http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm
Thinking about 4gb of ram for your swanky computer system... dont bother
What is the 3GB ram limitation.
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Mostly true. I'm familiar with that specific link - it's very good.
I still get use of about 0.5GB of the 4th GB I have and I have better dual channel access than if I used 3 x 1GB sticks (although my mainboard will still provide dual channel with 3 sticks).
Basically, without 64bit O/S you won't get full use of the 4th GB which might prove relatively expensive, but you can still get extra RAM although it's of very little value for most users (including gamers).
If you're doing things like playing with Photoshop or doing video work, it will be useful.
I still get use of about 0.5GB of the 4th GB I have and I have better dual channel access than if I used 3 x 1GB sticks (although my mainboard will still provide dual channel with 3 sticks).
Basically, without 64bit O/S you won't get full use of the 4th GB which might prove relatively expensive, but you can still get extra RAM although it's of very little value for most users (including gamers).
If you're doing things like playing with Photoshop or doing video work, it will be useful.
"But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end."
Yeah, very good info. Most people these days are usually safe with 2. Although RAM Prices aren't as bad as they used to be. I'm running 4 Gigs of DDR2-800 in this PC, and it's about 80$ for 2x 1GB Sticks last I checked, definitely not too bad for a good amount of memory. Comes in handy running several games at once.
For gamers with large capacity video cards it's worth making sure you have at least 2GB since address space is reserved to match the amount of memory on your video card.
I also find it worth getting lower latency/faster RAM. I'm using CL4 which whilst more expensive certainly helps to reduce the bottle neck that RAM presents to the CPU.
And I see that SanDisk is going to release a 64GB version of their solid state drives late in the year. Hopefully it'll push the price down on the 32s enough to make them reasonable so I can use one for Pagefile and Photoshop Scratch disk
I also find it worth getting lower latency/faster RAM. I'm using CL4 which whilst more expensive certainly helps to reduce the bottle neck that RAM presents to the CPU.
And I see that SanDisk is going to release a 64GB version of their solid state drives late in the year. Hopefully it'll push the price down on the 32s enough to make them reasonable so I can use one for Pagefile and Photoshop Scratch disk
"But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end."
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