Does laptop with 4GB also benifit from 64-bit OS?

[omega3]

I think your GFX card has built in 512mb of ram dedicated to it, separate from the main system ram (the 4gb), but, if you ran an application that requires more than 512 of GFX memory, it will start using up the main memory, up to a maximum of 1791mb ram.

so if necassary, it will eat up 1279 from main memory if needed, for a total maximum of 512+1279 = 1791


Out of curiosity, I am wondering, how much physicial memory does your windows 32 bits says that it recognize ? (as displayed in task manager)

Well, my laptop's drive died so i can't check anymore.. I need to bring it in and tell them what to replace etc.. therefore my questions.

Just wondering but do all 32 bit apps work on 64 bit OS or which surprises can pop up? You have to run them in compatibility mode or something, right?

 

[tcsenter]

The GeForce graphics module has 512MB for graphics, exclusively (dedicated). Then it will borrow additional system RAM if necessary, also known as "shared memory" (which NVIDIA markets as Turbo Memory). Memory accessed this way is much slower than dedicated VRAM but not quite as slow as paging/swapping to disk. Though to me that sounds like it could be a mistake, and maybe they meant up to 1279MB total. Even the high-end GF8 parts didn't feature more than 768MB on the cards, so I don't know why the mid-range mobile parts would try to support almost 2GB through shared memory (could be a mistake on HP's specs, it wouldn't be the first time).

The maximum amount of shared memory may be selectable in BIOS, some are known to be, but usually it is a driver thing that NVIDIA controls.

Also this GeForce 8600M is from that era with a high failure rate that resulted in a big class action settlement. And HP was among the worst, too. So check for a BIOS update, that might have been offered to prevent premature failure of the graphics part due to overheating.

 

[tcsenter]

Oh and if you're going to purchase the OS, why not Windows 8.1? It will be the same price as Windows 7. Drivers should be available for all the devices on this laptop. Most of them should come with W8.1 or via Windows Update. You could use a start menu replacement proggy like Start Is Back if you don't like the Metro (Modern) UI. IMO, Start is Back is the best of the start menu replacements and cheap, too (only $5 for two PCs).

 

[omega3]

Something about SSDs I forgot to ask before.. if you have an older pc, does an SSD drive also improve streaming of HD videos and Chrome performance when using lots of tabs, or is that all related to CPU and memory?

 

[Cerb]

Video performance, no. Chrome, yes, as it is a bit write-heavy (but, noscript and adblock generally make more of a difference, if you don't use any such add-ons).

 

[omega3]

Video performance, no. Chrome, yes, as it is a bit write-heavy (but, noscript and adblock generally make more of a difference, if you don't use any such add-ons).

Did you reply about SSDs or 64-bit OS (OT)?.. I assume SSD but just checking

How is Chrome "write-heavy" btw?.. it's a browser

 

[Cerb]

Yes, SSDs. 64-bit should be used well before 4GB, IMO.

The browser writes to caches, and keeps the current session stored in a database. I guess maybe each process is somewhat doing its own thing, because it definitely feels faster with many tabs on a SSD, with otherwise similar hardware, and is doing more when viewed in Resource Monitor than with just a couple tabs.

 

[DrDoug]

Many Intel 965PM/GM chipsets in laptops can handle 2x4GB RAM without a problem if they have the pink/purple/reddish CPU socket. I looked up images of your mobo and it has the same socket on it. My old garage laptop (XPS m1730/C2E-X9000) has the same chipset in it. I am running 8GB in it and Win7-x64. Wikipedia has a footnote on the chipset that says that many systems can run 8GB.

It's cheap enough to try and see if yours will run it.

 

[Ketchup]

Many Intel 965PM/GM chipsets in laptops can handle 2x4GB RAM without a problem if they have the pink/purple/reddish CPU socket. I looked up images of your mobo and it has the same socket on it. My old garage laptop (XPS m1730/C2E-X9000) has the same chipset in it. I am running 8GB in it and Win7-x64. Wikipedia has a footnote on the chipset that says that many systems can run 8GB.

It's cheap enough to try and see if yours will run it.

I do agree with this. I was quite surprised to see the 4 GB limit on the HP site.

 

[DrDoug]

I do agree with this. I was quite surprised to see the 4 GB limit on the HP site.

Dell said the same thing about this laptop but someone long ago figured out that 8GB is just fine in the Santa Rosa platform refresh (45 nm). I dropped a 256 GB SSD and 1TB 7200 spinner in that old laptop and it rips along just fine. It came with the 8800M GTX in SLI so it still games pretty good on the old stuff I like.

 

[hhhd1]

Personally, I wouldn't spend any money towards any windows upgrade, unless you need win7/8 for something specific, windows vista is adequate.

Keep the money for buying a new laptop later, since most new laptops will come with windows 8 or windows 8+7 license.

The built in GFX in sandybridge (3 years old) laptops, are faster than the 8600m GT.
passmark score:
8600m GT: 179
Intel HD 3000 (sandybridge) (from 2011): 309
Intel HD 4400 (haswell) (from 2013): 538

On the other hand, a nice SATA SSD can be used to upgrade any new laptop if required and laptops that comes with SSD are much more expensive than buy a laptop with HDD then upgrading the SSD yourself.