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    Will 3gb of RAM make a difference on Windows XP?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Pandariffic, Dec 19, 2007.

  1. Pandariffic

    Pandariffic Notebook Guru

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    Pretty much self-explanatory I guess. Gonna be using it mostly for games. Is there a big difference between gaming with 2gb and 3gb?
     
    Pandariffic, Dec 19, 2007
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  2. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    For gaming, you won't find much (if any). The only time you'll ever use all 3gb of ram is when you multi-task like crazy and/or deal with files that are 100s of mb.
    For me, I use about 2.5gb of ram when I have 50+ webpages open, word, excel, powerpoint, msn, photoshop (with a few 200-300mb files) and winamp.
     
    David, Dec 19, 2007
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  3. Juz_Follow_ATI

    Juz_Follow_ATI ATI all the way

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    No way, Win XP isn't even designed to utilize more than 2GB of RAM. This is an exception in Vista however.
     
    Juz_Follow_ATI, Dec 19, 2007
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  4. Mark

    Mark Desktop Debugger

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    Is that true. I've been running XP at work using 3GB on average running analysis at work the past few days on a 32bit OS.

    To the OP, in XP it won't matter. 2GB is plenty for gaming and almost everything else.
     
    Mark, Dec 19, 2007
    #4
  5. Triple_Dude

    Triple_Dude Notebook Evangelist

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    Please don't even START that BS around here.

    The last thing we need are a bunch of misinformation regarding XP/Vista floating around here again.

    XP 32bit and Vista 32bit can BOTH address the SAME amount of memory. Which is about 3.5GB in actuality (It can address 2^32 bits of memory address, but 2^30 bits of memory address are reserved outside of the OS).

    Vista 64bit and XP 64 bit can also address the same amount of memory, namely 2^64 bits (once again, most likely 2^63 bits in practice).
     
    Triple_Dude, Dec 19, 2007
    #5
  6. chrisyano

    chrisyano Hall Monitor NBR Reviewer

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    XP can handle 3 GB of RAM. Not sure you'll see much improvement over 2 GB though.
     
    chrisyano, Dec 19, 2007
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  7. lifeflayer

    lifeflayer Notebook Guru

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    Can you not read? He said utilize and not address. Hence, superfetch.
     
    lifeflayer, Dec 19, 2007
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  8. Juz_Follow_ATI

    Juz_Follow_ATI ATI all the way

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    "Address" it but does XP really support 3GB? I know XP regonizes 3GB but it doesn't make good use of the 3GB so no difference really between 2GB and 3GB. Also, watch your language. The last thing we need here is violence so don't go on with the "BS" of yours.
     
    Juz_Follow_ATI, Dec 19, 2007
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  9. Tony_A

    Tony_A Notebook Evangelist

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    No single application (like a game) can address more than 2GB in XP without some unusual tweaking.

    This is a different limitation from the 4GB max 32bit OS address limitation.
     
    Tony_A, Dec 19, 2007
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  10. z-cool

    z-cool Notebook Guru

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    Wait a minute, are you guys saying that 3gb wont even improve load times regardless of OS (vista or XP)?
     
    z-cool, Dec 19, 2007
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  11. JCMS

    JCMS Notebook Prophet

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    For boot times, XP sees a BIG difference from 256 to 512, 512 to 1GB is noticeable when you got lots of programs. At first XP was designed as 128mb minimum. 256 recommended...

    In Vista, 1GB to 1.5GB makes a big difference for boot times, 1.5 to 2 isn't that big.

    In general performances, XP will be at its most with 2GB, it doesn't more anyway. Most games consumes like 600-800mb.

    Vista will always see a difference until 3-3.5GB because it was designed as "more used RAM= more performances"
     
    JCMS, Dec 19, 2007
    #11