4gb laptop memory? why the hell not =)

http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index...._id=22540&msgcount=1&overclockid=0#msg1404502

Thats a link to a 2gb stick of ddr 2 667 memory that you can get for 39.99 CAD

so think about this, for 80$ you can max your laptop with 4gb memory, since your laptop is probably 32 bit windows should only recognize 3.5gb as system memory

So set your integrated graphics to use as much memory as possible,
or if you have a graphics card capable of using system memory, 8400m gs fill that out...


looks like a pretty cheap big improvement for most any laptop..

 

im going to buy the ram now, and get the laptop after my trip to vietnam!

so my 850$ CAD vostro 1500 will have 3.5gb of system memory and 500mb video card, thats pretty decent


I also appologize for the doublepost. my bad

 

Thats an interesting theory. Let us know how it works out.

Grand Admiral

 

When the VGA card has to go outside of the onboard RAM for more memory performance severely degrades.

This includes going through the PCI-E bus, and memory controller to get to system RAM.

 

Having 3.5GB of RAM available does not mean you have a 500MB video card. It means that all the system devices need 500MB of addresses to assign all the hardware in the system.

 

as the other person above posted, it is all in theory.


what do you mean Greg? so 32bit cannot handle 4gb of ram because it required 500mb to assign all hardware in the system? what the heck

also, if the 8400m, x1400etc have "hypermemory"
why in the **** is it even a viable feature if it degrades performance? honestly adding even another 128mb to this card should increase performance, as games are now actually using more than 128mb vram, so it should increase performance, yes it reads the memory slower but it is a increase.


Okay so 32bit windows can only have 3.5gb of ram,
can someone clarify if that includes video ram or not?

Either way im purchasing at least 1 of these sticks to up the 1gb ill get from dell which means ill have a 512mb stick to smash on the street =p

 

No, its the simple fact that a 32-bit OS cannot address that much memory.

You need 64 bits to address more than 3.5Gb.

Let me clarify a bit on the Hypermemory thing as well. The feature does not degrade performance - it simply gives the card a way to go when it runs out of room. Instead of losing all hope of running a game with more details, it may at least run with lowered settings.

Think of it like a dyno chart - horsepower drops off after its peak RPM.

 

That is basically what is going on here. The amount does vary by computer though...in my case, only 3.0GB is available on my 8710p.

I'm fairly certain that some of the 4GB addressing space is taken for the VRAM, so yes there is some correlation. But the system has to address all your USB controllers, audio devices, HDD parts, serial ports, parallel ports, video ports, networking devices, chipset parts, processor parts, keyboards, mice, IRQs, XIRQs, etc, etc, etc. Basically anything connected to the PC needs an address, otherwise the processor could not 'talk' to it.

There is a total of 4GB of addresses in a 32bit system, exactly what 2^32 equals. So if there were no system devices (which is impossible) you could see all 4GB of RAM. There is no 3.5GB barrier pre-programmed in. Your laptop needs 512MB of address space for everything, my 8710p needs 1GB of address space...which is why you see 3.5 and I see 3.0. Even though I have the right chipset and everything for more address space, I am currently limited by the 32-bitness of my OS.

I've taken some classes on this, and in all circumstances external RAM is always given addresses last to guarantee all on-chip (or on-laptop) devices get addresses. It is actually quite fascinating how a uP manages to do that at all.

 

So in conclusion you will get zero benefit from any RAM the system cannot see. I would also like to add that there are MoBo/BIOS limitations as to the amount of RAM some computers can use.