Windows Vista Vista 64-bit with 4GB vs 8GB

Hi,

I currently have VISTA 64BIT with 4GB of memory. I actually happen to have an extra 2 sticks of 2GB for a totoal of 8GB.

I only have 4GB on my PC and was wondering whether I should use the extra 4GB or store it until maybe 1 of my sticks goes bad or something.

I'm mostly a PC gamer and I don't think I've ever seen my memory usage over 3.5GB. I would say that my PC memory usage is 2GB idle and about 3GB when playing.

I don't think that there will be any difference if I add the extra memory so why use it...

So my question is... Should I stay with 4GB or use all and have 8GB ??

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

OK, I'll install the extra 4GB... I quess I'll have to take the time and run before & after benchmarks to see differences...

If I see any notable differences I'll get back...

Thanks.

 

OK, I got some results using games GPU test.

I got the below results:
COH
4GB - 58.6 (AVG), 62 (MAX), 6.9 (MIN) fps
8GB - 58.6 (AVG), 62 (MAX), 4.9 (MIN) fps

CRYSIS
4GB - 25 (AVG), 29.13 (MAX) fps
8GB - 24.62(AVG), 28.83 (MAX) fps

Surprisingly, Looks like using 8GB is slightly slower.

 

Before I finished reading the thread, I was going to second Steve's motion to install it and do a comparison.

The way I see it, maxing the memory is the simplest way to peak performance. So if you have it to install, use it and if a stick fails, just replace it.

Next, and since you went ahead and installed it, I can see there is a difference.

Would you mind telling me how you got those benchmarks?

Thanks,
Rick

Via edit: Oops! I just caught the "games GBU test" comment. Tell me more about that, if you don't mind.

 

Some games have GPU test.

For COH.... Go to options -> Graphics. Then run PERFORMANCE TEST.
For Crysis. Under Crysis 64 folder, there is a GPU test. Run file and it runs GPU test.

 

I run Windows Ultimate 64bit with 8GB of ram. There are some things you have to take into account when it comes to software. It's all well and good that Windows will see all 8GB of ram, but just Windows does, doesn't mean your game will. The easiest example I can give of this, is WinDVD, it's a 32bit program and doesn't recognize that I have 8GB of ram.

My personal suggestion regarding how much you should use based on those benchmark score is leave them in, those scores aren't bad enough to warrant uninstalling them.

Personally, I use vmware everyday so having the extra memory is crucial to me, but it does little to help my gaming.

 

I now have 4GB of RAM, I was unable to keep the extra 4GB of RAM after all...

When I installed the 8GB of RAM, I had set the memory timings to AUTO in the BIOS. My current 2 sticks of 2GB are the model (same memory timings) the other 2 sticks that I no longer have were different models (different memory timings) but same manufacturer (Mushkin).

Although I was not able to test... someone had suggested to manually set the memory timings.... so that all 4 sticks would have same memory timings... But since I was unable to test this.... Not sure if this would have made any difference.

Davbran, since you have 8GB of memory maybe you can test if there is any difference for you... Have you set memory timings in the BIOS ? Or do you have it on AUTO ?

 

I am running mine at auto at the moment. From past experience the timings shown on memory when advertised are only for that matched pair. When you add a second pair, even if they are from the same manufacturer, are the same model or even the same revision, they are not matched. In order to get tight timings across four sticks you need to buy a quad matched set. Then they are tested together as a whole.

 

Ah, OK.... good to know. If I ever decide to get 8GB, then I will look into buying a quad matched set. But in reality, since I mostly do gaming... I think the most I've seen my PC use is ~3.5GB so for my needs... I don't think I need more than 4GB.