2 gig ram and 2 gig of gpu - problem??

surfa · 22 Apr 2008 at 22:51

Hi guys hope you will be able to help.

A friend would like to build a system with 2 8800GT 1gig gpu's in sli mode with 2 gig of system memory.

He will be using vista ultimate 32bit.

Question is will this cause vista problems as the overall amount of memory will be around the 4 gig mark (I understand that systems with 4gig of system memory and a gpu say 768 meg cause problems) :confused:

Mojo · 23 Apr 2008 at 00:46

With the 32 bit OS Window can only use 4 gigs of RAM from both CPU and graphics card. I'm not sure how SLI works with graphics RAM, but with 2GB in there it should be ok. It's just at 4GB of RAM when the system can't use it (it shouldn't cause any problems)

surfa · 24 Apr 2008 at 08:37

Mojo said:
With the 32 bit OS Window can only use 4 gigs of RAM from both CPU and graphics card. I'm not sure how SLI works with graphics RAM, but with 2GB in there it should be ok. It's just at 4GB of RAM when the system can't use it (it shouldn't cause any problems)

Thx for the advice - makes sense!

Skeeter · 24 Apr 2008 at 10:09

First Question:

Why does he need 1GB 8800GT's? Does the fact there are hardly no 1GB graphics cards on the market not show him that 512MB is enought. Having 2x1GB does not give him 2GB Video memory either, as SLI just duplicates the memory usage accross both cars, so it will only be 1GB, just twice.

Second Question:

Why can he not use 64bit Vista? Its the same price?

Third Question:

Only 2GB of systems RAM? I struggle to see any situation whereby someone would ask for 2GB of Video RAM over 2 cards and Vista, yet only want 2GB of System RAM? WIth the way Windows addresses Memory and stuff, with 2GB of RAM on the graphics cards you will probubly end up with only 1.5GB of System RAM. And trust me, this isnt enough for Vista.

The spec sounds very off to me... Basically

Get 2x512mb 8800GTS's or GT's instead
Get 4GB System RAM
Get Vista 64bit.