Ram Questions
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)Posted by: JMK
I am currently running 1 stick of 512ddr2. I was wondering would it be in my best interest to upgrade to 1gb? Would i notice much of a performance gain? Also, is there much of a performance gain from 1gb to 2gb? Finally, I was wondering is it possible for me to buy a 1gb stick and still use my old 512 at the same time? Or would only more 512 work with the current 512?
My Current ram: here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211128)
My Mobo: here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121246)
Posted by: Duffman
Well getting another stick of 512 won't hurt you, it will make things run faster.
What processor do you have, you will only notice an increase in performance by fixing the systems bottle neck. If its the ram then go get more, but if its the cpu more ram won't help...
But at that price I say go for it.
Posted by: JMK
I have a p4 3.2 processor. How much ram do you think my processor would be able to handle? I dont want to buy so much that I can't tell the difference between the amount i just put in and the amount I had before.
My processor: here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116201)
Posted by: Guyver
UR processor is good, and it cant hurt to have more ram, so ya get it
Posted by: Duffman
JMK, make this a bit easier for us just post your full system specs, the mobo, cpu, ram, video card, all of it. But you can leave out the motherboard and the RAM I guess because we already know it.
Posted by: Peerzy
JMK, make this a bit easier for us just post your full system specs, the mobo, cpu, ram, video card, all of it. But you can leave out the motherboard and the RAM I guess because we already know it.
So basically you want to know what his Video Card is :frusty:
Yes get the ram, however you will want to keep it the same speed as your other stick of ram as buying anythign faster will just run at the slower sticks speed anyway
Posted by: Virtualbody1234
Doesn't it matter if you are currently using all of the 512?
If you still have free RAM when you run all the programs you use then adding more RAM won't make a difference. Run the most programs you normally run and then check in the Windows Task Manager>Performance tab>Physical Memory Available.
Posted by: lynx
Doesn't it matter if you are currently using all of the 512?
If you still have free RAM when you run all the programs you use then adding more RAM won't make a difference. Run the most programs you normally run and then check in the Windows Task Manager>Performance tab>Physical Memory Available.
Not necessarily. If some of the memory used by progs has been shipped out to VM you could still have Available Physical Memory, so that viewpoint is not necessarily valid.
Take the Total Physical Memory and subtract the Total Kernel Memory. This gives the Usable Physical Memory. If this is greater than the Total Commit Charge, then you don't need more memory. If it is less, then more memory may give you a performance improvement, but how much depends on how the progs you are using are shipped out to VM.
Note: the above is only an approximate calculation of Usable Physical Memory.
Posted by: JMK
I did what you said lynx and i did all the math and it was around 300,000 less. This was when i was playing counterstrike source while playing music like i usually do. Someone asked what vid card I have. I have GeForce 6600 GT pci-e. So with that said.. how much more ram should I buy? :unsure:
Posted by: S!X
I have GeForce 6600 GT pci-e. So with that said.. how much more ram should I buy? :unsure:
Id buy another stick of what you currently have.
Posted by: Duffman
Yeah, as I thought, system is great and the ram could be a little bit more plentiful, so go for it man.
Posted by: lynx
From what you've described, another 512MB should be plenty. I've only got 1GB, and the only time I've filled that is when I had a prog with a mem leak (I know that because I run without a page file).
It sounds like your peak usage is around 800MB. Of course, that excludes System Cache but 1GB total should be plenty for you, anything extra would just be wasted.
Posted by: bigdawgfoxx
My usable memory is 315000 above my total commit charge..so i guess i dont need any.
I have been wondering though, if i bought an identicle stick of ram and places it in the 3rd slot, would it still run dual channel with 3 sticks...(256MB PC3200 2-2-2-5)
Posted by: clocker
I have been wondering though, if i bought an identicle stick of ram and places it in the 3rd slot, would it still run dual channel with 3 sticks...(256MB PC3200 2-2-2-5)
No, it wouldn't.
Posted by: Snee
Two of them would run in dual channel though, I think :unsure:
Posted by: bigdawgfoxx
Yeah, I already have 2 of them running in dual channel.
Thanks Clocker.
Posted by: Snee
Yeah, but I think two of them would stilll run in dual channel, whereas the third would run in single channel, was what I was trying to say.
Meaning that the third won't brake the others.
:unsure:
Posted by: bigdawgfoxx
ohhh i see
Posted by: JMK
Thanks for the help lynx. I'll make sure to buy myself another stick of 512.
Posted by: clocker
Yeah, but I think two of them would stilll run in dual channel,
:unsure:
I don't think so.
Even the NF4 boards won't do that yet.
Posted by: Snee
Yeah you are tight, you can't do it with three 256 sticks (didn't think about that bit, silly me).
The single one has to be a 512 stick.
Was looking at this-> http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs-011965.htm
When I should have thought about something like this-> http://www.hardwareforumz.com/ABIT-NF7s-v2-dual-channel-mem-slots-filled-ftopict57599.html
EDit: And I just noticed that the intel requires the memory in both channels to be equal too.