2x1GB vs. 2x2GB vs. 4x1GB

[morkus64]

I generally work in photoshop and maya, sometimes flash, been getting into HDR rendering lately... So far as gaming it's mainly Oblivion, Dreamfall and Civ IV at the moment.

Right now i've got the 2x1gb... is the upgrade worth it, and if so, is it worth the money to go for 2x2gb istead of 4x1gb?

(Also, side question, will i notice any better performance on huge 18-civ maps in Civ IV?)

The rest of my system:

Asus A8N-SLI (vanilla)
Opteron 170
7900GT (will possibly become 7900GTX 512 in a couple months - hooray for evga step-up!)
300gb sata II drive, 16mb cache
200gb sata drive, 8mb cache
120gb sata drive, 8mb cache
Audigy 2
NVTV

(i know some of that will have no effect, but it's always nice to show off )

 

[secretanchitman]

i would keep your 2x1GB and save it until vista and directx10 games come out. i have yet to see any game utilise more than 2GBs of ram.

i have 2x256MB of geil PC4000 ram in my computer...gonna get 2x1GB soon.

2GB will help for your civ4 maps i think.

if you overclock, having 4 sticks might be bad...though someone correct me on this. having 4 sticks in an athlon isnt nearly as bad as having 4 sticks in a p4.

 

[morkus64]

That's actually a good bit of info i left out... I don't overclock. Not that I would never, but after spending much more money than i really had to spend on my processor and vid card, i just can't do it. Nerves, i guess.

 

[zagood]

Heh...I like your polls.

1. XP doesn't like over 3gb of ram. You can force it to accept more but since you're not into overclocking, tweaking your system like that might not be up your alley.

2. There's something about 4 sticks that AMD rigs don't like. Sets speeds down to 2T. I'm not as familiar with AMD as I am with Intel, someone else will have more info for you.

3. Doubtful that any extra memory will help you in CivIV. Faster ram (timings) will, but not more ram.

4. Since you're working with PS and Maya, yes, you probably could use more than 2gb.

5. 2gb sticks of ram are slowwwwww...

6. You could conceivably use another 2x512mb sticks if you want to use dual channel.

Easy way to tell if you need more ram is to just open up your Windows Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) after you've been doing some work that seems to be laggy. Under "Performance" check Commit Charge - "Limit". If that gets close to or above the amount of physical RAM in your system, then you definitely need more memory.

If it doesn't and you're still laggy, then you need to look closer at tightening your ram timings (yes, that's like overclocking), getting a new processor, or changing your VRAM settings. Even if you don't hit your physical memory cap, you're almost always using VRAM unless you shut it off completely.

-z

 

[dguy6789]

In response to Zagood number two. Current AMD chips will run with 4 sticks in 2T timing mode. 2T timing mode has been shown to not alter performance by any real degree. Do not avoid getting 4GB of ram if you are afraid of 2T. Also, when you are speaking of the Commit Charge, I believe you made a mistake. When speaking of the commit charge, the limit is your memory + page file. I believe the one you meant to say was Peak. That is the most memory your computer has used since it has been on.

Use your computer in the most intensive and slow scenario as possible. Then check on the commit charge peak. If that exceeds or is near your memory capacity, then you could benefit from more memory.

If you have 2x1GB now, and must upgrade, I suggest purchasing another 2x1GB while they are still cheap(DDR1 price will go up, as DDR2 price goes down). As stated above, Windows XP has some issues with more than 3GB of ram. However, when you upgrade to Windows Vista, it is likely to be alleviated.

 

[zest]

4Gb & a neew mainboard.

 

[DaRkLoRd666]

Originally posted by: morkus64
I generally work in photoshop and maya, sometimes flash, been getting into HDR rendering lately... So far as gaming it's mainly Oblivion, Dreamfall and Civ IV at the moment.

Right now i've got the 2x1gb... is the upgrade worth it, and if so, is it worth the money to go for 2x2gb istead of 4x1gb?

(Also, side question, will i notice any better performance on huge 18-civ maps in Civ IV?)

The rest of my system:

Asus A8N-SLI (vanilla)
Opteron 170
7900GT (will possibly become 7900GTX 512 in a couple months - hooray for evga step-up!)
300gb sata II drive, 16mb cache
200gb sata drive, 8mb cache
120gb sata drive, 8mb cache
Audigy 2
NVTV

(i know some of that will have no effect, but it's always nice to show off )

Please, what ever you do do NOT get the 7900GTX 512, it would be the worst (Performance to Money) upgrade i have ever heard of.

I dont know opterons that much but if its a low end cpu that would be worth upgrading because 2GB is overkill for everything on the market (untill vista and dx10 games, maybe)

 

[LittleNemoNES]

DDR1 will soon be dead.

 

[morkus64]

The reason for going to the GTX is because of the step up... I'll wind up making my step up decision based on the prices in about 2 months, so we'll see there.

As for the processor... the opty 170 is dual core 2.0ghz with 2x1mb cache. It's also a great overclocker, and one of these days (probably after oblivion stops freaking out about overclocking) i might actually do it.


also, i know about the 3gb limit, but i don't mind going to 64bit windows.


About the 2x1gb + 2x512... wouldn't that give an added performance hit because of the non-equal sizes, or am i mistaken?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: morkus64
The reason for going to the GTX is because of the step up... I'll wind up making my step up decision based on the prices in about 2 months, so we'll see there.

As for the processor... the opty 170 is dual core 2.0ghz with 2x1mb cache. It's also a great overclocker, and one of these days (probably after oblivion stops freaking out about overclocking) i might actually do it.


also, i know about the 3gb limit, but i don't mind going to 64bit windows.


About the 2x1gb + 2x512... wouldn't that give an added performance hit because of the non-equal sizes, or am i mistaken?

personally i wouldn't go xp64, from what i have read not too good of driver support yet. also, people who keep saying 2GB is more than enough, he uses maya and ps, so there is a possibility of going over 2GB.

i would get 2x1GB sticks and let windows use the 3.25GB it sees. running in 2t is still much faster than having the machine hit the pagefile all the time

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: gersson
DDR1 will soon be dead.

i can still buy pc100 if i need it....

 

[GrammatonJP]

with 4gb, u'll only see around 2.9 - 3.2

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/4gb1.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/GrammatonJP/4gb2.jpg

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: morkus64
The reason for going to the GTX is because of the step up... I'll wind up making my step up decision based on the prices in about 2 months, so we'll see there.

As for the processor... the opty 170 is dual core 2.0ghz with 2x1mb cache. It's also a great overclocker, and one of these days (probably after oblivion stops freaking out about overclocking) i might actually do it.


also, i know about the 3gb limit, but i don't mind going to 64bit windows.


About the 2x1gb + 2x512... wouldn't that give an added performance hit because of the non-equal sizes, or am i mistaken?

personally i wouldn't go xp64, from what i have read not too good of driver support yet. also, people who keep saying 2GB is more than enough, he uses maya and ps, so there is a possibility of going over 2GB.

i would get 2x1GB sticks and let windows use the 3.25GB it sees. running in 2t is still much faster than having the machine hit the pagefile all the time

Yep. I have 3 GB of RAM, and it totally kicks hell out of the 2x512mb i used to have. Also thats the advantage i always thought i would have over the people with just 2GB. My games actually get 2GB, windows will not take up any of it, its got a whole other GB to contend with.

 

[Makaveli]

The difference from 1GB to 2GB is fairly big in Windows XP, but I doubt the increase is as large when going from 2GB to 3GB. The only apps I can think of that will use that much memory might be photoshop, or maya or one of those cad programs.
For a gaming rig I doubt u have any advantage with 3GB vs 2GB. The game that started the craze for more memory than 1 GB is BF2, and even that on max settings only hits about 1.4GB of memory usage on a 64 player server.

If your someone that has like 70 processes running and likes to play games that use alot of memory aswell, that might be a reason for more than 2GB. most people I know tho don't have all that stuff running tho.

 

[morkus64]

hehe... nobody actually reads the original post, do they?

I'm a set designer - I use maya, vectorworks and photoshop all the time. I had a thread before working with a 26 foot tall photo.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: morkus64
hehe... nobody actually reads the original post, do they?

I'm a set designer - I use maya, vectorworks and photoshop all the time. I had a thread before working with a 26 foot tall photo.

there is more than 1 reference to your maya and ps use, so yes we do read the original thread

 

[GrammatonJP]

So just letting you know again, so you don't come back and say i upgraded to 4gb and my systems only shows 3gb.. You can buy the extra ram.. but without remapping or 64bit os, you'll only waste your money and have windows see 3gb remaining.

The board can't take 2x2 modules anyway.. I got 4gb on my a8n sli.. i do similar work photoshop and premiere.. got another 8gb in irams.

You might as well find some cheap 2x512 instead of another 2x1