Using all 4 ram slots

[perdomot]

I have a 780G mobo running an X3 Phenom on 2GB of ram and am going to buy a 4GB kit as I have just upgraded to Vista 64. I was thinking of simply installing the 2 X 2GB sticks next to the 2 X 1GB sticks and wanted to ask if this might cause a problem for me. I've heard it mentioned before about problems when all 4 slots are occupied but don't know the specifics. Thanks

 

[error8]

Usually, having all the slots occupied generates problems only when you're overclocking. But that depends on the mobo, bios version and so on.

 

[perdomot]

So standard speeds w/o OCing should be ok?

 

[hclarkjr]

yes, i have 4 sticks in my system right now and am over clocking as well. if you have good motherboard you should be fine

 

[QuixoticOne]

I've put together several systems, all with fairly high end quad core CPUs, all with 4 RAM slots full, and all decently OCed. No problems have resulted except for one bad DIMM that was DOA having nothing to do with my systems.

I really don't think you should have a problem if you use a reasonable quality MB, RAM, keep the BIOS up to date with stable releases, and set the parameters of the BIOS h/w settings intelligently.

At these DDR2 prices I could hardly comprehend anyone NOT wanting to use all 4 slots to get 8GB if they're a power user and are willing to run a 64 bit OS.

No way would I use 4 slots for 4GB total, though, unless I was upgrading from 2G or 3G to 4G; 2x2GB kits are really attractively priced now for DDR2.

 

[perdomot]

I still have my 2GB ram so I can bump it up to 6GB total. Will probably do that later on today. Just wish Vista 64 didn't use almost all of the ram for Superfetch.

 

[n7]

The whole point of superfetch is to cache bits of your commonly used applications in unused memory.

If it wasn't doing that, it wouldn't be operating correctly.

Anyway, you shouldn't really see any issues w/ 4 DIMMs unless you OC heavily.

 

[perdomot]

I can understand using some of the ram but almost 4GB? I find it hard to believe it has to use so much given the number of apps I use on a daily basis.

 

[QuixoticOne]

I'd be happy if it used as much RAM as it wanted for disk / data / application cache.. that's a major reason to buy more RAM. If I had as much RAM as the size of my hard disk it could load everything from the drive into RAM in the background and then anything would read super super fast and if write cache was enabled, it'd write super fast also. Just don't think about RAM as being reserved for programs.

CPU Cache = #1 fastest access place to store stuff on a PC
VRAM = #2 fastest access place to store stuff on a PC (sort of)
RAM = #3 fastest access place to store stuff on a PC
SSD drive = #4 fastest access place to store stuff on a PC
disk = #5 fastest access place to store stuff on a PC

so if the system keeps as much of the most commonly used data (whatever it is for) loaded up as high on the list as possible, the system will tend to be faster.

Of course it has to make room for loaded programs to use as much RAM as they need, but that is only a question of sharing a resource between a #1 priority user and a #2 priority user (cache duty).
It costs little or nothing to just discard read-cached data so the RAM is 'instantly' available for other uses if there's a program that needs it for working memory. Until then, let the cache use the free space, all of it.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: n7


The whole point of superfetch is to cache bits of your commonly used applications in unused memory.

If it wasn't doing that, it wouldn't be operating correctly.

Anyway, you shouldn't really see any issues w/ 4 DIMMs unless you OC heavily.

You are correct. My Vista 64 install uses about 2.3GB of RAM, but I have 8GB available to use. I actually wish it used a little more by say fully caching the last 4-5 large applications I've used (i.e. games!).

 

[taltamir]

the "ram in use" figure does NOT include ANY ram used for superfetch... superfetch does only good, not bad for your system, trust me.
If you have 2GB of ram and it shows 1.5GB is in use and 5GB is "free", that "free" ram is actually full of superfetch data. It is marked as free because as soon as a program asks for it, the superfetch data is dumped and the program gets it.
I have 4GB of ram and 1.65GB is showing to be in use right now, that means that all of thge remaining 2.35GB is used by superfetch, AND is available for my programs to use at the same time. Superfetch makes vista the BEST OS out there (better even then the open source ones) in utilizing ram properly.