Ok, so I just went up to Best Buy to pick up GTA:San Andreas. While I was there, I figured I'd check out some RAM prices to upgrade my pc from 2gb of DDR2 to 4gb. I recently purchased an HP a1630 less than a month ago. I've never opened the case so I wasn't sure if it was using 1gb cards or four 512's or what.
I approached a Best Buy Geek Squad member and asked him for assistance. First I asked him if he knew whether or not my PC used two 1gb chips. He had no idea because it simply wasn't printed on the tag infront of the PC which he could read it from. So I then asked him if we could open the case and take a look see. He hesitated and then agreed to open the case for me. So we got to the bottom of the first question. 4 slots, running two 1gb chips stock, with 2 free/open slots.
I then asked him his thoughts on upgrading to 4gb, or purchasing an LCD monitor. This is the part where he lost me...and it makes no sense.
He told me that even if I did upgrade to 4gb of RAM, I would only be able to get use out of 2gb out of the 4gb total due to the fact that XP only 'knows how to use' 2gb of RAM. Basically what he was telling me is that I can't use 4gb of RAM unless I upgrade to Vista. Ok...right.....that just doesn't sound right considering the fact that you can buy factory PC's with 4gb of RAM and XP as the operating system. I also know a lot of hardcore gamers build their own rigs and are using as much ram as possible. Now, to my understanding, Vista is still not on the shelves.
What is the deal on this? Is he just stupid?
It doesn't make sense that you would have the option to use all 4 slots and have up to 4gb of RAM yet not be able to get maximum performance with out Vista as your operating system?
I mean, in theory, if I upgraded to a full 4gb from 2gb, the data would flow through each slot? I don't really know how to say it in technical terms, so please forgive me. But right now, while there is only 2gb's, the data only flows between the 2 chips...correct? So when you add 2 more, the data is now gonna' flow through all 4 slots. Not limit it's flow to 2 slots because I'm not running Vista?
Help? Anyone?
I approached a Best Buy Geek Squad member and asked him for assistance. First I asked him if he knew whether or not my PC used two 1gb chips. He had no idea because it simply wasn't printed on the tag infront of the PC which he could read it from. So I then asked him if we could open the case and take a look see. He hesitated and then agreed to open the case for me. So we got to the bottom of the first question. 4 slots, running two 1gb chips stock, with 2 free/open slots.
I then asked him his thoughts on upgrading to 4gb, or purchasing an LCD monitor. This is the part where he lost me...and it makes no sense.
He told me that even if I did upgrade to 4gb of RAM, I would only be able to get use out of 2gb out of the 4gb total due to the fact that XP only 'knows how to use' 2gb of RAM. Basically what he was telling me is that I can't use 4gb of RAM unless I upgrade to Vista. Ok...right.....that just doesn't sound right considering the fact that you can buy factory PC's with 4gb of RAM and XP as the operating system. I also know a lot of hardcore gamers build their own rigs and are using as much ram as possible. Now, to my understanding, Vista is still not on the shelves.
What is the deal on this? Is he just stupid?
It doesn't make sense that you would have the option to use all 4 slots and have up to 4gb of RAM yet not be able to get maximum performance with out Vista as your operating system?
I mean, in theory, if I upgraded to a full 4gb from 2gb, the data would flow through each slot? I don't really know how to say it in technical terms, so please forgive me. But right now, while there is only 2gb's, the data only flows between the 2 chips...correct? So when you add 2 more, the data is now gonna' flow through all 4 slots. Not limit it's flow to 2 slots because I'm not running Vista?
Help? Anyone?
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