Is 1 gig of RAM a waste of $$$??

[MagnumR6vet]

I just got a new 865pe mobo with dual channel capability and need to buy RAM now. I am using WinXP home edition and use my computer primarily for playing games such as Raven Shield, SOF2, Delta Force BHD, and other FP shooters. I was wondering if I should go with 2 sticks of 256mb or 2 sticks of 512 mb? Would the 2 stciks of 512 be overkill and a waste of $$?

On that same note.....I am trying to decide between Corsair XMS TwinX LL and Kingston HyperX. I will be using an ABIT IS7e mobo.

Thanks

 

[LordOfAll]

How long do you plan on keeping it without messing around? Right now 1 gig is on the line, but in a year it will be mainstream.

 

[WarmAndSCSI]

Look at your memory usage in Windows when doing the most taxing thing you do and see what it is. If it's 300-500 then get 512 MB. You only need a gig if you have constant high memory usage.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Follow WarmAndSCSI's advice, but if it shows you don't need 1 GB yet:

BF1942 likes a gig, as does SimCity 4, probably more in the future as time-to-market continues to win out over quality and efficiency in coding. Exactly how soon is hard to say though, and you can always add the second 512 later.

I'd say if choosing between cutting RAM or cutting the graphics card down a level, go for a better graphics card, for example a 9800 Pro and 512 instead of a 9800 non-pro and 1 GB.

 

[Crazymofo]

Get a gig it is worth it if you're playing games. But I would drop XP home like a bad habit if I were you.

 

[NokiaDude]

1gig is awesome. I'm waiting to grab $75 for another stick of Kingston HyperX DDR333 RAM. 512mb alone just isn't cutting it. BitTorrent takes up sooooo much memory.

 

[Markfw]

I too vote for 1 gig if you are a gamer. If you don't need it today, you probably will tomorrow.

 

[T9D]

..

 

[MagnumR6vet]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will go with the 1 gig so I will be safe for a while.

Now can someone recommend whats hot right now in the RAM area. I am presently using 1 stick of 512mb Corsair XMS PC3500 and it is awesome, but I heard the newer LL model has a lot of compatibility problems. Anyone using Kingston HyperX that might recommend it?

 

[mechBgon]

At work, I have 1.5Gb. With that much RAM on hand, Windows can cache all of my apps in RAM for very fast re-launch later in my day. My slowest-launching app is PhotoImpact 6, taking about 4 seconds to launch from a 15000rpm hard drive, but about 1-1.5 seconds to re-launch from RAM. Lighter apps like Word re-launch faster than I can blink. Very nice Because one of the things I want cached is my Office2000 administrative installation point, totalling something like 950Mb of data for Disc 1 + Disc 2, 1.5Gb is not that excessive. If I had a Hammer...

 

[mechBgon]

The Corsair 3500C2 is one of the good picks for your board, I'd get a second one of those.

 

[ElFenix]

no

 

[magomago]

No - I remember someone talking about how if you had three gigs of ram it is good (err the more ram the better) becaue the programs will stay cached in memory and they will launch REALLY fast....Photoshop was something he/she pointed out

Besides in a year 1 gigabyte will be the mainstream nubmer as far as us powerusers are concerned so don't worry about ponnying up on a gig

But if you are getting that extra 512 and sacrificing something else then I would stop and think

 

[Fallengod]

Give me a break...512mb is fine. 256 is even fine. If you want to waste your money on 1gb, go for it.

 

[Nebor]

256mb is not fine... hell, I don't know that 512mb is fine. Looking at my performance monitor, I have 1048mb of physical memory... I have 818 available. That means the windows is using near 200 mbs of ram. Now if you only had 512, that would mean that nearly half your ram is unusable.

 

[bgeh]

i'll get 1gig. i in fact already have 1gig

 

[charlie21]

Originally posted by: modempower
Give me a break...512mb is fine. 256 is even fine. If you want to waste your money on 1gb, go for it.

256 under XP is hell. 512 is much better. I've got 768, which I rarely use all of, but when I do, I'm thankful I have it.

 

[borgmang]

It really depends on what you're going to do with your machine. Graphics (2D and especially 3D), and gaming can use a lot of ram, more ram is always better.

I've experimented a little with ram disks, and that's where you load everything into the ram disk and it's really fast, however it's somewhat unstable, and you lose all unsaved data upon shutdown. I feel it's not really worth the hassle.

Any thoughts on the best/fastest memory for OC to be used in ASUS P4C800E Deluxe mobo w/ 3.0C. I want to get a gig of ram and was considering Corsair XMS 3700. Also, whats better - TwinXMS or single sticks, and with platinum or black heatspreaders?

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Originally posted by: bgeh
i'll get 1gig. i in fact already have 1gig

And it rocks.

 

[Sunner]

256 under XP is no problem for the vast majority of users.

I don't play neither BF1942 nor SimCity 4, so I won't argue about those, but for most day-to-day stuff, 512 is just fine.
If I built myself a new computer today based on an i865/875 I'd get 512, and if I feel the need later on, expand.

 

[tallman45]

Always consider your future processing needs. If you feel that getting 512mb in 2x256 sticks is ok for now remember that you just limited your upgrade path to an additional 1gb (2x512). 1.5 gb may seem like a lot right now but what will next years apps bring. I would go with the 1gb now, you will be set for the near furure plus have an additional 1gb upgrade path.

Multitasking takes up a lot of mem, a dozen internet connections, plus some digital imaging processing chews up a lot of mem. For running one game at a time with nothing else going on 512mb is sufficient.

 

[nick1985]

get a gig

 

[Sideswipe001]

Originally posted by: charlie21

Originally posted by: modempower
Give me a break...512mb is fine. 256 is even fine. If you want to waste your money on 1gb, go for it.

256 under XP is hell. 512 is much better. I've got 768, which I rarely use all of, but when I do, I'm thankful I have it.

I totally agree. I had 512 for a while and had to take 256 out to test another system. Then I tried to run Warcraft 3. I was like, what the heck happened? You want to talk about a noticeable difference?

I have 1 GB and I'm happy. I would never go under 512 again, and this way I don't even have to worry about upgrading later.

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: modempower
Give me a break...512mb is fine. 256 is even fine. If you want to waste your money on 1gb, go for it.

If you want to waste your computer on 256MB, go for it.

I don't know about Home Ed, but XP Pro is a ram mongrel. 512MB is Minimum if you want a responsive system.

My wifes computer has 768 (mine has 1 GB), she played Syberia for about 4 hours one day... I accidently had set the VM to 300MB static once on her computer. She got "Your System is Out of VM...blah blah" message... I set it to 2GB static so that was all solved.

So DON'T EVEN TELL ME Windows XP can't use 1GB of Ram!

Oh, and for those of you who think you don't need VM with 1GB of ram? Wrong. Sit and play a game like Sibeia for 4 or 5 hours and you'll know better. It swaps back and forth HUGE textures... Gig's of them.... and eventually it will store them in VM (which there's nothing wrong with that... because the system can retrieve them a lot faster from there than it can from it's location on the HD).

Cheers:beer:

 

[Markfw]

I agree with Whitedog. Even if you don;t notice it now, sooner or later you will need it.