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    will 4 gb ram make a difference

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by niroj, Sep 28, 2007.

  1. niroj

    niroj Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a vostro 1500 with 2gb ram will the extra 2gb make a diff in gaming I have vista I hate vista but I need it to run dx10.

    oh and will the x7900 cppu work with my vostro?

    btw I got an 8600m gt gpu and a 1.6ghz core 2 duo
     
    niroj, Sep 28, 2007
    #1
  2. simonfzhao

    simonfzhao Notebook Evangelist

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    i heard that it will..
    i'm guessing that you run x32, so even if it only reads 3.5gb it'll still run smoother
     
    simonfzhao, Sep 28, 2007
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  3. Eleison

    Eleison Thanatos Eleison

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    4 GB will make a difference, but keep in mind that it makes a much bigger difference with Vista 64 than with Vista 32, since you will only have an effective 3-3.5 GB of RAM in Vista 32, while Vista 64 will utilize all 4 GB.
     
    Eleison, Sep 28, 2007
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  4. niroj

    niroj Notebook Enthusiast

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    is ultimate x64?
     
    niroj, Sep 28, 2007
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  5. Eleison

    Eleison Thanatos Eleison

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    Ultimate can be 32 bit or 64 bit, depending on the option you order. Every version of Vista is available in both flavors, so you have to know what you're buying.
     
    Eleison, Sep 28, 2007
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  6. Evolution

    Evolution Vox Sola

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    There is a x64(64bit) version of all vista editions. So yes there is a x64 version of ultimate but you will have buy a copy of it if your notebook only came with the standard x86(32bit) version.
     
    Evolution, Sep 28, 2007
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  7. niroj

    niroj Notebook Enthusiast

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    it says x86 is that better than x64 and will it run all 4gb better than x64
     
    niroj, Sep 28, 2007
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  8. R4000

    R4000 Notebook Virtuoso

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    x86 is the 32-bit edition.
     
    R4000, Sep 28, 2007
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  9. niroj

    niroj Notebook Enthusiast

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    ****in vista no good piece of **** now I gotta shell out extra for the worst OS ever
    is there a cheaper way to upgrade from 32 to 64?
     
    niroj, Sep 28, 2007
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  10. Eleison

    Eleison Thanatos Eleison

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    Honestly? If you're going to have to pay to take full advantage of 4 GB, just content yourself with an effective 3-3.5 GB. The performance increase wouldn't be worth the price you paid for it.
     
    Eleison, Sep 28, 2007
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  11. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    There is a 64-bit version of WinXP as well. You could use that if you want to go 64-bit but don't like Vista.

    Otherwise, use the 32-bit version. It's not like there's a big difference between having 4GB and 3.6GB available RAM.
     
    Jalf, Sep 28, 2007
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  12. ToxicBanana

    ToxicBanana Notebook Consultant NBR Reviewer

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    Why would adding more ram make a difference in gaming? I thought most ram was used to improve texture quality, which would be used by vram. Are there any games out there which will buffer 4gb of texture in main ram?
     
    ToxicBanana, Sep 28, 2007
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  13. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Good point. I'd have to see some benchmarks before I believe 4GB is faster than 2GB in gaming.
     
    Phil, Sep 28, 2007
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  14. AKAJohnDoe

    AKAJohnDoe Mime with Tourette's

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    The source document on memory in 32- & 64-bit Windows is here with the hardware requirements as well.
     
    AKAJohnDoe, Sep 28, 2007
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  15. surfasb

    surfasb Titles Shmm-itles

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    The only performance difference you'll see going from 2gb to 4gb of RAM will be shorter loading screens. If your system isn't paging to the harddrive at 2gb, then it won't make any difference to have more RAM. I'd don't know of any games that will stress out a 2gb RAM system.

    Like an earlier post, more RAM will help with textures, but that's Video RAM. and that is only if you are running at high resolutions (Past 1600 i think).

    You do take a performance hit running XP64 of Vista64. I'm not sure from what. Take a look at www.firingsquad.com .
     
    surfasb, Sep 28, 2007
    #15