4GB 800MHZ or 2GB 1066MHZ RAM?!

[Keydogg]

I have a budget of £60 for some RAM for my computer since mine just f00ked up. So, my set up is Q6600, Gigabyte P35-S3L Mob, 8800GT 512MB OC2 and I did have 2GB of 1066mhz ram with s**t timings (5-7-7-24).

Now should I go for:

4GB 4-4-4-12 800MHZ PC6400 RAM

or

2GB 5-5-5-15 1066MHZ PC8500 RAM

which would you go for and why? the advantage of the 800mhz is that i get 4gb straight away rather than in 6 months with the 1066 when i add an extra 2gb 1066. But however if in 6 months time i wish i had 4GB of 1066 i will have to rip the 800mhz out and buy 4GB 1066 rather than and extra 2GB.

Lol, help me decide!

 

[Darren S]

Easy. Which O/S are you using?

D.

 

[McBunny]

unless your using 64bit os 4gig wont even work

tbh i think 4 gig is over kill 2gig is enough

 

[David]

2GB 5-5-5-15 1066MHZ PC8500 RAM

 

[Gareth]

I've got 4GB 1066Mhz, Vista 64 Bit, but talking from experience I'd go for 2GB 1066Mhz if I were you.

 

[Keydogg]

Ok guys, well I'm on vista ultimate 32 but tbh getting vista 64 isn't a problem for me!

 

[Keydogg]

What makes you all say 2gb of pc8500 then?

 

[McBunny]

because you wont use 4gb !

my exchange box 170 users 2.32gb used memory out of 4gb physical and 4 gig virtual

my sql box 1.93 gig used

so a home machine unless your doing some huge 3d cad stuff you wont need it

 

[Keydogg]

RAM always helps especially with Vista, and since I use things like lightroom/photoshop/illustrator alot I'm sure the extra RAM would benefit me. But it's just how much with relevence to the loss in speed! :|

 

[nockmeister]

If your going to buy another 2gb in 6mths, it doesn't make sense to but anything other than the 1066 ram, you've already said that you only had 2gb before so you can work with that amount... : )

 

[KDF]

The recommended amount of Ram for Vista to run properly is 4GB.

 

[Darren S]

The recommended amount of Ram for Vista to run properly is 4GB.

I can believe that. When I used to run Vista 64 Ultimate, it used 1,125MB when just sat at the desktop....

D.

 

[David]

where does it say that kdf? i'd be interested to know

 

[Darren S]

where does it say that kdf? i'd be interested to know

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

...... clearly, Microsoft is talking out of its own ring-piece.

Ultimate? Only recommending 1GB? Is that before or after the HDD's had gone into meltdown with the pagefile? They are busy enough as it is with sh1tloads of memory!

D.

 

[KDF]

well of course mr billy goat doesnt come out and say it himself. but

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011523

is just one example. Kinda like how XP was 512mb but to run properlly you needed a gig.

 

[fizzy_drink]

Whilst on the subject of ram, does the ram speed make any difference if you're running GMA shared graphics?

 

[undergroove]

so a home machine unless your doing some huge 3d cad stuff you wont need it

Try telling that to Crysis running on Vista Ultimate x64 with only 2gb of memory. go to 4gb and it suddenly becomes a lot smoother in play....

 

[wozzaa]

RAM always helps especially with Vista, and since I use things like lightroom/photoshop/illustrator alot I'm sure the extra RAM would benefit me. But it's just how much with relevence to the loss in speed! :|

What you have to remember is while the bandwidth (MHZ) are increase the latency is too. There is virtually no real speed increase. The only reason for getting good memory is overclocking headroom thats why they typically sell at a higher price for the enthusiast market.

Even the very very high end memory is only around 5% faster than the cheap stuff you can buy so makes sod all difference in the real world. 4GB would be more useful and show you a larger increase right now. And it is easy to use 4gb in Vista.

 

[Adams_16v]

unless your planning on overclocking dont spend the extra on pc8500

i bought 4gb of pc6400 instead for a very similar setup to yours. I was going to buy the pc8500 but most of the peopole on the overclockers forum I asked before buying said no need for it for a lot more cash!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL

 

[2thumbs]

2GB of decent 800, will easily overclock to 1066 if needs be.

Just not worth the extra moolah for minimal gains.