Some questions...

[tyler387]

So i am planning on making a computer only for WoW and basic pc use.

i have xp 32-bit and windows 7 64-bit in hand

first let me start off is my video card is a 4870 1gb



if i have 2gb of ram and the 1gb from the vcard, isnt this the max amount of memory xp can use?



would it be better to upgrade to 4gb of ram and run windows 7 64-bit? would i expect alot better WoW performance?

Thanks!

 

[boonality]

1. No, XP 32bit recognizes 4GB of memory. There are multiple caveots to this, such as the amount of memory your motherboard is capable of recognizing...

2. Better... Yes. Will WoW care... not sure.

 

[jsc]

No. You do not count the video card memory as part of system memory. The CPU does not have access to the video memory. Typically with 4 GB of RAM install, a 32 bit operating system will see 3.25 - 3.5 GB.

I am not an expert on WoW but if you are curious about any possible performance differences, install both and test. Use the one that works better.

 

[boonality]

You do not count the video card memory as part of system memory.

Actually, yes it does count.

A thread from about a year ago
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/258885-30-32bit-64bit-memory-memory

How it works

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

 

[welshmousepk]

2gb of ram is plenty for wow.

though why not use w7 anyway, and install more ram at a later date if necessary?