4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

[megawhompertoo]

Hiya folks,

So I've played with win 7 64 bit and so far I'm really thinking about donating some money to microsoft when they release the full version. (edit: when we figure out how to get past the drm malware, anyway...)

My question is--considering that I'm NOT planning on upgrading my computer for another two-to-two and a half years unless I score some really great deals--should I:

a) stay with my current 2x2gb (4gb total) @ 1066 5x5x5x15 timings

b) reinstall some of my old (pretty decent) ddr2 800 that i can run at 1000mhz 5/5/5/15 with just a bit more voltage to give me 2x2gb and 2x1 gb at 1000mhz for a total of 6 gb... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820150054

c) sell the 2x1 gbs on ebay and use it to pay for another matched set of 2x2gb for a total of 8 gb matched. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017SA5ZY

^ that's not the price i paid or will pay for another matched part, just linked for a reference

So, if I can run the 2x2 and 2x1 at the same voltage at at least 1000mhz and w/5x5x5x15 timings, would it be worth it to splash out for a second 2x2gb set instead?

i'm selling a q6600 (slacr) and have about $40 to spend on my paypal, so i'm tempted to go shopping (again) on ebay...

[=98=]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

Stick with your current 4GB of memory. That is plenty enough unless you are doing some serious photoshop/video editing stuff and RAM speed makes next to no difference in Windows.

The only reason why one might upgrade is to hit a higher FSB whilst overclocking.

[Death Merchant]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

youll probably be ok with 4gb for the 2 1/2 year time period

the way i see it is that recently to play games on high settings you need to double the amount of ram you have every two to three years

for example in 2003 1gb of ram ran everything perfect in 2005 2gb of ram was needed to do the same in 2008 there started to be a need for more than 2gb of ram

[AlecJ32]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

Well, most uses won't need more than 4 gigs of memory, so unless you're doing something that would, I'd stay on 4 gigs. Windows XP doesn't make very good use of anything over 2 gigs of memory. Windows Vista and Windows 7 are much more efficient at memory management, and will also cache things in your memory when it isn't being used in order to improve performance, but beyond that you won't see much improvement going from 4 gigs to 6 or 8 gigs.

The only reason why one might upgrade is to hit a higher FSB whilst overclocking.

Psh, you probably wouldn't need to upgrade even then. Just drop the multiplier to a 1:1, and you can run up to 400Mhz FSB. Most people aren't going to need any more.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

okies.

thanks for the input; i'll be sticking with 4gb for a bit then and maybe hold on to the other two gb for something kinky like a modular ram drive in the future, or a 2gb ram drive in the mobo slots.

ddr2--even the high end stuff--doesn't seem to be worth the price to ship it these days.

[=98=]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

Psh, you probably wouldn't need to upgrade even then. Just drop the multiplier to a 1:1, and you can run up to 400Mhz FSB. Most people aren't going to need any more.

400mhz FSB, pah, lowlings!

[Evil Spongebob]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

I run at 400FSB D: but I've been stable at 445 =)

[AlecJ32]

Re: 4gb, 6gb or 8gb w/win 7?

400mhz FSB, pah, lowlings!

If you're willing to overclock your memory, you can go further than that, too.