3GB 32-bit vs 4GB 64-bit RAM QUESTION

The price difference between 3GB and 4GB ram is $100. Nevermind the fact that I can buy RAM separately, is it worth getting a 64-bit OS with 4GB RAM over a 32-bit os with 3GB ram?

The laptop is HP tx2500z (tablet PC) and uses AMD Turion X2 Ultra (PUMA) with DDR2 RAM @ 800Mhz.

 

You dont have to necessarily have 32bit with 3GB or 4GB and vice versa. Both versions will run quite well with either amount of RAM. If you use hardware which does not have 64bit drivers then it might be a good idea to get the 32bit OS otherwise go with 64bit and the 3GB RAM. If you feel like the need for extra RAM then you can expand later and since you already have a 64bit OS it should recognize and use all of it

 

Unless you really need 4 Gb, 3 Gb is enough.
But come on, you can have 4 Gb of RAM from newegg for as little as 40$ .
Check out the RAM deals thread.
Get the minimum from the seller and buy the ram yourself.
Heck,after getting the 4 gb, sell the ones you had and cut the price even more.

 

Exactly.
I'd never opt for a RAM upgrade from a laptop dealer/manufacturer, 'coz you invariably pay way over the odds for it!

All laptop manufacturer's are the same though.
My Dell XPS M1730 only had 2GB RAM as standard, and Dell wanted £70 to upgrade it to 4GB.
I bought myself a 4GB (2x 2GB) Patriot Signature dual channel kit for £65 instead, and fitted it myself.
So I've got that 4GB kit installed, plus the original 2GB RAM as well... all for less than Dell were charging for a 2GB - 4GB upgrade


And even if you're only using a 32bit OS, you're still as well getting a 4GB kit (IMO).
The price difference between 3GB and 4GB will be negligible, and you'll be getting a paired dual channel kit

 

Yea,people need to educate themselves before buying, there are so many deals around that you would not believe it...
Get the minimum from the reseller and upgrade yourself the rest: RAM, HDD, Optical Drive etc.

 

One word of caution, though.

If you purchase RAM by yourself, keep the original RAM around. If your system needs to go back for servicing, the company won't make themselves responsible for the RAM (or third party stuff) you installed.

If the RAM you installed is determined to be the cause of the problem, they will replace it with their own.

Also, make sure to backup and ERASE any important data or sensitive information you may have in the system.

Also, if you have devices that do not have 64-bit drivers available for them, the won't work on a 32-bit OS.

 

Kids Moidock is saying the "clown porn" always gets wiped before his system goes in for service.

 

U cud use 4gig ram in a 32 bit os since the physical memory limits of both xp and vista is 4GB....although it will normally not recognise the full 4gig
Using 32bit XP or Vista there is a theshold of 3GB RAM - any graphics cards for example a 256MB graphics card will use 256MB of that reserved 1GB upper memory that XP/Vista is unable to access for that. So your computer will only see 3.25GB of RAM, for example if you have 32-bit OS & 256MB graphics card.
if u wanna fully utilize or go above 4 gig and ur laptop can support that (which i think it wont), it wud be sensible to install a 64bit os....but u wud need the 64bit hardware with its drivers installed which is a bit of a hassle....
And as far as a 32-bit Vista and Windows XP are concerned the entire world stops at 4GB RAM. There is no way you can access more than that.

2[raised to power]32 = 4,294,967,296
4,294,967,296 / (1,024 x 1,024) = 4,096 (4GB)

 

I dont think a laptop is hardly ever put under high enough load to use 4gb of ram, 3gb should be more than enough.

Using 4gb would require very specific tasks to be done on purpose or benchmarking. I have had 2gb, 3gb, and 4gb of ram and honestly in my laptop it perfomed the same, unless like I said I had specific tasks like say a RAM preview in Adobe After Effects. More ram = Bigger preview.

Desktops however can be pushed to do harder tasks like gaming at higher resolutions and settings, and that will use more ram thus making 4gb more of a valid option. Plus I just got 4gb of ram for my bosses desktop I built for a full 88$.... and it came with a free advanced version of 3dmark Vantage.

When its that cheap, why get less than 4gb?

you can always use 4gb in 32bit also, you will get probably 3.2 to 3.5gb of ram used out of the 4 and thats not bad (what I would do if I was buying a 2x2gb kit to save money) 64bit is not bad, but it has some issues. So for me for now I will stay with 32bit, and when I upgrade to 8gb of ram in my desktop I will swap to 64bit.