4 gig ram kits?

[dangel]

I'm thinking of doing a rebuild - not because I need to (obviously) but because of itchy wallety syndrome

Are we likely to see 2 x 2gb ram sticks anytime soon? Or is it better (from the prospective of C2D overclocking) to go with 4 x 1gb? More sticks usually means less speed - or is it a non issue on the C2D platform?

I actually _want_ about 3gb of ram but as you can't have 2 x 1.5gb sticks I may was well go to 4gb.. I'm probably going to run 64bit Vista as well as 32bit XP.

Nothing too immediate - my priorities are currently:
1. new graphics (R600/8900/8800)
2. rebuild system for no good reason

[shaithis]

I don't notice any difference in my overclocks between 2 and 4 sticks of RAM.

I know on socket939 there could be a huge difference though.

[GSte]

http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html

http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html

Unsurprisingly, quite high latencies.... personally I'd get 3GB of fast stuff and stick with XP. My bro has had Vista Home Premium since release and it's dreadful. Looks nice, but aside from the fact that loads of things aren't compatible with it yet, it's just so fiddly getting at things now, loads of useful stuff is hidden away and some stuff you can't even access any more, such as local security policy.

Still don't think there are any real-world uses for 4GB yet either.

[dangel]

I'm quite happy with Vista (I use it at work) so it's a non issue. I'm going to have to run it anyway at home for crysis etc eventually and (luckily) it's free for me. I'm dual booting anyway.

Thanks for the links - those kits are a bit cheaper than 4 x 1gb. Am I likely to get lower latency with 4 x 1gb? Does it matter than much?

[Lucio]

It's not worth going to 4GB of RAM atm unless you're using 64bit versions of the operating systems. Unfortunately due to physical address limitations in Windows Vista the PC probably won't recognise all the memory present with a portion of it used by your video card's RAM

[chuckskull]

4x1GB wont do you any harm on C2D, when running 1:1 you can take a E4300 or E6600 to 3.6 before the RAM even reaches it's default frequency and running the mem higher/tighter doesn't have much benefit.

It's probably going to be my next upgrade on Vista 64, after the 8800GTS coming today

[dangel]

It's not worth going to 4GB of RAM atm unless you're using 64bit versions of the operating systems. Unfortunately due to physical address limitations in Windows Vista the PC probably won't recognise all the memory present with a portion of it used by your video card's RAM

Why would the video card use my system memory? Vista 64 ought to recognise it all shouldn't it?

[dangel]

4x1GB wont do you any harm on C2D, when running 1:1 you can take a E4300 or E6600 to 3.6 before the RAM even reaches it's default frequency and running the mem higher/tighter doesn't have much benefit.

Ah good - so really it's about price.

It's probably going to be my next upgrade on Vista 64, after the 8800GTS coming today

Nice

[GSte]

Why would the video card use my system memory? Vista 64 ought to recognise it all shouldn't it?

He meant that your vid card memory will have to be addressed and so will 'use up' some of the total amount that can be addressed. 64 will recognise all of it, yes. Isn't DDR3 supposed to be out Q3 this year?

[Griffo_]

4GB would rock! 2GB is more than enough though, imo.

[dangel]

He meant that your vid card memory will have to be addressed and so will 'use up' some of the total amount that can be addressed. 64 will recognise all of it, yes. Isn't DDR3 supposed to be out Q3 this year?

Well thats ok then - I couldn't see the reason on a 64bit OS