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    What's the current standpoint on RAM on Vista?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Waveblade, Sep 13, 2007.

  1. Waveblade

    Waveblade Notebook Deity

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    I assumed 2 gigs is good enough even for gaming. But is 3 gigs or even 4 gigs excessive?
     
    Waveblade, Sep 13, 2007
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  2. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    AKAJohnDoe, Sep 13, 2007
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  3. ppen1

    ppen1 Notebook Guru

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    and on that note, is dual channel still better compared to single? what if i were to go from 2 x 1gb to 1x 1gb and 1 x 2gb to get 3gb altogether. any disadvantage?
     
    ppen1, Sep 13, 2007
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  4. Waveblade

    Waveblade Notebook Deity

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    Well obviously that whole limit is there. I'm more interested in 3 GB vesus 2 GB of RAM.

    Is it worth the cost?
     
    Waveblade, Sep 13, 2007
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  5. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    Unless you're doing some really RAM intensive operations, I don't think it's worth the cost to get 3GB. Specially since for most laptops this involves getting a 2GB stick which is reasonably more expensive than two 1GB sticks.
     
    Commander Wolf, Sep 13, 2007
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  6. Waveblade

    Waveblade Notebook Deity

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    Pretty much what I've been thinking.
     
    Waveblade, Sep 13, 2007
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  7. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    On Intel does not make much difference 2X1GB or 1X1GB +1X2GB, about 3% bandwidth. At the top off the hardware section, "Hardware General Info Sticky Index **Read Before Posting**" there is a minor sticky with more detail called "Dual-Channel RAM Guide" more detail. Here is Link
     
    powerpack, Sep 13, 2007
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  8. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    2 x 1GB = 2GB is what I would (and did) do
     
    AKAJohnDoe, Sep 13, 2007
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  9. Les

    Les Not associated with NotebookReview in any way

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    Its going to bug the heck out of me but I read an article that, somehow, 3Gb is slower than the 2Gb ram. Has anyone else read this?
     
    Les, Sep 13, 2007
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  10. powerpack

    powerpack Notebook Prophet

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    The theoretical bandwidth of 2X1GB 667Mhz is10.4GB/s, theoretical for 1GB + 2GB 667Mhz is 7.8GB/s ( a mix of 10.4GB (128 bit) and 5.2GB (64 bit)). The actual difference on a Intel is only about about 3%. If you had to use more than 2GB RAM clearly 3GB would be faster as the 3rd GB would be accessed at 5.2GB/s and the 2GB configuration would have to hit the page file at 40MB/s to 60MB/s.
     
    powerpack, Sep 13, 2007
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  11. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

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    I've never used a full 2 GB even with a virtual machine running that takes up one GB - though of course I wouldn't try to run a very memory-demanding application with the VM running. If I quickly close everything (VM + other stuff), Vista's physical memory usage falls under 500 MB (Home Premium). So unless you're exceeding 1.75 GB on XP, 2 GB should be enough for Vista.

    So yes, right now, with almost all uses, 3 GB is excessive. And that's not even counting in the price difference for a 2 GB stick over 2 * 1 GB.
     
    Apollo13, Sep 13, 2007
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  12. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    My honest opinion is that at this point in the evolution of computing if you need more than 2GB you probably should not be using a PC; you've outgrown it.
     
    AKAJohnDoe, Sep 13, 2007
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  13. Aluminum

    Aluminum Notebook Consultant

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    2gb

    Two 1gb sticks for price/convenience/compatibility/dual channel*. Easier to buy, easier to sell existing memory and resell the 2gb if you ever go 64bit later. (drivers suck too much to do it for most people right now)

    *a few percent is still a few percent, and its more than the imaginary nothing going from 2gb to 3gb gets you doing just about anything. (if you really needed it, you'd usually be doing 64bit, 4gb or more and definitely not on a laptop)

    3gb is also borderline to all the 32bit memory problems with windows.
     
    Aluminum, Sep 14, 2007
    #13