Vista memory

jamjar

jamjar

jamjar

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Hi All I have been reading about peoples views on Vista x64 ,and a lot say you need 4GIG of memory ,is this true or not ? or just if you run games ?
 
Average joes: 1-2GB recommended

Enthusiasts: 2-4GB recommended. Higher the better and future-proofed.

Remember 64-bit software uses more memory.

Don't forget about the graphics card memory though. If I had a choice between a 2GB RAM + 512MB GRAM system and a 4GB + 128/256MB GRAM system, I'd choose the first one. The more graphics memory you have - the more monitors you can have and the more windows you can have open without being paged out to system RAM or, god forbid, the page file.
 
Last edited:
NathanE said:
Average joes: 1-2GB recommended

Enthusiasts: 2-4GB recommended. Higher the better and future-proofed.

Remember 64-bit software uses more memory.
Click to expand...
thanks a lot ,but am i wrong in saying there isn,t a lot of software out for x64 yet ? but software running on Xp will run on x64 ok ? :rolleyes:
 
x64 software is quite rare yes but most next-gen games will probably offer a 64-bit compiled version of the game. x64 software will start to gain ground significantly this year.

Vista x64 can run 32-bit software just fine, with no negative effect on performance at all.
 
NathanE said:
Average joes: 1-2GB recommended

Enthusiasts: 2-4GB recommended. Higher the better and future-proofed.

Remember 64-bit software uses more memory.

Don't forget about the graphics card memory though. If I had a choice between a 2GB RAM + 512MB GRAM system and a 4GB + 128/256MB GRAM system, I'd choose the first one. The more graphics memory you have - the more monitors you can have and the more windows you can have open without being paged out to system RAM or, god forbid, the page file.
Click to expand...
How important will it be to have more than 256MB of graphics memory? I mean just for general Windows use rather than for games.

Will something cheap like a 256MB Geforce 6200 run Windows Aero perfectly?
 
dirtydog said:
How important will it be to have more than 256MB of graphics memory? I mean just for general Windows use rather than for games.

Will something cheap like a 256MB Geforce 6200 run Windows Aero perfectly?
Click to expand...
Aero won't really test the processing power of a GPU (so even a cheap £30 card is fine really), but it will test its memory. I wouldn't want to be running Aero on anything less than 256MB.

Consider this... a window of size 800x600 (and assume 32-bit colour depth) will use almost 2MB of graphics memory (and that's just a plain window with no child windows on it). Now think about how many windows you have on your PC... the taskbar, sidebar, every icon/bitmap, a handful of always open applications... it soon adds up.

With people running stupidily high resolution displays these days (1600x1200) a single maximised application can use up a fair amount of memory. Worse, if you have multiple displays, each with a maximised window on them ;)
 
I am currently running Vista on a 6600 with only 128MB of memory and it seems to be fine. I'm not sure how I can tell how much of the graphics memory is being used but there doesn't seem to be any slow downs and I can play CS:S fine. This is only a stop-gap card until I sell my old rig and can buy a better one, but I have no problems with it as it is now :)
 
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