64-bit Vista w/ 2GB of RAM?

I plan on upgrading to 4GB later on this year, but is it fairly smooth to run 64-bit Vista on 2GB of RAM?

 

Vista Home Premium, Business and Ultimate x86-32 and x64 require at least 1GB memory to work....
2GB will be fine....
3-4GB is ideal if you do loads of multi-tasking and running memory-hungry software..!!

When you want to use a program on the computer, the operating system will copy the program into your RAM from the hard drive, since working in RAM is faster. Of course, many programs won't fit all the way into the RAM, so the system selects the parts of the program it needs as you work. The more RAM you have installed on your machine, the more programs you can have open, the faster your computer will be able to deal with those programs and the faster you can get done with what you're doing.

 

It should be fine.

 

I plan on having Firefox, Photoshop, and a third demanding program on.

 

2GB with Vista is approximately equivalent to 1GB with XP.

 

Firefox will be fine, Photoshop also demands a good CPU....

 

Right now I run Firefox, Photoshop, and occasionally a third program on a 1.6Ghz Pentium 4 w/ 512MB RAM and XP.
It is getting slow these days.

The new processor I ordered is a Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz (centrino 2).

 

I run WoW and iTunes together most of the time fine. Sometimes I have youtube playing and a torrent in the background as well. I have 2 GB RAM and Vista x64 on my Vostro 1400.

 

I read that the next version of Photoshop will be GPU accelerated. Current version is not.

2GB RAM is not a lot for Photoshop.

 

Don't 64 bit programs use more memory, therefore requiring more ram to make 64 bit OS's useful?

I always thought that anything less than 4 gigs would be pointless on 64 bit Vista. Would 3 and 2 gigs still be adequate?

 

A little bit.

2 gb will be plenty for typical desktop use on either 32-bit or 64-bit.

No. There are other advantages to 64-bit besides the ability to use more memory. Like general performance, and in Vista's case, improved security.

Here's how performance compares with just 2 gb: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1354

Yes, in general. I'm not so sure about Photoshop's RAM usage though. I mean I'm sure it'll be usable, but if you're a heavy-duty user, you might benefit from more I'd think. But that's ok, it's easy to upgrade if/when you need it.

 

Yeah I read about that too, that the next version would include some 3D-rotating, and animation and stuff like that....

To the OP: a 2.0+ GHz CPU with a Bus Speed of 800MHz and a gig of ram runs CS3 absolutely fine.....

 

I runs it fine untill you're loading some bigger images into memory, then your PC will start swapping like a madman. Which causes serious performance loss.

 

2GB with photoshop, and vista will always be a stretch.... Even with vista 32. I have been using Vista Business 64bit, with 2GB RAM, on my laptop for quite a while now.. The OS memory footprint is about 760 MB.. For regular use, it's fine.. Although under memory intensive apps... like photoshop, AutoCAD, advisor etc, it starts struggling.. Same with running a virtual machine..

I usually don't do anything intensive on my laptop, so it's fine..

On my desktop, I found that 4GB was the point at which swap file usage reduced to almost nothing.. I am currently at 8GB, and I have rarely seen ram filled beyong 60%, with the swap file disabled, photoshop, autocad, and Crysis running simultaneously.. This was when I was just trying to fill the ram up.. The CPU(Q6700) usage spiked to 100% several times, under that kind of load..

 

Well, less ram - less multi-tasking | more ram - more multi-tasking

Single applications - CS3, Crysis, CAD, etc etc will run fine with 2GB

 

Photoshop will run but you'll need more RAM to work comfortably.

If you load a 2GB Tiff image in Photoshop Vista will start swapping already, causing mayor slowdowns.

If you use layers and masks even more memory will be needed.

There is a reason photographers prefer working on OS X with 8GB.