Trying To Cut Costs On Build...3GB RAM Instead of 4GB?

[marcdisa]

I'm trying to cut costs where ever I can...and 25 bucks here and there can make a difference. Just wondering if I would notice much difference in a system running Windows 7 having 3GB vs 4GB RAM. I have a 9800GTX+ I will be putting in it for some gaming...everything else is normal everyday use...internet and such. Thoughts?

 

[happy medium]

After some digging I see your not gonna save any money by going 3 gb.
You would have to use this combination of memory. 2x1 and 2x 512.
That would cost you 81$ These are the cheapest sets I could find on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134594

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134046

A 4gb set will cost you the same amount.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231207

I think if you really need to save money go with 2gb now and upgrade as needed.
You can still game with 2gb of memory.

48$ for a set

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211066

 

[JackMDS]

Unless you do heavy Visualization 2GB would be more than OK.

 

[aigomorla]

I'm trying to cut costs where ever I can...and 25 bucks here and there can make a difference. Just wondering if I would notice much difference in a system running Windows 7 having 3GB vs 4GB RAM. I have a 9800GTX+ I will be putting in it for some gaming...everything else is normal everyday use...internet and such. Thoughts?

sorry 3GB is a NO unless you have a X58.

If you see 3GB its really 4GB on XP where 1GB is disabled, or a 4gb system where 1GB is dedicated to onboard ram.

There is no 1.5gb sticks, and u really want to pair up on ram.
And the X58 is the only tri channel board you can get.

 

[MrPickins]

sorry 3GB is a NO unless you have a X58.

If you see 3GB its really 4GB on XP where 1GB is disabled, or a 4gb system where 1GB is dedicated to onboard ram.

There is no 1.5gb sticks, and u really want to pair up on ram.
And the X58 is the only tri channel board you can get.

I helped a friend pick a HP PC that had 3GB of ram and a 64bit os. I was surprised that there were only two sticks of ram, each 1.5GB.

So, evidently there are 1.5 GB sticks around, just not on the retail channel.

 

[mmntech]

If you're running DDR3 maybe, but not DDR2. Go with 2gb if it's really a concern but RAM usually isn't the best place to shave costs given that it's not the major expense. You can save more getting a budget CPU or GPU. Those are the two big expenses in a build.

 

[betasub]

^ Agree with mmntech. On a budget-build, dropping below 4GB RAM doesn't save much compared to other economies (motherboard, CPU, graphics card). Only if you are really penny-pinching.

 

[Zap]

I helped a friend pick a HP PC that had 3GB of ram and a 64bit os. I was surprised that there were only two sticks of ram, each 1.5GB.

So, evidently there are 1.5 GB sticks around, just not on the retail channel.

Are you sure it wasn't a 1GB and a 2GB stick? I had mismatched sticks in my Dell notebook a few years ago and it was fine.

 

[MrPickins]

Are you sure it wasn't a 1GB and a 2GB stick? I had mismatched sticks in my Dell notebook a few years ago and it was fine.

I should check again, but I remember being surprised that the sticks were identical.

It's possible that I misread one of the part numbers, though.

 

[aigomorla]

I helped a friend pick a HP PC that had 3GB of ram and a 64bit os. I was surprised that there were only two sticks of ram, each 1.5GB.

So, evidently there are 1.5 GB sticks around, just not on the retail channel.

did it have onboard video?

Then it could of been 2 x 2 = 4 - 1gb dedicated to the onboard GPU.

Then it would show up as 3gb.