Newbie question about RAM

[mrzhw]

Hello everyone, I have a question about RAM.

Let's say Windows Vista requireds 1g of RAM and the game that I play recommends 2g of RAM for playing(not real). Does that mean I should have 3g of RAM to play the game at recommended performance?

In other word, when I am in a game, is there a portion of RAM still being used for Windows in the background?

 

[g-paw]

No, recommended RAM always assumes other programs are running. Given the price of RAM today, really inexpensive, for most users the best bet is 2 x 1GB (2GB sticks) for a total of 2GB. Also need to be sure the RAM will fit you're board, DDR or DDR2. If you're thinking of buying RAM and not sure what to get post your mobo, CPU, and video card, how you're using the machine, and if you plan to overclock. Generally best not to mix RAM, i.e., what ever you want, and keep the old RAM as a spare unless it's a really old machine and the RAM is expensive