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2gb ram worth having?

dave343

dave343

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Im pondering getting 2gb ram though Im curious if it would even be benificial. I currently have 512 and use my comp 90% for gaming. Will windows and games take advantage of the extra memory? Anyways here are my other specs:

P4 530J
Asus P5GD1-VM
512mb Samsung 400
XFX Geforce 6600 256mb PCI-E
Windows XP Pro SP1
 
1024mb would be the best way to go. For one reason, you have a decent amount of memory. Another reason is that with 2x512mb, there isnt as big of a performance compromise as with higher densities, meaning you can tighten the timings and overclock more.
 
What do you mean by density and performance increase staying with 1gb? I'd probably grab 3 more sticks of the samsung 512mb 400 which are cas 3. (not great but not generic ram either). The board supports dual channel too so they'd be running in DC aswell right.

I know alot of current games and apps can't use the 2gb but it sure sounds cool.
 
dave343 said:
What do you mean by density and performance increase staying with 1gb? I'd probably grab 3 more sticks of the samsung 512mb 400 which are cas 3. (not great but not generic ram either). The board supports dual channel too so they'd be running in DC aswell right.

I know alot of current games and apps can't use the 2gb but it sure sounds cool.
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry, I'm used to nforce3 and their lack of ram slots.

Well, that should be fine. I was thinking you were going to get 1GB sticks. It just seems like overkill to get 2 GB. That money could be spent elsewhere on the computer to get better performance. Maybe get one more 512 stick and a new processor? Not sure what Intel processor you could get that would outperform what you have for only $160 or so, though, since the P4's are expensive.
 
Windows can use the extra memory technically. However none of your applications or games are likely to bennifit from memory over 1GB.

1GB is really the way to go. If you've got a single 512MB chip you need to get a second to run in dual channel mode. If your running in single channel mode you are robbing yourself of alot of performance.
 
If you do lots of photo work it helps hugely. especially scanning at high res with colour correction. also, using photoshop benefits from 2gb as well.
finally tighter timings do not make a huge difference in games, only benchmarks
f
 
ya on my work computer iv got 2gb, and it still occasionally gets slow during long xsi renders. For average stuff no 2gb is overkill but for pro level apps its a good investment.
 
Go for 1.5 GB. One stick won't be in dual channel, though. I believe someone ran some sort of benchmark a while back showing that on higher settings doom3 alone uses more than a GB of ram. (Anyone have a link?)
 
I noticed a difference when playing WoW on my computer when I installed the 2nd gig of ram. Other games not so much.
 
Just noticed that he has a 6600. Could got for a 6600gt if you play games more than the other apps these people are listing.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-078&depa=0

191$ for retail xfx 6600gt pci-e on newegg.

They also have a refurbed one for 150$,pci-e on newegg as well.

That should give you some idea of the price range, and I'd think this would help more than having 2gb of ram.



[Edit:] The one problem I can see with this option right away is that it'll probably cost more. Say you go with the retail card, that's 196(added shipping), but at the same time, 512mb of ram should still be a good improvement, so I guess that might be around 60-80$. That's 256-275$ vs the 160$ I think I heard being tossed around earlier. So even if you sell your old video card for around 75$, which may be a hassle, you'll be spending like 50$ more than you otherwise would have.
 
Well I got the 2gig's tonight. Cost me 250cnd tax in. Infinion ram DDR400.
1 stick is Samsung and the other three infinion, runs ok in dc mode.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
Just noticed that he has a 6600. Could got for a 6600gt if you play games more than the other apps these people are listing.
Click to expand...

Im getting the GT probably soon, this 256mb 6600 wasn't worth it.
 
Andrew_Carr said:
Getting both? Sweet :D
Click to expand...

I want to sell the 6600 256mb but the problem is its PCI-E and not many people have migrated over yet so its a hard sell. Im gonna get the GT probably this week and in the mean time try to dump the 256mb. 6800 series is too much. I set my limit for $300 for a video card. (CND $$)
 
robberbaron said:
1024mb would be the best way to go. For one reason, you have a decent amount of memory. Another reason is that with 2x512mb, there isnt as big of a performance compromise as with higher densities, meaning you can tighten the timings and overclock more.
Click to expand...
that is correct.
 
dave343 said:
I want to sell the 6600 256mb but the problem is its PCI-E and not many people have migrated over yet so its a hard sell. Im gonna get the GT probably this week and in the mean time try to dump the 256mb. 6800 series is too much. I set my limit for $300 for a video card. (CND $$)
Click to expand...


If you are willing to bend that limit a bit, you might be able to find an X800XL retail somewhere for msrp, that would be 299$ US and perform a lot better than a 6600.
 
Depends on what you're going to do with it. At work 1GB isn't enough since I run VMWare to make Windows apps available on my Linux machine there. For home 1GB would be enough if it were't for a programming project I'm working on. I expect my current 2GB isn't going to cut it, and I could very well end up seriously thinking about 2GB modules for this 8 slot dual Opteron board.
For a gaming + "general use" rig just get 2x512, but for pro level apps - particulary video stuff and very high res graphics work - more may well be worth it.
 
what about the newer games? the new splinter cell demo is crazy intensive. couldn't 1.5 gb be the new requirement for the year? i'm going to add 2x256mb of OCZ 3700 rev3 to my 2x512mb of the same in my asus sli mobo.
 
spaceman said:
what about the newer games? the new splinter cell demo is crazy intensive. couldn't 1.5 gb be the new requirement for the year? i'm going to add 2x256mb of OCZ 3700 rev3 to my 2x512mb of the same in my asus sli mobo.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that Brother in Arms highly reccomends 1gb.
 
i really feel strongly that 1.5 is going to be the new standard. 1 gb has been a req amount for over a year now so ud think it's time? anyone ever done a 1.5gb dual channel setup?
 
If you are into playing MMO games, more memory will help you... a lot. This goes for gpu memory as well.

Example: Playing Planetside with 1GB is very possible, but painful. After upgrading to 1.5GB and it was MUCH nicer. I'm sure 2GB would be enough. ;)

You don't have to spend much either. I have the cheapest sticks I could find and have no problems at all. (Haven't seen a BSOD in almost a year)
 
For most tasks, 1 gig is enough, but as Longhorn is coming way, it might be an idea to upgrade.
 
Only now I am planning my move to the A64 platform, basically cos I read at same topic i can't recall which or where that mentions of an EA internal guy saying the upcoming BF2 will require 2 gigaputz of ram to deliver top smothness due to it's outdoor and moving objects detailing.

Then I am f****d, this upgrade will suck me and I won't buy the Mustang 2005 this year ;) and but since I know where this will end: ...yes this is true all rigs here at the AE stand running BF2 are dual core A64s with 2Gb ram and X850XT PEs with 512Gb but this is no concern cos those with single core A64, 1Gb ram and 68GTs with 256Mb with run the game "pretty fine"... fine like when chicks say "it's fine" and you some how know it's no more fun for all eternity...

So we are all f****d! ... -- and how about Pentium 4 EE, how does the game perform on it? -- buek buek dude! (fat programmer lolling) if you plan the write mommy letters as a camped typist in the battlefield your Pentium will do "just fine"...

Bomb me I couldn't resist that! But enough of that, do you guys know of some site with the noble mission of testing A64 x Chipset x DDR compatibility?

I thing not necessarily a huge yes/no cross data sheet but a list of successful modules in terms of chipset recog and stability would be fine. This is mostly cos speedy Corsairs and fancy Ocz are out of my pocket's reach...
 
fullgrip said:
Only now I am planning my move to the A64 platform, basically cos I read at same topic i can't recall which or where that mentions of an EA internal guy saying the upcoming BF2 will require 2 gigaputz of ram to deliver top smothness due to it's outdoor and moving objects detailing.

Then I am f****d, this upgrade will suck me and I won't buy the Mustang 2005 this year ;) and but since I know where this will end: ...yes this is true all rigs here at the AE stand running BF2 are dual core A64s with 2Gb ram and X850XT PEs with 512Gb but this is no concern cos those with single core A64, 1Gb ram and 68GTs with 256Mb with run the game "pretty fine"... fine like when chicks say "it's fine" and you some how know it's no more fun for all eternity...

So we are all f****d! ... -- and how about Pentium 4 EE, how does the game perform on it? -- buek buek dude! (fat programmer lolling) if you plan the write mommy letters as a camped typist in the battlefield your Pentium will do "just fine"...

Bomb me I couldn't resist that! But enough of that, do you guys know of some site with the noble mission of testing A64 x Chipset x DDR compatibility?

I thing not necessarily a huge yes/no cross data sheet but a list of successful modules in terms of chipset recog and stability would be fine. This is mostly cos speedy Corsairs and fancy Ocz are out of my pocket's reach...
Click to expand...

...


 
You guys make a lot of sense, and quite frankly, i neve saw a performance increase of over 5% when moving from CAS 3 to CAS 2 memos, then I got myself a much cheaper and kinda fancy looking CAS 2.5 Geil kit.

I may test an aditional 1Gb kit of the same make/model/latency in addition to my 512Mb kit and see if these geil beauties will talk on CAS 2.5 latencys...

But then have anyone succeded on this "original mem setup" on, perhaps, any A64 939 (dual channel) platform? Which?
 
Guys your posts are adding really helpfull ideias. Since the upgrade to A64 is inevitable and less than 3 months far, i guess i will sell my 512mb kit while it's still valuable (here at least) and get a cas 2.5 1Gb dual kit cos if nforce4 dops then a dual channel will remain usefull.

But, what if I got a cas 3 3x512Mb single channel mem? It's higher cas but more mem, which will be better on BF2?
 
Not going to quote on any particular answer but guys 1gb is standard for more then an year now i i am pretty sure the upcoming Battlefield 2 will do good use of 2Gb ram or a 512Mb gfx card.
 
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