Upgrade from 2GB to 4GB? or 3GB since it loses almost a gig?

[jay2tall]

I currently have 2x1Gb Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 modules. Would there be any increase in performance on current/upcoming games if I move to 4GB of ram? I can get another set of identical memory modules for under $100. They have done well for me so far.

Also, another thought. Since 32bit OS's have that memory hole and you lose 1/2 a GB or so should I just get 2x512MB modules? would there be any hit on performance if they are of different size than my other 2 as long as I keep them in pairs? The only time I ever needed 4GB was on an oler HP server with Server 2003 std and it picked up 3.5GB instead of 4GB. However I have hear some situations where it knocks out more than 1/2 GB of usable space.

What say you all?

 

[Human1]

I picked up 4G for my new system and I only see 2.8, something to do with the graphics memory and the caches on the quad core CPU.
I've also been wondering if I would have been better off going with 3G, but 4G wasn't that much more.
As for performance increases, if you're running XP, I doubt that you'd notice the difference. Load times in Oblivion might drop for areas you've already visited, but 2G is plenty for most games.

 

[nickr336]

Man, 2x1GB costs $50 with free shipping. Just go get it. That's what I did yesterday. I am also going to go with Vista 64.

 

[jwolf24601]

32bit programs have a problem addressing over 2gb really.

They released a hotfix for vista on this that set limits to 2gb so programs wouldn't crash. I had to download it to run eq2 reliably (Horribly coded game, but really fun)

I have 2x1gb and 2x512mb setup, with the hotfix it runs fine, but no real benifit over 2gb

 

[jay2tall]

Actually there is a rebate which makes the 2x512 the same as the 2x1gb modules. Both $60 after rebate(for the 2gb kit). I know Supcom is a memory hog, I wasn't sure how other's would act. Idle I run around 390MB in memory with my McAfee AV. The ATI Catalyst drivers suck up alot of room and I have ATI Tray Tools running. So really that's working on half a gig right there. after a while there are some items resident in memory but I don't always feel like rebooting to clear it out. but sometimes it idles around 430MB. I know Oblivion takes a chunk as well. I never minimized the other games to look what they run at. I'm sure Company of Hero's isn't small either.

So basically unless I Max out my memory I am not going to see a performance gain. I wasn't sure if it would just use the page file less if it sees more memory. I was told that the OS uses the page file a certain amount and if it has more physical memory available it will not swap as much.