SmokingTarpan

So I'm aiming to build a brand new system (save for my drives) come November/December, which means I'm starting to do my extra research now. One of the big things I want to do (there's a lot of "big" things I aim to do) is to swap up from my current 2gig of RAM (2 x 1GB) to 4gig.

The main question I have is what's the difference and advantage/disadvantage between running 4 x 1GB of RAM versus 2 x 2GB? I assume that even running at 4x1 I'd still be in dual channel (2 sticks in channel 1, 2 sticks in channel 2), though perhaps it'd be double dual channel. Would it be more optimal to go with 2x2 instead?

Pricing seems fairly equivalent, so that won't be an issue aside from any special deals that are going on at the time of purchase.

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Shiner

Just double checking that you are on Vista in x64 mode.. not sure that 4gb works in any other setting.

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Zoopy

You can use any 64bit operating system to utilize 4GB of RAM.

Not sure if there is much issues for one or the other. Probably a small latency with the four sticks due to the fact that there are more sticks to communicate with. Possibly heat as well if you were overclocking.

SmokingTarpan

As of right now, I'm on Windows XP. It's up in the air as to whether I'll be switching to the devil (vista) or sticking with XP when I rebuild.

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P8riot

I'd go with 2x2 personally, mainly because I want to go 4x2 eventually and start playing around with RAM drives. I'm using Vista 64 at home and XP x64 at work.

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=Sarc=

If you're not switching to a 64-bit OS, I think it's going to be a waste. But I think it'll be ok using 4x1GB sticks. It's not like you're going to be losing 5 FPS in games. The RAM will still be addressed with dual channels. The difference is that half the addresses will represent physical locations on a different RAM stick.

As it stands, I still don't see the need for 4GB right now. Maybe in a year or two it might be required for high performance systems. There are only a few games that I see using all my RAM. BF2 and BF2142 use a lot but I already get great performance with the main bottleneck being my video card. ArmA uses a lot too but it also uses a lot of processing time and my video card is holding me back.

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TheBigC

I use 4gb with Vista 64, but be real carefull what games you play. There are a lot of games that caused me to remove 2 gig, so I could run the games.

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Tempus

New machine should be Vista.

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Acreo Aeneas

The only real advantage to running a 4x2 setup instead of a 4x1 is if you plan on adding more RAM in the future.

Vista/XP 32-bit or 64-bit doesn't matter. With a 32-bit OS, you'll only see about 3.2 GBs worth whereas the 64-bit OS you'll see all 4 GBs worth.

If you plan on or do multitask heavily, then I recommend getting at least 2 GBs worth. 4 GB is very safe, but unless you have several resource intensive programs running at the same time, you won't address all of it most of the time.

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SmokingTarpan

As of right now, I'm still unimpressed with anything Vista has to offer. The only reason I'm considering moving is because I know that in a somewhat short while, it will be "standard".

The change up to 4GB is to prepare a bit for the future games that get more intensive. I know one of the games that I'm looking at for the near-future is Age of Conan, and it's going to require a pretty robust system. I don't generally do tons of multi-tasking or max out my current RAM (2GB), but I do know that games are becoming continually more intensive across the board for all main hardware (processor, video card, RAM). With prices being pretty good as they are, and scheduled to drop in Nov/Dec, I think it's a good time to upgrade with the future in mind. I don't buy bleeding edge gear, but the systems I make tend to last 3-4 years before they truly become obsolete with respect to gaming.

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Black_V!per

Up side to Vista X32, its easier to find drivers, and programs that work, x64 has issues with certified this and something or another that. Upside to x64 though is the support for 4GB+.


I'd say go with 2x2GB (Make sure its compatible with your Main Board) that way you can always upgrade to 4x2GB if needed. Plus is getting cheaper everyday, so why not?

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ChopStick

I'm on Vista 64 with 2 GB of RAM and which I had 4.

=Sarc=

I would put the extra 2GB at the bottom of the list of parts to include in a new build. It's about $100 that could go into the GPU, which I think is more important right now. It might even be better to save that money to buy games or for future upgrades. Although, it's tempting to get the extra 2GB because DDR2 RAM has gotten a lot cheaper in the past year.

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SmokingTarpan

I'm budgeting $800-1k for my new system, which will replace everything but my drives and sound card. So that's a new processor, mobo, graphics card and RAM. The most expensive part of my system will come in around $3-400, which will be my GPU (I buy a step or two below bleeding edge technology). Considering that back in March or so I lost a 1GB stick of RAM that cost $100 to replace, I'm thinking $200 for 4GB isn't too bad. :P

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Acreo Aeneas

$200 for 4GB is definitely not bad when you compare to past RAM prices.

Personally, I will be getting 4GB on my next system. That is because I can probably spare the extra $100 since I get a free copy of Vista from school. And also because I usually host any sort of LAN game events.

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Acreo_Aeneas
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