is 3GB ram enough?

[CJP]

I'm getting a new system to last me for 2 years. I mainly game and surf the web. With Vista and new games would 3GB of ram be enough or do I really need 4GB?

 

[jaqie]

Enough for what? depends on what kind of games you run, and what OS...wait, I see you talking about vista. Better go with 6GB or higher. Yes, I am serious. For a gamer system two years hence IN vista, you will end up needing 6GB or more within a year or so.

 

[CJP]

I play first person shooters.

 

[jaqie]

Then you will need 8GB.

Best bet, get a mobo with 4 slots, get two 2GB ones now, and plan to upgrade later. By then, 4GB won't be as much as 2GB is now, so you can get a total of 6GB... then upgrade the 2x2GB ones once 6GB is a bit low.

 

[Rubycon]

8GB for a shooter? Must be a really big gun you're using there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9NxHj1R04g

 

[jaqie]

Two years from now? with vista? sure.

What was XP's memory footprint when it was new? then a few years after?
Think of vista balooning like such with service packs, then consider the fact that almost everyone runs apps in background, a lot of them. Then consider the fact that this person is talking about games that will come out in the next two years.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: jaqie
get two 2GB ones now... By then, 4GB won't be as much as 2GB is now, so you can get a total of 6GB...

Crap, just realized my freaky math there. Pardon me for being up for about 40 hours straight now... insomnia ain't fun.

 

[Binky]

Vista 32-bit won't see above 3.2gb anyway...sooo....are you using Vista64?

 

[CJP]

Yeah I'd be using vista 32. From what I've read the drivers are better with that.

 

[jaqie]

If you want your machine to last for new games for the next two years, you are going to need to run a 64 bit OS.

whew, six hours of sleep and I'm feeling much better now. I stick by my earlier statements, but not my math

~edit~
Oh, and technically the "3.2gb limit" is untrue. google something called PAE. It is a workaround, but it does allow multithreaded apps to access the full RAM of a system, and windows itself does support PAE, even windows 2000. The catch is a single thread can only access up to just under 4GB of ram in a 32 bit OS with PAE.

 

[TC91]

ram is so cheap nowadays, going 8gb IMO would be a good idea if you dont upgrade your system too often. if you just do a video card drop-in after 2 years while keeping everything in tact, the 8gb might come in pretty handy.

 

[imported_wired247]

3GB is fine. 4GB is pretty cheap upgrade from 3GB. your call.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: CJP
Yeah I'd be using vista 32. From what I've read the drivers are better with that.

thats BS, the drivers are the same, there was a serious lack of drivers a year or more ago, but now you can find drivers for anything in 64bit, there is just some software that has issues with 64bit. But MORE software has 64bit executables that give significant performance benefits.

And you WILL need more ram with vista pretty soon.
jaqie was absolutely right, With vista you should buy 2x1GB of ram now MINIMUM, I would recommend 2x2GB now, leaving 2 out of the 4 slots open. And in a year or two buy more ram.
Vista itself already takes tons of RAM, it WILL take more. And if you upgrade to windows7 (that should come out in less then a year) then that is more ram. And games already take a ton of ram. Who knows how much they will need in 2 years.

 

[jaqie]

Bingo.

 

[pugh]

sounds yummy. I love more RAM

 

[Yellowbeard]

In general and regardless of OS, the smartest buy these days is a 2 x 2gb kit.

 

[fastman]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
In general and regardless of OS, the smartest buy these days is a 2 x 2gb kit.

Even in running XP32?

Or are there drawbacks to this?

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: fastman

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
In general and regardless of OS, the smartest buy these days is a 2 x 2gb kit.

Even in running XP32?

Or are there drawbacks to this?

There are no real drawbacks that I see. First, 2 x 2gb is much better than 4 x 1gb for the vast majority of the world. Second, with 32bit XP, you will still "see" approximately 2.75 - 3.5gb of your RAM which is a nice increase over 2gb. And, if you shop, you can get 2 x 2gb for less than $100.

 

[higa]

4gb(2x2gb) is more the eough for ur requirements ... why spends extra even though ur love for ram ...

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: higa
4gb(2x2gb) is more the eough for ur requirements ... why spends extra even though ur love for ram ...

The OP said:

I'm getting a new system to last me for 2 years.

2 modules (regardless of size) is easier to tune and places far less load on the NB which in theory should be better for longevity also. 4 x 1gb will cost approximately $70 or so. For $85 you can have 2 x 2gb and simplify the whole deal, have fewer points of failure, run your system cooler, etc. If you already own 2 x 1gb, you can stick them on eBay, use them in another project, etc etc.

 

[Niege]

If XP32 can only see 3.2 could you use a RAM disk for the extra?

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: Niege
If XP32 can only see 3.2 could you use a RAM disk for the extra?

No, the RAM disk sofware runs in the OS and can only use what the OS addresses.

 

[Niege]

Shucks, or a similar word. Tnx Yellowbeard.

 

[Ratman6161]

Ok folks, reality check time. There is a 2GB limit on user address space, meaning that a single application cannot use more than 2GB of RAM - Even if you are running a 64 bit OS. There are limited exceptions to that rule, but not for games. For right now, if gaming is what you are after then yes, 3gb is a good amount unless you plan to runn a lot of stuff in the background while gaming.

EDIT: But, while 3GB is a good amount, now that I think of it, you cant get there on two modules. You would have to use a 2x1 pair and a 2x512 pair. There are a variety of reasons why thats a bad idea. 2 modules are usually a better idea than 4 and going with 2 modules lease two slots open for later. And with 2x2 pairs of DDR2 so cheap, it makes sense to go with a 2x2 as others have suggested - even if you are using a 32 bit OS that cant use it all.

 

[brencat]

Originally posted by: Ratman6161
EDIT: But, while 3GB is a good amount, now that I think of it, you cant get there on two modules. You would have to use a 2x1 pair and a 2x512 pair. There are a variety of reasons why thats a bad idea. 2 modules are usually a better idea than 4 and going with 2 modules lease two slots open for later. And with 2x2 pairs of DDR2 so cheap, it makes sense to go with a 2x2 as others have suggested - even if you are using a 32 bit OS that cant use it all.

I play shooters mostly and currently use exactly the configuration bolded above -- 4 slots filled, 3gb total and every game is smooth as butter -- Crysis, COD4, C&C3, HL2:2. Truth be told however, the only reason I didn't go with 2 x 2s is because I had 2 x 512s laying around that I didn't want to go to waste. At some point, I may sell these Ballistix in favor of CAS4 2 x 2s when the price comes down a bit more (and it will).