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    3bg vs 4gb

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by SWAT296, Jun 25, 2008.

  1. SWAT296

    SWAT296 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just got a HP Pavillion dv6000. Its a t5550 3gb of ram and 320 hdd. I have Windows Vista 32 bit OS. Is it worth 30 bucks to get a 2gb stick of ram to replace the 1 gb stick paired with the 2gb. I use my computer for internet browsing, itunes, music downloads, school use and some very slight gaming. Will i notice a difference if i put 4gbs of ram in. I know vista 32bit only displays 3-3.5gb of ram. Will it still utilize the 4gbs and not show it or will it not use it at all?
     
    SWAT296, Jun 25, 2008
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    It will not use much more RAM past 3GB. Unless you have having memory issues, I say stay at 3GB.
     
    Greg, Jun 25, 2008
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  3. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    I am with Greg on this. If having memory issues would only help if say 200MB would make a difference and that I don't see happening.
     
    powerpack, Jun 25, 2008
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  4. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

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    You will likely notice a decrease in performance rather than an increase when adding over 4294967296 bits of address space to a 32 bit system, as the system will "trip" a bit over the extra hardware. Kinda like how using a drive over 32GB worked on chipsets supporting only up to 32GB, but was generally a bad idea and was best to clip the drive.

    Unless you plan on installing Vista X64, I think keeping it at 3GB is your best option.
     
    Hep!, Jun 25, 2008
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  5. Thibault

    Thibault Banned

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    The 3GB of RAM is your better option here. First of all like you know your computer won't be able to see all 4GB (and no it won't use all 4GB either, it simply can't recognize that amount of memory). So you're only going to get an additional 0.5GB of RAM maximum, which I doubt you'd notice from the what you use your computer for.
    For what you do and what you'll get from the upgrade, go for the 3GB.
     
    Thibault, Jun 25, 2008
    #5