How much RAM?

What do you ppl think of how much RAM to get?

1 gb or 2gb?

What are the cases in which you would need/notice 2gb?
Games? Video stuff? Opening lots of programs/windows at once(which I tend to do)?

Since 1 gb is likely 2 512's for the dual capability, if future upgrade is needed, complete overhaul and paying for 2 gb is required so I'm trying to decide how likely I'll need 2gb now or in the future.

 

I really don't think you'll see any benefit beyond 1GB. It depends on your use, but it would have to be some pretty heavy duty tasks that would use another 1GB.

 

only reason to go to 2G is some pretty heavy photo editting / video editting / intensive mathmatical modeling.

No gaming or multitasking benifit from anything above 1G.

 

So get 1 gb to go with 256mb or get 2 512's for dual? The 1 gb option seems better for upgradability. Also, somehow cheaper on crucial.

 

It costs about the same now to add a 1gb stick to your existing 256mb, vs. buying two new 512mb's. That being said, 2 512mb's will probably run faster than a 1gb and a 256mb because they can run in dual channel mode.

On my Sony S460, 2 512mb's benchmarked about 6% faster than the old 256mb and a new 512mb, or vs. a single 512mb. So I guess that 6% was due to running in dual channel mode.

So it's not an obvious choice. If you value speed most, get 2 x 512mb. If you value capacity most, get a single 1gb. If you value both, get 2 x 1gb.

 

But doesn't more RAM also upgrade speed?

 

If the single 1 GB stick is cheaper, just buy that so upgrading to 2 GB is easier later on. Dual channel works best if the system bus can handle the extra memory bandwidth. In the Sonoma chipset case, the system bus is 533 mhz so having 533 mhz x 2 (dual channel) makes little sense and the performance increase will be minimal unless you have integrated graphics.

 

Right on!

 

Well, like I said, my Sony S460 has the Sonoma chipset, and the system bus is 533 MHz with DDR2 SDRAM. And I found memory benchmark results for 2 x 512mb to be 6% better than a single stick, or mixing sticks. 6% is not much, but it's up to the buyer to decide if it's worth it.

 

But that's comparing 1 gb of ram with dual vs 768mb vs 512 mb. I'm gonna say 1 gb should do better than the other 2 by 6% or even more.

Unless you're telling me that 512 mb and 768 mb (1 512 and 1 256) were exactly the same such that more ram didn't make a differnce and that only when you went to 2 512's running in dual did it increase by 6%.

 

So what about getting 2 1gb sticks? Or does no one think I'll need it now or within 3 years?

I'd prefer to just get everything now if there's a high chance I'll need it.

What's the probability of 2 sticks bought independently being able to run dual if it's the same specs? This could influence my decision to buy 2 sticks now or just 1 stick.

 

2 gigs of RAM is a lot so unless you're doing some really heavy gaming, maybe something like guild wars or another mmorpg and going into the most crowded area you can find you're probably not going to use 2 gigs. If 2 sticks bought independently have the same specs you shouldn't have a problem running dual. There are some manufacturers that sell "kits" which are basically just RAM that they've tested and verified run in dual, but as long as the sticks have the same densities they should work. However if one of your sticks is faster than the other than the speed of the slower stick will be used.

 

Seems like your going to end up spending the money one way or the other. You can get the 1GB now and have 1GB plus 512mb and it won't be duel channeled, but you have 1.5 Gb's of RAM. Not too shaby. On the other hand you can get 1GB by (512mb x2) and you can duel channel, like renoguy said with a 6% better performance rating.

Now as game graphics get better or programs get larger, pictures/videos get better pixel's and resolutions. You'll want to upgrade your RAM again. It's going to happen. (Remember when you couldn't play your favorite game because your computer only had 128mb and you need 256mb?) It will happen again, and unless you do a complete overhaul and buy 2 GB wil (1GBx2) the 512's will be usless anyway. Or you can buy the 1GB now and you'll have 1.5 GB and your set on RAM for quite a while.

Just in my opinion I think it comes more down to budget.

 

"Remember when you couldn't play your favorite game because your computer only had 128mb and you need 256mb?"

LOL, I remember games running because I had only 64k. I think I needed to upgrade to 64k as a matter of fact, just to run Aztec.


1 GB is fine for now in almost any situation. I orderd my L2000 with 2 GB, but I will be using my laptop on the road and need to duplicate a n-tiered development environment.

 

There are far too many variables when it comes to RAM for us to show you how dual channel got that one guy a 6% increase. Some of these variables include the voltage that the chips run at, the latency, the type, the amount of pins, and also the brand name since they differ from alternate manufacters. You're going to get the 1gig of RAM anyways in your computer go with the single DIMM 1gb chip, not two 512's. You'll have 1.5gb of RAM and if you choose to upgrade up to 2gb in the future, you'll be saving money in comparison to if you tried to upgrade the 2 512's.

 

OK, what type of ram does it need now? Just search on newegg with ddr2 533mhz and all of that ram should work with it? Because i am upgrading to 1gb before christmas on my 9300, and i would like to know. (sorry for stealing thread)

Anyway, i think he means his ram speed was a 6% increase or soemthing like that.

 

You want 533mhz DDR2 SoDimms.

here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ce=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=381&Submit=Property