HOW MUCH RAM ?? 2 or 4 GiG ??

Scorchio101 · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:48

I know many of you will just say 4 gig! discussion over - get back in your box! But seriously what are the benefits of more ram in vista, running an overlcoked Q6600 with SLI?

Will games run any better?
Will I notice any difference in Vista?
Is it worth the extra cash to match my PC8500 OCZs

IS 4 GB OVERKILL??

Cr0fty · 15 Oct 2007 at 17:52

Depends what speed, i think.
Advantages in xp would be 0 pretty much. However vista uses a lot of ram on its' own so it will leave you with more free ram to run applications with.

Scorchio101 · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:00

I have a little RAM monitor on the sidebar, and it normally tells me I'm using about 50% of available juice. That's the "glass half full/empty" dilema all over isn't it, heh! Well I don't know..

Also I can't see what I'm using when I've got my gaming hat on.

QlimaxUK · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:03

i agree XP=2GB Vista=4GB
providing that money isnt an issue between buying 2/4 gb id say 4 gig overwise if ** a budgeter like me then 2 GB should b just fine for vista

QlimaxUK · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:06

Scorchio101 said:
I have a little RAM monitor on the sidebar, and it normally tells me I'm using about 50% of available juice. That's the "glass half full/empty" dilema all over isn't it, heh! Well I don't know..

Also I can't see what I'm using when I've got my gaming hat on.

ram monitor... i just ctrl-alt-tab, click performance tab, done

superplay · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:17

I have 4GB on vista

When my system boots and it is fairly idle with firefox open (I have some startup programs MSN messenger and sidebar gadgets etc) I use 33% of my RAM

So I would say go for 4GB.

steve258 · 15 Oct 2007 at 18:55

QlimaxUK said:
ram monitor... i just ctrl-alt-tab, click performance tab, done

Mate you need to sort out your sig ASAP before one of the dons sees it!! Read FAQ with regards to sig rules.

@ OP: as said if money no object then defo go for 4gig but then you wouldn't have asked in the first place

There are ways to reduce the vista RAM usage so you have more spare mem for games and apps. Make sure you don't run the dreamscene and run msconfig to turn off all services and apps that you don't need so it doesn't load them at start up. So I'd say 2gb is sufficient for Vista. I'm not a big fan of occupying all 4 DIMMs and the 2x 2gb modules are just so darn expensive.

Scorchio101 · 16 Oct 2007 at 23:49

Thanks for the advice guys, it sounds like 4 gig is the best for Vista. If you're gonna do something, you might as well do it the expensive way, err.. I mean, might as well do it right!

HummuH1 · 17 Oct 2007 at 09:50

Surely it depends on 32bit or 64bit Vista. On 32bit, my understanding is that max memory recogniseable is 3mb (may be 3.5mb). So 4mb could be a waste of cash if your going 32bit.

I've just moved to a Vista 32bit rig which is pretty rescource hungry. I play all the latest games at max settings and the only time I've run into a memory issue so far is with Sup Com. That was easily rectified by modifying the exe to allow a larger than 2gb limit (inc virtual memory).

2gb of good ram on 32bit Vista should be fine for now.