Upgrade to 8GB. Crazy or not?

Found good deal on 2x4GB sodimms so seriously considering upgrading to 8GB. Is this a total waste of money or will I see some performance improvements and general added smoothness in games. I find for example I already use around 3GB just playing crysis.

 

I don't think games are RAM-intensive, as opposed to CPU and GPU intensive...I'd say go for it because you can always switch out the RAM and HDD out of the current laptop when you're upgrading to a newer system.

I wouldn't expect much more performance out of 8GB than the 4GB that you have though...

Mr. Mysterious

 

you wont see much of an increase in performance. You really only need more than 4gb at the moment if you're into virtualisation and some other specialist things

 

bad advice. chances are OP's next system will run DDR3 or higher.

OP, imo, this "upgrade" does nothing for you. If you did certain rendering or ran a number of VMs simultaneously, it would make sense. but for gaming, it's clearly useless.

 

wouldn't it increase multitasking performance?

 

Ohhhhhhhhh right!

I forgot about DDR2 and DDR3! Thanks for that catch.

Mr. Mysterious

 

It counts on how heavily you multitask now. Remember Windows is running a cache and doing other things with the unassigned ram. as you have more of it available it then has to move less of it around such as designating what to and not to use etc. This then alows the system to feel a bit snappier launching those large apps, open lots of tabs or when you managing large files etc.

as a general rule of thumb, and again don't shoot me as this is IMHO, if you find youself at 50% usage of memory a size upgrade will start to show some improvements. Now these improvements may only be minimal to even almost immeasurable so YMMV. Now once you get to 75% or above you are really in need and again this is IMHO............

 

The truth of the matter is that you will not see performance improvements (except heavy multitasking as mentioned), but you may see/feel a more smoothly operating system.

Especially if you employ something like eBoostr for 2GB of the extra RAM.

Note that your boot up times will be longer with eBoostr, but once eBoostr's cache is filled, you'll really notice how 'snappy' the computer feels.

To avoid longer boot times with eBoostr, I suggest a very fast SD card that can be left in the notebook permanently.

Yeah, the $$ are starting to add up, but coupled with your 7K500, the computer will be faster than with almost any SSD you can buy currently.

How much of a deal is the RAM you're considering?

 

No point in upgrading beyond 4GB. 4GB is enough for your usage.

Consider an SSD or Momentus XT. They won't improve gaming either, except that the SSD will load games faster.

 

don't waste your money!!

 

3GB is enough for me for running every application

 

4GB is already enough for most person, more is for a good looking signatur like me. Will receive a X7200 next week with 12GB ram....

 

King of Interns,

Here is the link I had hoped to give you before (but couldn't find quickly enough):

See
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ades/441911-8gb-vs-4gb-ram-faster-system.html


There is no such thing as too much of anything - as long as you use it and it is cost-effective to purchase.

Hope this helps you in your decision.

Note that I am 'standardized' now at 8GB on all my systems - desktops and notebooks - and of course running Win7 x64 U. Trying to do equivalent work on 4GB systems feels like an excercise in torture.

If you need it, you will know right away. That is what return policies are for - try before you keep.

Good luck.

 

Thanks tiller and everybody else for the advice. I think I am pretty much of your opinion, I would be perfectly happy to see my system run much more smoothly. The ram would be pc5300 5-5-5-15 timings and 100 pounds for a 2x4GB kit.

Considering my current pc6400 kit only does the same timings at 1333mhz stock fsb anyways and I only do a 10% OC I don't foresee any drop in performance using this "slower" ram and it should be capable of hitting 365mhz over stock 333mhz.

Should I purchase ahead?

 

I wouldn't recommend upgrading the memory. Get a Momentus XT or SSD instead. You'll have much more benefit of it.

 

dont think you'll notice any difference. better to put that 100 quid into the SSD fund.

or for roughly 92 pounds u can get the momentus XT

 

Exactly. For much less or about the same amount of money, you can upgrade the actual bottleneck of the system - for a typical user, RAM is probably the last major component to be the bottleneck for a computer.

 

It won't really help with games unless for some strange reason you need to run several games at once and Alt+Tab back and forth.

The only real benefit to increasing to 8GB would be
- if you work with very large files in Photoshop, especially if you need to keep several creative suite apps open at once
- rendering large motion graphics or working with video editing apps that load large files into memory to process transitions, color timing, effects, etc.
- if you have some kind of math software that makes use of the memory for complex calculations

 

i suggest that u do not upgrade as u don't need it for uses.. i also have 4GB RAM and sometimes in gaming i hit 3GB... i'd suggest u get a SSD or a 500GB Seagate momentus XT.

 

I bought into the SSD market a couple of years back and was rewarded with 3 dud SSD's within those 2 years, ended up selling the fourth replacement at very cheap price to get my Hitachi. I won't return to SSD's until they are both much more reliable and affordable. Maybe a year at least when 150 quid will get me an SSD that will saturate SATA II, have a capacity above 200GB and last longer than 6 months to a year.

As for the Momentus XT I have heard they are noisy and they are first gen tech = in my experience best to wait till we have gen 3 or 4 before trying that one

As for RAM I may not "need" it but then again I don't really need my Q9650 most of the time (could have got a cheaper E7600 and clocked it to 4ghz+ but quad is still better) it is just nice to future proof my machine when I can lay my hands on affordable parts. Also DDR2 memory means time is running out as those modules will only rise in price. Perhaps not many think the same way as I

 

you're contradicting yourself.

LOL, this is just ridic. Win 7 implements caching in RAM itself and is quite good at it. eBoostr is doing nothing for you and will even reduce performance in some scenarios.

A very fast SD card? Are you serious?

 

If you find a real bargain in RAM, then there's no harm done if you take it. However, I believe the others are instructing you on the most practicable use of your hard earned cash. And adding more RAM is not it. More is only useful with specific programs like Photoshop or After Effects

 

No contradictions here - you're not reading/understanding what I wrote.

A computer with more smoothness or snap does not mean a higher performance computer - performance in my book is getting work done faster, not how immediate the O/S responds.

Have you tried eBoostr to know? In all the systems I have recommended eBoostr for, they showed noticeable increase in 'snap'. Even in my systems with Win 7 and 8GB of RAM eBoostr shows immediate improvements and huge improvements - I just need the actual RAM though for PS, Bibble, Capture One or whatever else I may be running my images through.

Yeah a fast SD card like an Sandisk III or IV - coupled with eBoostr will make any notebook run at it's best.

 

ok if u are going to use this laptop for 2-3 more years, it might be better if u bought the RAM now rather than later... but still i recommend u just save ur money.

 

I don't understand how an SD comes into play in a notebook's performance.I searched for threads that contain information about that but had no luck.

 

Even then, RAM prices consistently drop. In a year or so if the OP decides they need 8GB RAM instead of 4GB, then it might still be cheaper to buy new 8GB (2x4GB) than it is for an upgrade today, not to mention getting a few bucks for the 4GB currently in the laptop.

 

An SD card (a fast one, not a 'generic') will improve performance when used as eBoostr's cache.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...pgrades/439258-eboostr-4-0-beta-extended.html


The above link should give you all the info you want/need.

 

Thanks!!!Very interesting thread.

 

That's the very reason I purchased a $26 class 10 SD card to do and can't wait to try this.

If I could afford 8GB or more memory, I would get it. If money is not a problem, I’m getting the best I can. I see people in today’s technology world, still looking for stripped versions of software…are you kidding me!? There’s no need to strip a computer of software and running processes as if it was made in 2004 or something. The faster they get, the more we want to have them do nothing, LOL! When I get a file, I want to be able to open or read that file without going to the internet to find the appropriate program to do what should already be on my computer.

Anyway… 4GB should be enough, but it doesn’t mean you have to stop there if you can afford more.

I would not tell that to a potential buyer^^^^^^^^

 

4 GB should be good for what you are doing. You won't be crazy, but you won't see much gain.

 

you should have bought an Asus G73.. its comes with 8GB RAM stock