John C

With the current cheap prices of RAM I'm so what temped to update my current system with another pair of them.

Currently my system has 3 gig of DDR2 RAM
(2x1gig , 2x512) at 333Mhz (DDR2 667)

I'm tempted to upgrade to 4 gig and throwing the old ones out

Now I have a few questions :

1) will upgrading to 4 gig have any big impact (I read somewhere that vista does not utilise more then 3 gig at a time ... yet games these days advice at least 4 gig ...)

2) Am I stuck to this frequency of RAM ? or is it possible to use another frequency (And would it benefit me ?)

3) Is it best to utilise 4 slots, or do 2 slots do the same trick ?

FYI, this is the RAM department of my retailer, in case you guys wanted to give me an suggestion

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Kind regards,

John

MIG-31

Upgrading to 4 GB should be the normal for everyday use today,At least that how i see it...

Just be aware that Vista 32Bit will only show 3GB in the system specs despite how much memory is installed... Same goes for XP,But im not sure about Win 7.

The only way to make use of more than 4GB of memory is to use a 64bit OS..

As you don't have any indication to what are your current specs are,its hard to give a better answer.

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John C

I currently have a Q6600 / 275GTX 896mb /3gig Ram / vista 32 if that helps ..

Tyrsonswood

It's a 32bit limitation, so Win7 32bit would be the same as Vista or XP in that regard.


At the OP.... I don't know that you would see any difference if you have 3 gig now......

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MIG-31

Thanks for that,Never used win7 32 Bit so i were not sure if that bug carried through.

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blibbax

1.) You'd need 64 bit Windows to make full use of it.

2.) You can go up to DDR2-1066 with that CPU, but only if your motherboard supports it. Otherwise you'll end up on the fastest speed that the RAM, motherboard and CPU all support. RAM speeds don't have a huge impact on performance, though.

3.) That said, if you can keep the channels symmetrical (e.g. 512MB+1GB in each channel like you have at the moment) it doubles available bandwidth. Whether you achieve this with 2 slots or 4 is up to you.

I think you'll find, however, that DDR2 RAM is far from cheap at the moment. DDR3 is not backwards compatible.

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Judas

Considering your current system specs..

Moving from 3gb to 4gb is going to marginal at best even if you move to 1066mhz ram.... sure it'll improve things.... but like i said.. marginally..

As stated above, 64bit windows is a real necessity, and the only way to do that is to completely REMOVE what you have currently installed, and install windows 64 fresh...

Keep in mind that even though you have windows vista 32bit, the same key that you have will work on the 64bit vista PROVIDED that if you have a retail vista key, you must use a retail disk... or if you have a oem key, you must use an oem disk. You can't mix those 2... Additionally, windows vista has all the different versions of itself under the bit version of the disk you have.. so if you get an oem 64bit home premimum copy, it'll also contain the basic/business/ultimate versions inside allowing you to punch in the key that you have and it'll automatically install the correct one.

and like blibbax mentioned.... DDR2 isn't exactly cheap specially compared to that of DDR3's equivalent density and yet considerably faster kits.

I would actually advise that if you were going to partake in an upgrade route... that you make it worth while by either A: moving to say 8gb of ram with a 64bit vista installation OR avoid the upgrade and postpone it until you have enough cash to move to a newer DDR3 platform such as the intel 1155 socket with a newer processor and the faster ram of your choice.

Mind you DDR4 has a potential for showing it's face in the next few months too..... so we'll see how that fairs.. cause if you can, best to wait so you can get in on the newest standard making it last longer and might be cheaper in the long run.

Really it's up to you in the end.

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blibbax

Given the current prices of DDR3 and the very slight nature of the performance increase from speeds beyond what's currently mainstream dual-channel, I'm not sure DDR4 is worth waiting for.

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Judas

That's the thing.... it's unknown.. when... and if they will be reasonable..

When a new line of memory launches, quite often the previous memory takes a short dip in value..... then things start to level out and then the new memory starts to drop rapidly in price where as the previous ram starts to slowly climb climb again due to lack of demand and shorting of supply.

Take DDR1 for example.. it's damn expensive compared to DDR2 currently and DDR2 is damn expensive to DDR3... i don't even want to mention SDRAM...

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blibbax

None of that means that it isn't a good idea to buy DDR3 while it's cheap :P

I bought my current DDR2 and a DDR2 motherboard when DDR2 was at its cheapest, and when DDR3 was fairly well established, in very early 2008. I don't regret it at all, one of the best buys I've made - a DDR3 motherboard and RAM combo at that time would have cost me far, far more for little or no performance gain.

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Dyre Straits

It's not a bug. It's simply a limitation of the 32-bit system...regardless of Windows version used.

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MIG-31

i know,I just call it a Bug.. I just were not sure if win 7 32bit were the same as the previous versions of windows.

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synthesis204

I would upgrade to at least 4GB (preferably 6GB or 8GB to be future proof for another 1-2 years?). Likewise, you will need to reinstall Windows (Vista or 7), but the 64 bit version (otherwise don't even bother upgrading).

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blibbax

Even at the current cost of DDR2? Are you sure it's worth it for the move from 3GB to 4GB? It's getting to the point where buying DDR2 is in the same order of magnitude of cost as buying a modern low-mid-end motherboard, CPU and RAM.

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John C

Ok, thanks for your input all.

I've decided not to buy the extra RAM, and keep my cash instead. Maybe I can still hold on my system for a few years and then buy a new one.

regards,
John

Dyre Straits

I think you made a wise decision at this time.

Just to provide a little more information about how the RAM and System Memory is allocated:

Since your graphics card has 896 MB of VRAM, that will get allocated first. The PC System will allocate some more depending on what devices are installed and operating. (Every device has to use some amount of memory.)

So, right as soon as you turn the system on, you're likely getting 1 GB or so of memory allocated. Since a 32-bit system cannot use more than 4GB of memory, there's a good possibility that the whole 3 GB of physical RAM you have installed at present is not even being used. So, you definitely are not a good prospect for increasing physical RAM at this time.

The whole scheme, however, changes if you install a 64-bit OS AND -- very important!!! -- your motherboard supports in excess of 4 GB of memory.

Saving the cash now for a future upgrade is a good choice.

Cheers!

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