System memory 2Gb vs 1Gb.......?

[rmd2001]

Is there real world performance increase with 2Gb memory. Let's say for new games. etc?

 

[Wheelman56]

Faster load times

 

[ohnnyj]

Not much difference with games, but you will most likely notice a difference in photo editing, video editing, 3d work, etc.

 

[leedog2007]

At least you need less virtual memory. Like ohnnyj said its good for video editing and such

 

[amol]

sorry to hijack the thread but what about going from a single 1GB DDR stick to dual 1GB sticks in dual channel?

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Amol
sorry to hijack the thread but what about going from a single 1GB DDR stick to dual 1GB sticks in dual channel?

if you have a P4 yes it would but ur motherboard has to support
with a New AMD 64bit system not really

 

[leedog2007]

it doubles the bandwidth, so it would be more desirable to have the dual channel rather than the one big stick

 

[edmundoab]

do they have those 1GB sticks with 2-2-2 timings?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Wheelman56
Faster load times

Load times? They depend on hard drive speed. Maybe later load times might be lower, if the program initially loads all of itself into RAM right from the start - but that would just mean a much longer loading time at the beginning, but fewer pauses later on.
Check Task Manager occasionally, under the Performance tab. There's all kinds of memory information there. Check the Commit Charge - Peak vs the Limit. The Limit includes both the pagefile and system RAM; Peak indicates the amount of this total that the system has used.
If the Peak is near the Limit, then you can either get more RAM, or increase the pagefile size.

Also check the Physical Memory section from time to time - look at what the Available memory is at.

 

[ohnnyj]

Originally posted by: edmundoab
do they have those 1GB sticks with 2-2-2 timings?

I personally have not seen any, but I know Corsair makes some with 3-3-3 timings.

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

I'd say it would be useful for Photoshop and other things like that. The only game I can only think that could benefit from more than 1gb is EQ2 as it is a memory hog and has a memory leak to boot

 

[RussianSensation]

I would think that any game that benefits from 2GB memory access already exhausts the CPU and Graphics card too much to make smooth gaming even an option.

Maybe if you play games at 2048x1638 or something like that ...... I am sure in the future, games will demand 2 gigs; but right now you'd be better off investing in a faster cpu + videocard. You can always get 2x512 now an 2x512 later if needed. Ram prices are going to continue to fall over the long term period (ie. 1 year) since DDRII will slowly start replacing DDR1. Also go for Value RAM right now.