4 gig ram - effect on game play?

[Remodelboy]

Thanks to Bidybag's thread, I picked up a basic understanding of how much ram I will be able to use after installing 2x2gig of ram (approx 1.25 gigs (3.25 gigs) of useable ram over the 2 gigs of ram with my current 2x1 gig of ram installation.

The question I have (without continuing to hijack BB's thread) is:

Will there be any noticable increase in performance in gameplay or other graphics intensive programs like Photoshop, 3d CADD programs or Video Editing?

I'm just trying to decide whether or not to keep the 2x2 gigs or return them and stick with 2x1 gigs. No matter what, I will be upgrading to an 8800 gts 320 KO. I'm planning on playing Halflife2, Call to Duty 4, Fear(3) and a few of the new games that are scheduled to show up in the next few months. As I said before, I am not a "spring chicken" and am looking for a slight hardware advantage to help compensate for the extra years.

Thanks in advance!

 

[soloman02]

Why bother with the 8800 GTS 320, when you can get the 8800GT?

The 8800GT is better and once the demand has died down, it will be cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130303

 

[akhilles]

^^^ second that. 8800gt is faster than 8800gts & cheaper. Make sure your psu has at least 425w & 28a on +12v's.

On topic, more ram will speed things up if the ram is utilized. i.e. Photoshop will love more ram. You can have more undo's (history) in memory or open larger prints.

It boils down to whether the extra ram is being used.

 

[timaahhh]

Indeed! Photoshop will run faster. However the games you posted will not run all that much faster. As said about the 8800 GT is a cheaper and faster card then the 8800 GTS. nVidia's naming scheme is silly.

 

[Remodelboy]

I've been wanting to get the 8800 GTS KO version because of the noise reducing cooling system. Right now I have the 7900 GT KO and I'm pretty happy with the performance and the noise levels. There is a major price difference when moving to the 8800 GT KO that I noticed.

Scratch that!!! I just went to double check the price difference (that used to be huge for the 640 mb version of the 8800 GT KO) and found my next card:

GeForce 8800GT KO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

This GT KO card is a faster card and it is cheaper. It almost seems like this is new model that just arrived. Thanks for the heads up! I thought that you guys were slightly behind the times - I should know better!

 

[KekaiGenkai]

If I remember correctly, any 32 bit operating system is incapable of utilizing more than 2.75 (or 3) GB of RAM, so it depends in part on what OS you are using. In my experience, any RAM upgrade makes a huge difference in photoshop, gimp, etc, but hasn't made much difference in gaming (maybe 3fps at the most) when switching from 2GB (2x1GB) to 3GB (2x1GB and 2X512MB) of PC2 6400.

 

[enewmen]

From what little I know, Crysis 64 may run a little faster with 4 gigs vs. 2 gigs.

 

[vip3569]

All you need is 24a on the 12v rails for the 8800gt. Check evga's website

 

[Hatman]

For vista64 or multiple monitors Id say 4GB.

Anything else 2gb will do.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

agreed

 

[enforcer22]

If I remember correctly, any 32 bit operating system is incapable of utilizing more than 2.75 (or 3) GB of RAM, so it depends in part on what OS you are using. In my experience, any RAM upgrade makes a huge difference in photoshop, gimp, etc, but hasn't made much difference in gaming (maybe 3fps at the most) when switching from 2GB (2x1GB) to 3GB (2x1GB and 2X512MB) of PC2 6400.

You remember inccorectly.

Actualy your not to far off.

heres how it works, Windows 32 bit can USE a max of 4 gigs of memory no matter where its coming from and in this memory block it must cache memory for hardware which is why when you install 4 gigs it shows anywhere from 3 gigs to 3.75 gigs. Now to top that off windows 32 bit can ONLY allocate 2 gigs of memory to any single program unless you use the boot switch which i wouldnt personaly recommend after reading some stuff about compatability which i didnt really get. Windows uses all 4 gigs but what its not showing is what is cached to the system (reserved).

If you want to get any advantage out of 4 gigs however move to a 64 bit OS Though i dont see how it would help in huge terms with those games ona 32 bit OS and the advantage is somewhat limited on a 64 bit OS though i personaly see good differences in speeds even with JUST switching to a 64 bit os. ALOT less crashing at least in my exp so far. alot less out of memory problems.

When i got my new comp i just said f it im going 8 gigs since that will max out my board and went with vista ultimate 64 aside a couple programs and drivers not liking it i cant say it was a mistake personaly. Just turned off all the annoying crap and it works fine.