Vista 32Bit - RAM

[sh33n]

How much memory are have you guys got for your Vista 32Bit systems?

I've just ordered a new Dell system, Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core 2.40GHz with 2Gb of DDR2.

Now I was gonna slap in another 2Gb to the maximum of 4Gb however I know Vista isn't going to recognise all this so I may feel a bit cheated out of the cash.

If you have 4Gb+ how much is Vista showing?

Cheers.

 

[Greeny.]

2Gb will be fine for a high end system, im running the same setup ram wise but DDR3 @ 576mhz, it flys

 

[Stuart.Atkinson]

have a look here mate.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/212211-13-windows-vista

 

[sh33n]

DDR3 = Posh people RAM lol.

Well for £30 I could get 2x 1Gb sticks so it just seems a no brainer, however if it's only going to recognise ~1Gb I'll get a 2x 512Mb for £16.

 

[Greeny.]

Or get 2Gb of faster ram

 

[Daz]

2Gb will be fine for a high end system

I'd say 2GB is the minimum for Vista really..

 

[David]

2gig if you're running aero i think is the key here.

in answer to ur question when i ran 32bit it was showing 3gig. but if u have 4gig put on 64bit...simple.

 

[Greeny.]

Id say 1Gb as ive had to build a low end system run on with Vista basic and it ran ok with 1Gb.

Fast 2Gb is 100% fine for my high end system, never uses more than 80% of it, aero on along with the sidebar with a few gadgets.

Id agree saying that to run Vista well 2Gb upwards is needed though

 

[sh33n]

2gig if you're running aero i think is the key here.

in answer to ur question when i ran 32bit it was showing 3gig. but if u have 4gig put on 64bit...simple.

Box is shipping with 32bit however; if you have bought 32Bit with your box can you purchase a "upgrade" to the 64bit?

Are there still issues these days with 64bit compatibility?

I'm thinking 3Gb RAM will be fine for me tbh, it's not an amazing PC, just decent enough

 

[Greeny.]

If its a Q6600 G0 you should able to clock it nicely even on air! Mine got to 3.4ghz on stock voltage

Edit: Oh its a dell, scrap that

In reference to the upgrade im not sure as your license will be stuck to the side of your case, you wont be able to buy another OEM license from Dell unless you get a major piece of hardware. You can however buy OEM licenses from Scan etc.

 

[sh33n]

If its a Q6600 G0 you should able to clock it nicely even on air! Mine got to 3.4ghz on stock voltage

Edit: Oh its a dell, scrap that

LOL, lazy and cheap

I've done some searching and people are still clocking the Dell systems but like I said I doubt I'll bother it will be immensely faster than the Celeron with 128Mb RAM it's replacing :approve:

 

[MrMark]

got 4gb on my inspiron 1720, but vista 32bit only shows 3.5gb of it.

 

[sh33n]

In reference to the upgrade im not sure as your license will be stuck to the side of your case, you wont be able to buy another OEM license from Dell unless you get a major piece of hardware. You can however buy OEM licenses from Scan etc.

This was my thinking, and as the maximum RAM for the board is 4Gb anyway it seems pointless to shell out for 64bit just to access the extra memory that I've bought.

Will likely get an extra 1Gb in the form of 2x 512s and then a better graphics card in a bit, maybe the 8800GT, this seems a decent good value card, just need to make sure it doesn't require too much power.

 

[David]

64bit is fine, not had even 1 issue with it. all drivers i've put on work nicely and so far it's been nothing short of perfect for me..

 

[sh33n]

64bit is fine, not had even 1 issue with it. all drivers i've put on work nicely and so far it's been nothing short of perfect for me..

Cheers, I'll keep that as an option

Can't see there being a load of difference between a 3Gb or 4Gb RAM however, better graphics card would probably help more than anything it's only coming with an ATi 2400 HD Pro.

 

[FiDoDiDo]

You might not notice much difference between 3Gb and 4Gb of RAM but when the processor is running at 64bit instead of 32bit then you will get much better performance.

Like David I've been running Vista 64bit for some time now and it's great, had a problem installing it on the RAID first but with that all sorted it works fine.

 

[Aberclio182]

If you have the 32 bit version you can upgrade to the 64 bit for free through microsoft, its in the original box, i did it,

you can not run both though.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

bottom of page

 

[FiDoDiDo]

If you have the 32 bit version you can upgrade to the 64 bit for free through microsoft, its in the original box, i did it,

you can not run both though.

If it's OEM I don't you get it, only in the full version as far as I'm aware.

 

[Gareth]

If you have the 32 bit version you can upgrade to the 64 bit for free through microsoft, its in the original box, i did it,

you can not run both though.

that's only if you paid a lot for the retail version in the first place.

 

[Gareth]

If you have the 32 bit version you can upgrade to the 64 bit for free through microsoft, its in the original box, i did it,

you can not run both though.

If it's OEM I don't you get it, only in the full version as far as I'm aware.

yep, I bought OEM 32 Bit then OEM 64 Bit. Your not supposed to be able to transfer OEM licenses, but in my experience you can.

 

[Aberclio182]

If you have the 32 bit version you can upgrade to the 64 bit for free through microsoft, its in the original box, i did it,

you can not run both though.

that's only if you paid a lot for the retail version in the first place.

worked for my oem copy bought from ebuyer!

 

[Gareth]

that's only if you paid a lot for the retail version in the first place.

worked for my oem copy bought from ebuyer!

how? if yours is an OEM copy you would only have the 32Bit disc, no retail box and only the license for the 32Bit version?

 

[David]

can u not get a 'trial' off the web!?

 

[Aberclio182]

worked for my oem copy bought from ebuyer!

how? if yours is an OEM copy you would only have the 32Bit disc, no retail box and only the license for the 32Bit version?

because i typed my code into that page and it worked, its still vista:- home premium, it does not state anywhere on there website that it won't work with oem's. You pay shipping and handling fee's and they send you the vista 64 disc. The license worked fine installing the 64 bit version.

 

[sh33n]

how? if yours is an OEM copy you would only have the 32Bit disc, no retail box and only the license for the 32Bit version?

because i typed my code into that page and it worked, its still vista:- home premium, it does not state anywhere on there website that it won't work with oem's. You pay shipping and handling fee's and they send you the vista 64 disc. The license worked fine installing the 64 bit version.

Score.

Link?

 

[sh33n]

Think I found it:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/1033/ordermedia/default.mspx

Will give this a bash before ordering a new kit for the box.

 

[Daz]

OEM should be preinstalled.. so you shouldn't be able to "reinstall" as such.
It's down to the original manufacturer to supply 32bit or 64bit in that case.

Microsoft might be going a bit silly, cus' that link says retail only.. maybe you got lucky? Or they don't care anymore, haha.

 

[Initiale]

I put 2 x 2GB in my laptop and it only showed 3GB so I changed to 2GB+1GB for the same result.

 

[Richdog]

32-bit Vista will generally see 3.5GB of RAM tops, this is a limitaiton of 32-bit operating systems. Personally I use 3.5GB in Vista 32-bit, as the 64-bit version is known for much patchier driver releases and gaming performance isn't up to par.

 

[Gareth]

OEM should be preinstalled.. so you shouldn't be able to "reinstall" as such.
It's down to the original manufacturer to supply 32bit or 64bit in that case.

Microsoft might be going a bit silly, cus' that link says retail only.. maybe you got lucky? Or they don't care anymore, haha.

they don't seem to have a clue what they are doing, its surprising the amount of stuff you can get away with.

 

[sh33n]

OEM should be preinstalled.. so you shouldn't be able to "reinstall" as such.
It's down to the original manufacturer to supply 32bit or 64bit in that case.

Microsoft might be going a bit silly, cus' that link says retail only.. maybe you got lucky? Or they don't care anymore, haha.

they don't seem to have a clue what they are doing, its surprising the amount of stuff you can get away with.

I will give it a bash.

Failing that I've already got all the DVDs sat here as part of my MSDN subscription

 

[David]

32-bit Vista will generally see 3.5GB of RAM tops, this is a limitaiton of 32-bit operating systems. Personally I use 3.5GB in Vista 32-bit, as the 64-bit version is known for much patchier driver releases and gaming performance isn't up to par.

wtf? gaming performance is identical, where'd you read this? i'm interested.

 

[wozzaa]

Driver releases in vista 64 are virtually identical to 32bit as well.

 

[Millsy]

i have 2gb of ddr2 ram with an old skool AMD sempron processor and it runs flawlessly tbh.

 

[Mike_182]

2Gb will be fine for a high end system, im running the same setup ram wise but DDR3 @ 576mhz, it flys

2Gb is pathetic for a high-end system on Vista. The more you put in, the more it uses (and fairly effectively too). I've just built a machine with 8Gb in and it is noticeably quicker than my 4Gb 3.8Ghz quad...

 

[David]

well it's not 'pathetic' is it mate...think it depends on what you class as high-end..

i have 4gig and it uses about 50% on average but it's not that much better than 2gig tbh

 

[sh33n]

As Greeny 172 was pointing out, it's also not just about the amount of ram, the type does play a part.

 

[Richdog]

32-bit Vista will generally see 3.5GB of RAM tops, this is a limitaiton of 32-bit operating systems. Personally I use 3.5GB in Vista 32-bit, as the 64-bit version is known for much patchier driver releases and gaming performance isn't up to par.

wtf? gaming performance is identical, where'd you read this? i'm interested.

It's not identical, it has had issues for a long time form a driver and performance point of view. If it's the same now its only because its just caught up.

 

[Mike_182]

well it's not 'pathetic' is it mate...think it depends on what you class as high-end..

i have 4gig and it uses about 50% on average but it's not that much better than 2gig tbh

No, it is pathetic for a 'high end' machine. High end on XP was 2Gb-4Gb, and that makes a midrange 2Gb for Vista. I wouldn't run Vista on 1Gb memory but it's "possible".

 

[Mike_182]

wtf? gaming performance is identical, where'd you read this? i'm interested.

It's not identical, it has had issues for a long time form a driver and performance point of view. If it's the same now its only because its just caught up.

No it's always been identical, just nVidia are struggling to write a half-decent driver. ATI cards have been comparable on both platforms.