RAM questions...

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05-05-2007, 08:35 PM
timtim86

RAM questions...

Good evening gents,

At the minute I have two sticks of corsair 1GB XMS2 6400 5-5-5-12 nestling in my Athlon 5000+ system. I feel like I really should take advantage of google checkout/low RAM prices and get a bit more, so I have two questions for you...

Should I get exacly the same RAM again, or just buy another pair of something else that's maybe better and put it in the first two slots? Will it make any difference?

Should I buy now or will the prices fall even more?

Thanks, Tim

P.s. Do I actually need any more?!
05-05-2007, 10:12 PM
aidanjt

Read the 60 or so topics recently posted about SDRAM. Pricing is constantly in chaotic flux. Whether you need more or not is entirely dependant on if you use all 2Gb you have at the moment.
05-05-2007, 10:15 PM
redddraggon

Quote:

Originally Posted by timtim86

Good evening gents,

At the minute I have two sticks of corsair 1GB XMS2 6400 5-5-5-12 nestling in my Athlon 5000+ system. I feel like I really should take advantage of google checkout/low RAM prices and get a bit more, so I have two questions for you...

Should I get exacly the same RAM again, or just buy another pair of something else that's maybe better and put it in the first two slots? Will it make any difference?

Should I buy now or will the prices fall even more?

Thanks, Tim

P.s. Do I actually need any more?!

What OS are you running?
05-05-2007, 10:18 PM
aidanjt

It doesn't matter what OS he runs, it only matters what programs he runs. If his program usage constantly goes over 2Gb, then he'll need more. It's really that simple.
06-05-2007, 12:33 AM
GSte

Quote:

Originally Posted by aidanjt

It doesn't matter what OS he runs, it only matters what programs he runs. If his program usage constantly goes over 2Gb, then he'll need more. It's really that simple.

The OS does matter in that Vista uses more RAM at idle, and 32bit will only recognise 3GB on average, thereby being a bit of a waste of money buying 4.

Buying better memory won't make much difference, in that you'll have to run it at the speed of the first lot. Prices are supposed to fall further later this year.
06-05-2007, 02:23 AM
aidanjt

Vista consumes the same amount of memory idle as it does active, the cache and buffer sizes are irrelivant as they shrink as program resource needs increase. Use Linux and you wont have the great approximated 3Gb limit, that 32bit windows has, or the 64bit driver problems. And last but not least, SDRAM prices have always been more chaotic than oil, and that wont change any time soon, if ever, so rumours and speculation of price drops on DDR2 memory is nothing but, because nobody knows, not even micron.
06-05-2007, 02:29 AM
GSte

I meant to say that Vista uses more RAM than XP:O_o1:
06-05-2007, 06:32 AM
wja96

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSte

I meant to say that Vista uses more RAM than XP:O_o1:

How much RAM it uses isn't really important, what is important is how much memory it can address and unfortunately 32-bit Vista is exactly the same as 32-bit XP, so the maximum it can actually address is a little over 2GB, although it can be fooled into showing it has 3Gb with a test switch, it can't actually use any more than 2Gb without swapping out to the page-file.

I'm quite confident that RAM prices will fall further in the high summer.

All that is really required for a further price-cut is for users to hold their nerve and not to buy now.
06-05-2007, 08:30 AM
redddraggon

x64 Vista has no problems with drivers, maybe x64 XP did, but vista doesn't.
06-05-2007, 10:07 AM
merdat

YES, About 2 gig for XP and 4 gig for Vista
06-05-2007, 11:43 AM
GSte

Quote:

Originally Posted by wja96

How much RAM it uses isn't really important, what is important is how much memory it can address and unfortunately 32-bit Vista is exactly the same as 32-bit XP, so the maximum it can actually address is a little over 2GB, although it can be fooled into showing it has 3Gb with a test switch, it can't actually use any more than 2Gb without swapping out to the page-file.

? I have been reading up a bit about this recently, and this is how I understand it so far (but I could well be wrong).... 32 bit versions of windows can address 4GB virtual memory space in total, half for all processes and OS, half for individual process use. When the amount of RAM processes are using reaches 2GB, they will start to 'eat into' the OS/process section. Nothing will be swapped out to the pagefile until all available RAM is full.
06-05-2007, 07:45 PM
wja96

I'm not disagreeing with what you are saying fundamentally, however in the real world 2Gb is plenty for the 32-bit versions of XP and Vista and Vista 64 can use more RAM if available.

Don't forget that the graphics cards, HDD buffers, BIOS etc. have to be in that 4Gb of addressable memory as well, and that's not allowing for any switches you may be using to load as much of windows as possible into RAM.

This is very well covered in 70-270 (XP Pro certification exam texts).
06-05-2007, 08:15 PM
moogle

Quote:

Originally Posted by redddraggon

x64 Vista has no problems with drivers, maybe x64 XP did, but vista doesn't.

yea, but i hated the seperate program files folder for 64 and 32 bit versions. wish that would be just one folder.
06-05-2007, 09:43 PM
GSte

Quote:

Originally Posted by wja96

I'm not disagreeing with what you are saying fundamentally, however in the real world 2Gb is plenty for the 32-bit versions of XP and Vista and Vista 64 can use more RAM if available.

Indeed the graphics card etc have to be accounted for. What I originally meant was that because vista uses 550MB at idle as opposed to XPs 250MB (on my systems at least), if you are playing a particularly RAM hungry game, you can find yourself surpassing the 2GB mark (even if by a small amount).