4870 1GB

[ev0styLe]

Hey there so basically im gettin a new build and using XP 32-bit. Im going down the i7 route so buying into triple channel 3GB RAM. Can u spot the problem?

32-bit only addresses something like 3.25GB memory and i was hoping to get 3GB of RAM and a 4870 1GB which is a total of 4GB addressable memory, which means id be losing out on approx 0.75 of RAM.

So to try and tackle this i was thinking about downgrading to the 512MB 4870, but my question is how much of a difference will the 512MB video memory make for me at 1920x1080?

Cheers.

 

[gurusan]

Why not just upgrade to a 64bit OS?

 

[ev0styLe]

Aint got the cash and really cant be bothered just yet im just going to wait for Windows 7

 

[gurusan]

Well it depends which games....I am running my 512mb 4870 on 2048x1152 and it handles mirrors edge with 2X AA perfectly....CoD4 with 4xAA but plays better overall with 2xAA.

I really hate anything below 4xAA though so have a GTX 260 216 coming later today.

 

[RoEy]

Don't mess around changing your card. Either get Vista 64 or keep XP and live with it.

RoEy

 

[errata]

I'm not 100% sure for pci-e v2 but I dont think you can add the mobo ram to the gpu ram in that way and automatically breach the 32 bit windows 4gb addressable limit.

The OS and chipset treats the video card differntly to main ram with various techniques to speed up block transfers.

 

[mmj_uk]

I think a 1GB graphics card with 3GB main memory should be fine.

I'm pretty sure that my previous setup with a 1GB GTX280 and 4GB RAM 32bit Windows XP was able to address 3.25GB RAM.

 

[ev0styLe]

Alright thanks guys i will stick to my original specs and go for the 1GB 4870.

 

[explicit4u]

Aint got the cash and really cant be bothered just yet im just going to wait for Windows 7

LOL, People still pay for software

 

[benwoodcock]

Just use the 64 bit beta of windows 7 till August

Won't the comment advocating piracy be deleted?

 

[explicit4u]

No, not piracy, i just know someone that works at a World of PC's

 

[willy]

So you don't have to pay for the software because of that

 

[Blackberries]

OP, the max addressable memory of 32-bit operating systems is 4GB. If you got a 1GB 4870 and 3GB of RAM, you'd be able to use almost all of it - except for a tiny amount given over to the motherboard (processor?) cache.

When people say you can only use 3.5~ GB of memory with 32-bit, they usually mean 3.5GB of RAM, they have already taken into account address space given over to the graphics card.