2GB enough for Vista Premium?

[Modular]

I know it can only use about 3.5GB even if 4 is installed and so on. The question is whether or not 2GB is going to cut it.

The machine will be used mostly for gaming. COD:W@W, Crysis (rarely), Fallout 3, Oblvion, COD4, Far Cry 1 & 2 and so on.

 

[Elixer]

I doubt you will notice a big difference for those games you listed, but, since RAM is cheap right now anyway, it won't hurt to have some extra cushion.

 

[taltamir]

some of these games take almost 2 gigs by themselves.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Do it.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Modular
I know it can only use about 3.5GB even if 4 is installed and so on. The question is whether or not 2GB is going to cut it.

The machine will be used mostly for gaming. COD:W@W, Crysis (rarely), Fallout 3, Oblvion, COD4, Far Cry 1 & 2 and so on.

More ram is always good for gaming regardless of OS you are using.

 

[exar333]

Is the extra 2GB's worth 10-15 dollars? You bet!

On my old E2160 @ 3.0ghz machine on 32-bit Vista, going from 2GB to 4GB made a big gaming improvement. It's the difference between constant 100% memory utilization with occasional game stutters to 50-75% usage being more common. It's worth the price of a couple lunches at McD's.

 

[jdkick]

Go with 4GB. With my current system, Vista + BF2 doesn't leave much free memory... and that's with some of the Vista'ness turned off.

 

[Modular]

Thanks all. Looks like I should have ponied up for the 2x2GB kit instead of the 2x1GB. I hope 4 sticks doesn't have too negative an effect on my overclocking.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: Modular
I hope 4 sticks doesn't have too negative an effect on my overclocking.

Not a change. My 4X2048 mb didn't affected my oc, so imagine that only two slots occupied will not make your oc suffer at all.

 

[vj8usa]

I used 2x1 for a while under XP, and then upgraded to Vista. I immediately noticed stuttering in TF2, and realized it wasn't a video/CPU issue. I picked up another 2x2 for a total of 6GB (which I've been running to this day), and everything became nice and smooth again. Vista also absolutely flies with a lot of RAM, due to Superfetch keeping a lot of apps prefetched. Running 4 sticks didn't affect my OC at all, but then again, my FSB's only running at 333.

edit: TF2 isn't even a very memory hungry game. For instance, I had Crysis Warhead running a few minutes ago, and it was using something like 1.8GB RAM by itself. My total RAM usage according to task manager was a little bit over 4GB.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Originally posted by: Modular
I know it can only use about 3.5GB even if 4 is installed and so on. The question is whether or not 2GB is going to cut it.

The machine will be used mostly for gaming. COD:W@W, Crysis (rarely), Fallout 3, Oblvion, COD4, Far Cry 1 & 2 and so on.

Too bad you didn't get the VISTA-64 version, but then -- maybe not. I'm still experimenting with it, but all the right drivers are available, and I'm slowly beginning to move some 32-bit software to it in addition to the games already installed.

I'm sure the hot-dawgs with 6 and 8 GB of RAM installed are more than happy, but I think 4 GB is ample in a 2x2GB-kit configuration. With the x64 OS version, you can "see" all of it. With VISTA 32, you should at least get 3.5 GB available, and that's still better than adding a 2x512MB-kit of RAM to your 2x1GB kit. Less complexity, better tweaking-potential, less wattage consumed.

Go for it. Take a look at the G.SKILL 2x2GB "Black Pi" kits. I bought a set just to "try," when the Egg had them for $50-per-kit.

 

[TLW]

I've watched Crysis suck up 2.25GB of RAM during the endgame sequence, definitely buy lots of RAM, 4GB is nice, 8GB is probably overkil for most apps but it allows Vista to prefetch a lot of stuff...

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: TLW
I've watched Crysis suck up 2.25GB of RAM during the endgame sequence, definitely buy lots of RAM, 4GB is nice, 8GB is probably overkil for most apps but it allows Vista to prefetch a lot of stuff...

Doesn't matter - Vista won't even see more than the 3.xx GB. You need Vista x64 for that.