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What happens when games need mroe than 2 gigs

tigersty1e

tigersty1e

Golden Member
So we are rapidly approaching the limit of the 2 gig system. 32 bit Vista only recognizes 3.3 gigs of ram (according to reports on this forum).

What happens when games require more than 3.3 gigs of ram to run smoothly?

Is 64 bit Vista necessary?
 
i dont know much about it, but my guess is by the time games requires more than 3.3 gigs to run smoothly, all of the apps can run on 64 bit ?

I'm buying a new rig soon, and my idea was to buy 4 gigs of ram.. and when i need more i would by 4 gigs more and switch to 64 bit vista ..
 
The obvious question is, why does 32 bit Vista limit the ram?

And will it ever be able to run 4 gigs in dual channel mode?



I'm getting a new hard drive and need to get an OS, but I really don't know which one to get. I want my OS to last 4-5 years.
 
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
The obvious question is, why does 32 bit Vista limit the ram?

And will it ever be able to run 2 gigs in dual channel mode?
Click to expand...

AFAIK, the dual channel options are strictly Chipset related.

I'm getting a new hard drive and need to get an OS, but I really don't know which one to get. I want my OS to last 4-5 years.
Click to expand...

The Hdd upgrade and choosing an OS are not mutually interdependent.

AnandTech's News Features have included a pair, or perhaps a trio, of articles about a 2 GB "barrier" seen in the Supreme Commander game, and showed far worse problems in Vista than in XP in that regard.
 
Originally posted by: Kiwi
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
The obvious question is, why does 32 bit Vista limit the ram?

And will it ever be able to run 2 gigs in dual channel mode?
Click to expand...

AFAIK, the dual channel options are strictly Chipset related.

I'm getting a new hard drive and need to get an OS, but I really don't know which one to get. I want my OS to last 4-5 years.
Click to expand...

The Hdd upgrade and choosing an OS are not mutually interdependent.

AnandTech's News Features have included a pair, or perhaps a trio, of articles about a 2 GB "barrier" seen in the Supreme Commander game, and showed far worse problems in Vista than in XP in that regard.
Click to expand...

I fixed my original post. I meant to inquire about running 4 gigs in dual channell mode instead of 2.


I should have been more clear about the HDD. I want to upgrade the motherboard as well.
 
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
The obvious question is, why does 32 bit Vista limit the ram?

And will it ever be able to run 4 gigs in dual channel mode?



I'm getting a new hard drive and need to get an OS, but I really don't know which one to get. I want my OS to last 4-5 years.
Click to expand...

The 4GB addressable space is a limitation of all 32-bit Windows-based operating systems. As others have stated, you may be able to get 4GB to run in dual channel (probably more dependent on the board, how much of that final 1GB or so on 2 x 1GB modules is split is probably determined by the OS), but you'll still be limited to @3GB depending on your video card and other hardware/software that require addressable memory space.

As Kiwi said, there's a fine 3-part series here on AT that details the problems surrounding the 2GB Wall and 32-bit Operating Systems. The move to 64-bit OSes is coming sooner rather than later, especially for gamers. If you want your next OS to last 4-5 years, you need to look at Vista x64.
 
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
If I buy the retail version of Vista, that means I get the 32 and 64 bit versions, right?
Click to expand...

Yes, but I believe only Ultimate includes both 32-bit and 64-bit discs in the box. Not 100% sure on this, but the retail boxes do state which version is included in VERY fine print. Also not sure if retailers sell 32 or 64 bit versions of the same edition or not. In any case, I know you can get the 64-bit discs from MS with any version of Vista, but they charge you $10 or so for S&H.

 
You're correct about Ultimate containing both the 32x and the 64x discs. I doubt we're going to need more then 2gb of ram anytime soon though. Only bad written games require that much ram. 2gb is better then 1gb though, which is not always enough to get the maximum out of your cpu/gpu.
 
i was planning to get a Q6600 with 4 (2x2) gigs of ram ... will i be able to benefit from it? or should i just go with less than 4 gigs ?
 
i was planning to install vista 32x for now, since people are saying that alot of drivers etc dont run on 64x
then switching to 64x when the games start to run 64x ...

quick question (sorry if im a total nebie) what does the "5-5-5-12" mean ? 😀

and is ram that cheap in the US ?

i was thinking of buying
Kingston HyperX KHX6400D2K2/4G - Kit

(2x2 gb)

and that will cost me 2600,- kr which is about 380$
 
I think if you use the 64 bit version of vista, that the 32 bit programs are run in a kind of virtual environment. For all I know they may run faster that way.

I cant really verify this. Anyone else know?

I really need a new computer, but I dont know when that will happen.
 
It's the timings on the memory. Lower is better, but it's subjectable, you won't notice a real difference, or gain any extra FPS, when you go from 5-5-5-15 to 4-4-4-12, but it will cost you more money.

And, people 'were' saying that a lot of drivers dont run on 64x, nowadays most things run just fine though, so no real reason not to go with vista 64x. I run it myself, and I review new games, and preview versions, on a weekly basis, and I have yet to run into a game that won't run on Vista. Be it in DX10 or DX9 mode. Other things, like browsers, java, word, vlc, media players and what not, all run just fine.

Ram costs like 70$ for 2gb of ddr 2 800mhz 5-5-5-12 timings. Hyperx is the 'performance' name for Kingstom Ram, as far as I know. 2x2gb usually costs more too. I'd go with 4x1gb.
 
You can also run games in windows XP service pack 2 mode, so I'm guessing a lot of older games will still run in Vista, but I haven't tried 😛
 
the reason i chose 2x2 gigs of ram was that i was able to add furter 2x2 gigs ... but will i ever need 8 gigs of ram ?
 
Depending on your needs, you might, but my guess is you won't. Not before you need a complete new PC 😛 4gb is allready quite a lot, 8gb would only be usefull for people who do a lot of heavy encoding or whatever uses a lot of ram. Average users, and even hobbyists will be hard pressed to use 4gb's of ram, let alone 8gb.
 
Ill mainly use the computer to play the newest computergames (hellgate london and UT 2007 soon) so i guess 4 gigs of ram will last till the other parts are outdated ?
 
Just FYI, from what I've been reading and from what I've been told by tech support at a few memory companies, 2x2GB overclocks much better than 4x1GB, and I also like the option to expand if necessary without losing any sticks.

2x2GB will cost you more than 4x1GB, and there are less choices out there right now, but you can definitely do better than that $380 Kingston you mentioned, at least in terms of price.

Try these if you're interested in 2x2GB:

Patriot Extreme
G.Skill
Mushkin (by far the best for overclocking 2x2GB kit at this point, unless you want to spend over $500, in which case get these, and also the only one that seems to be using high quality micron D9 ICs)

Obviously, you could also look into pc2 8500 ram, but I've been told that the performance difference is negligible right now.
 
There have been some reports of Motherboards not being able to support 4x modules at high speeds, depending on the RAM. If you're not planning on overclocking (I was planning on it then decided not to), you don't necessarily need the super-crazy expensive high timing memory. The point about the 4GB - 8 GB is very valid - by the time you need 8GB, it will be virtually impossible to find any DDR2 memory available for less than a fortune, particularly considering DDR2 is on the way out (for DDR3's very slow adoption).

Buy with care!
 
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
So we are rapidly approaching the limit of the 2 gig system. 32 bit Vista only recognizes 3.3 gigs of ram (according to reports on this forum).

What happens when games require more than 3.3 gigs of ram to run smoothly?

Is 64 bit Vista necessary?
Click to expand...

you buy more ram.............
 
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