The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    4 gigs of memory - useful at all?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by decal, Jun 30, 2007.

  1. decal

    decal Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Here's my situation - I am going to be using Vista Ultimate with Dell's 256 mb 8600 GT. I read a while back that because of TurboMemory even the jump from 2 gigs to 3 showed significant improvement in terms of FPS. I am far from a hardcore gamer, but the price differential between 3 and 4 gigs isn't too bad for me. Thoughts?
     
    decal, Jun 30, 2007
    #1
  2. ATP

    ATP Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    189
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's probably overkill for most applications, but if you're running 64 bit OS than at least you can have access to it...I guess :D.
     
    ATP, Jun 30, 2007
    #2
  3. decal

    decal Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    From what I understand even 32-bit Vista can handle 4 gigs. 64-bit Vista can utilize much more astronomical amounts.
     
    decal, Jun 30, 2007
    #3
  4. roflcopterdown

    roflcopterdown Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    97
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    the only reason i dont see getting 4 gigs is if you want to save money...id go for the 4gigs but thats just me
     
    roflcopterdown, Jun 30, 2007
    #4
  5. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    95
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    If you have the money, why not :)
     
    furrycute, Jun 30, 2007
    #5
  6. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

    Reputations:
    1,432
    Messages:
    2,578
    Likes Received:
    210
    Trophy Points:
    81
    ^Because prices will fall. By waiting you'll be able to save $. So if you never use all of the 3 GB you'll have after you upgrade, there's no point in upgrading the other 1 GB stick Dell gives you to a 2 GB stick right now.

    And 32-bit operating systems are limited to about 3.2 GB of addressable memory. You can put 4 GB or even more in them if you want to (and the motherboard supports it), but they'll only be able to utilize about 3.2 GB. This applies to Windows Vista 32-bit as well as XP, ME, etc. 64-bit Vista can handle a lot more; the exact amount depends on what version you get - Microsoft put artificial constraints of 8 GB and 16 GB on the Home Basic and Home Premium versions of the operating system.

    reference
     
    Apollo13, Jul 1, 2007
    #6
  7. Gi1b0

    Gi1b0 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    -19
    Messages:
    292
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Gi1b0, Jul 1, 2007
    #7
  8. hatchoo

    hatchoo Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    25
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5

    question: so even if the specs on the laptop says that RAM is upgradable to 2gigs, i can still put 4gigs of RAM in there and vista will recognize it? example is HP dv6000t. peace!
     
    hatchoo, Jul 1, 2007
    #8
  9. decal

    decal Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    decal, Jul 1, 2007
    #9