Now the real question in my mind is, Are you running DDR2 or DDR3? There is a huge price difference.
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- Vancouver, Canada
What do you do that eats up 8 gigs of ram?
Most games don't touch 4gigs of usage. Maybe if you are folding some super large protein molecule...
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2008
- Location
- Lewisville, TX
What do you do that eats up 8 gigs of ram?
Most games don't touch 4gigs of usage. Maybe if you are folding some super large protein molecule...
I haven't touched 30% load on the memory, but I like to have the headroom just in case
I won't be upgrading from 775 for a good long time to come and I got such a good deal on the 16gb, I couldn't say no. Plus with Vista, there is no such thing as too much ram
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- Mar 6, 2004
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The benefits are fairly limited and pretty use specific. As guv said if your not using four, then eight isn't going to help anything. Granted memory is dirt cheap at the moment and 4GB's of vanilla stuff can be had for $40. If you plan on keeping your system for a few years, sure go ahead as you won't be out much. keep in mind that it may hurt your OC if your on the upper end.
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currently, no need at all for 8gb. However im like oldskool, I like the headroom and since DDR2 is so cheap I just went straight out for 8gb.
It all depends what you want from your system
It all depends what you want from your system
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2002
4Gigs is basically all you do need on a typical 64-bit home machine even with gaming. If you do 3D Animations/Photoshop/Video Editing, then I could see more being used, but thats IF the program even has a 64-bit executable.
When I play games and have my typical items in the background running (no services killed either) I can get within 500-600 Megs of all my memory being used. But mind you I have probably 500-600 being used by Vista's quick launch service that will release memory when needed.
I've personally never run out of memory, gaming, and doing 3D animations. Not saying I haven't gotten close but there is alot of room to play with. As well I don't think any game except Crysis w/ texture addons and maybe HL2 with the Cinima Packs that even go over 2Gigs of memory usage (64-bit EXE only).
When I play games and have my typical items in the background running (no services killed either) I can get within 500-600 Megs of all my memory being used. But mind you I have probably 500-600 being used by Vista's quick launch service that will release memory when needed.
I've personally never run out of memory, gaming, and doing 3D animations. Not saying I haven't gotten close but there is alot of room to play with. As well I don't think any game except Crysis w/ texture addons and maybe HL2 with the Cinima Packs that even go over 2Gigs of memory usage (64-bit EXE only).
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- Feb 26, 2003
i just ordered another 4G myself to give me 8G in my rig, i want to play around with some VM's and the ram would be nice!
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- Vancouver, Canada
they have 8gig kits now by aeneon (qimonda) 2 x 4gig DDR 800 CL5.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33663&vpn=AXT960UD20-25D&manufacture=Aeneon / Qimonda
Screw the 8gigs... go 16gigs.
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- Jul 17, 2003
You know guys, we (as a group at large) do this all the time. With Win 98 we said, "Oh, you'll never need more than 64 MB". With XP we said, "Why would you ever have more than 1 GB?"
I'm not falling for that any more. I'm upping from 4 to 8 GB when my new RAM arrives on Tuesday.
There is something to living in the 'here and now' but in technology, you gotta look to tomorrow.
I'm not falling for that any more. I'm upping from 4 to 8 GB when my new RAM arrives on Tuesday.
There is something to living in the 'here and now' but in technology, you gotta look to tomorrow.
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- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
i cant say i ever beleived that hype people said when they say "you dont need more then X" we will eventually, it is progress,
history should teach us this in computers for sure.
i remember when i bought my 40G harddrive that was almost $500, i filled it in a few days! but it was the largest at the time.
history should teach us this in computers for sure.
i remember when i bought my 40G harddrive that was almost $500, i filled it in a few days! but it was the largest at the time.
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- Aug 19, 2007
Yellowbeards test 3 vs 6GB:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=585154
Don256us said it best, I'm not falling for that any more, +1 to that. My RAM was delayed but tomorrow for sure ill be at 6GB, thats what i had in my old core2 main rig also.
Otoh, to balance cost/performance is a bit different, if you are one of those who always have to justify the spendings and want upgrades to "make sense" then 4GB is still the sweet spot.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=585154
Don256us said it best, I'm not falling for that any more, +1 to that. My RAM was delayed but tomorrow for sure ill be at 6GB, thats what i had in my old core2 main rig also.
Otoh, to balance cost/performance is a bit different, if you are one of those who always have to justify the spendings and want upgrades to "make sense" then 4GB is still the sweet spot.
I have 8GB on my system. With this I just have my page file turned off and I can still run anything without worrying about running out. I sometimes leave programs (multiple games) running in the background and just don't bother shutting them down.
Even with all this 6GB would be more than enough, but dual channel, price... I just go 8GB.
Even with all this 6GB would be more than enough, but dual channel, price... I just go 8GB.
I'm in the same boat as OldSkool with staying on 775 for a good long time. I got a great deal on 8GB of DDR2-1000, so even though I won't utilize it right now, RAM is something that can definitely future-proof a machine possibly more than any other component. I use my rig mainly for gaming, with a Q9550 and 8GB, I should be able to push a good four to five years out of this machine with an occasional GPU upgrade.
So the short answer that everyone else has given - no, you probably aren't going to see a huge improvement. But if you're using DDR2, why not go ahead and get it? The prices are right and you won't have to worry about memory for a good long while, unless you decide to jump on the i7 train.
So the short answer that everyone else has given - no, you probably aren't going to see a huge improvement. But if you're using DDR2, why not go ahead and get it? The prices are right and you won't have to worry about memory for a good long while, unless you decide to jump on the i7 train.
