Switching to Vista 64 from XP Pro

[badnewcastle]

My current specs are below with Crucial PC 8500 @ 400mhz... Should I add another 2 sticks of the ram I have -or- sell it and switch to new ram?

The ram I'm considering is this OCZ 2x2gb cas 4... seems like a good deal.

I'm thinking by switching, I'm continuing to put less stress on my mobo by only using 2 slots (if I add 2x1gb of my crucial all 4 slots will be used). And at least on face value the OCZ looks pretty nice.

Price difference is: $99.99 for Crucial 2x1gb and $115.99 for OCZ. I'm thinking I could sell the crucial for around $40 bucks or so though it is only 2 months old.

 

[Martimus]

Replacing the RAM will allow you to run tighter timings. You won't be able to add more later unless you switch to a 64-bit operating system though. You won't see all 4GB on XP Pro, but you will be able to use about 3.25 GB of the memory.

edit: Sorry, I read the OS you had in your signature, and forgot what was in the title. Forget what I said about the 64-bit OS. I should get some more sleep.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: badnewcastle
My current specs are below with Crucial PC 8500 @ 400mhz... Should I add another 2 sticks of the ram I have -or- sell it and switch to new ram?

The ram I'm considering is this OCZ 2x2gb cas 4... seems like a good deal.

I'm thinking by switching, I'm continuing to put less stress on my mobo by only using 2 slots (if I add 2x1gb of my crucial all 4 slots will be used). And at least on face value the OCZ looks pretty nice.

Price difference is: $99.99 for Crucial 2x1gb and $115.99 for OCZ. I'm thinking I could sell the crucial for around $40 bucks or so though it is only 2 months old.

If it was me I would go Mushkin... they are using Micron IC's in their Blue series 2 x 2 Gig...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146731

I don't believe that OCZ can make that claim, or run in almost any speed that you can select. That is important with an NV Chipset as you can run with the memory unlinked...

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: Martimus
Replacing the RAM will allow you to run tighter timings. You won't be able to add more later unless you switch to a 64-bit operating system though. You won't see all 4GB on XP Pro, but you will be able to use about 3.25 GB of the memory.

edit: Sorry, I read the OS you had in your signature, and forgot what was in the title. Forget what I said about the 64-bit OS. I should get some more sleep.

is it going to treat the 3.25 gb as duel channel? or single channel? I don't know that I care that much, just curious.

 

[Nothinman]

is it going to treat the 3.25 gb as duel channel? or single channel? I don't know that I care that much, just curious.

That's a hardware feature and shouldn't be affected by the OS at all.

 

[Arcanedeath]

32bit Xp can't address all 4gb of memory but it will still run in Dual channel mode assuming you put it in the same slots as your Crucial 1066, the OCZ is rated at 2.1V @ ddr 800, I suggest you get 1.8V ddr 800 it has more headroom or get something like this Gskill 2 x 2gb DDR2 1000 I have a set of these that do 4 4 4 15 @ 1.9V and will go to slightly under 1100 w/ 2.15V