maximum RAM for homebuilt new system on XP/Vista?

I

idiotprogrammer

Hi, I'm building a new system with a brand new cpu/motherboard and
RAM.

I'm trying to figure out how much RAM I should buy.

Before I had 3 gigs which I intended to use for video editing.
Honestly, though I didn't do as much video editing as I had planned,
although I probably will more of it on my new system.

The cost diference between 3 gigs and 4 gigs is not that much for DDR2
800 (which my mobo supports) , and I'm trying to figure out how much
to get.

I'll have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ , but I see a lot of
general help issues on the groups about RAM not being recognized on
XP. I haven't figured out which motherboard to get; a lot depends on
what I decide about RAM.

(A related issue of whether I should pay the extra $100 for a Vista
Installation DVD. I have some small problems with hardware/software
support, nothing major according to my preliminary research. Then
again, I haven't seen a real compelling reason to upgrade to Vista.
But if Vista would solve the RAM issue, I wouldn't have a problem
going for it).
From what I've seen, for XP, the 4 gigs might be recognized by the
Click to expand...
motherboard, but the last gig might not be "addressable" in XP.

So my questions:
1)is there something I can check for to make sure that 4 gigs of RAM
would be recognized/usable in my new system?
2)Does that require a Vista system?
3)Is 4 gigs that much better than 3 gigs? I don't play video games,
and as I said, I do some video editing, but not a lot.

If I can be settle for 3 gigs (and so far I've been happy with it), is
there a compelling reason to buy 4 for starting out?

Thanks.

robert nagle
Houston, Texas
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer
 
B

Bob I

If three is good for what you need then that is what you should buy. The
last gig in the address space is also used to communicate with hardware
so the not all of that last gig of RAM will be available to the user.
 
B

Bob I

Vista ready for what? It's a pretty ambiguous rating. What it boils down
to is that it will work with at least the base version.
 
I

idiotprogrammer

Wow, it's beginning to seem that the only reason to upgrade to vista
is if I can benefit from 64 bit vista. I have exactly one 64 bit
application (a video editor which would see significant performance
improvement), and the extra RAM would be nice.

but there are still wifi cards, usb devices and sound cards to worry
about. and possibly software incompatibilities.

I worked at Dell in 2000-1 and worked in a minor way on their 64 bit
PC project. Really amazing how the CPU and mobo and OS people are
there and cheering on 64 bit, but the device manufacturers seem to be
the weak link.



Robert Nagle
 
L

Lil' Dave

idiotprogrammer said:
Hi, I'm building a new system with a brand new cpu/motherboard and
RAM.

I'm trying to figure out how much RAM I should buy.

Before I had 3 gigs which I intended to use for video editing.
Honestly, though I didn't do as much video editing as I had planned,
although I probably will more of it on my new system.

The cost diference between 3 gigs and 4 gigs is not that much for DDR2
800 (which my mobo supports) , and I'm trying to figure out how much
to get.

I'll have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ , but I see a lot of
general help issues on the groups about RAM not being recognized on
XP. I haven't figured out which motherboard to get; a lot depends on
what I decide about RAM.

(A related issue of whether I should pay the extra $100 for a Vista
Installation DVD. I have some small problems with hardware/software
support, nothing major according to my preliminary research. Then
again, I haven't seen a real compelling reason to upgrade to Vista.
But if Vista would solve the RAM issue, I wouldn't have a problem
going for it).

motherboard, but the last gig might not be "addressable" in XP.

So my questions:
1)is there something I can check for to make sure that 4 gigs of RAM
would be recognized/usable in my new system?
2)Does that require a Vista system?
3)Is 4 gigs that much better than 3 gigs? I don't play video games,
and as I said, I do some video editing, but not a lot.

If I can be settle for 3 gigs (and so far I've been happy with it), is
there a compelling reason to buy 4 for starting out?

Thanks.

robert nagle
Houston, Texas
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer
Click to expand...

All answers/replies are assuming your video editing software works well in
Vista. Oh, forgot, you don't have Vista.
Dave
 
I

idiotprogrammer

no my video editor program is specifically optimized for a 64 bit os
(Sony Vegas 8).

but that's the only one.

there seems to be no reason to upgrade from XP to Vista 32 bit; but 64
bit seems justified, although I'd like to have my hardware ready.
 
M

M.I.5¾

Bob I said:
If three is good for what you need then that is what you should buy. The
last gig in the address space is also used to communicate with hardware so
the not all of that last gig of RAM will be available to the user.
Click to expand...

That is true for the 32 bit versions of windows but not for the 64 bit.
 
B

Bob I

M.I.5¾ said:
That is true for the 32 bit versions of windows but not for the 64 bit.
Click to expand...

based on OP's statement below, 32 bit would be what was the reply addresses
 
P

peter

If you wish to use almost all of the 4gig that you have your heart set on
you will need to migrate to 64 bit....I see that you Video Editing program
is 64 bit already.
So you need to make a list of all of the parts...hardware and sofware that
your system will have and then visit each manufact.website and try to find
64bit drivers.This is the stage where problems will come up as a lot of
these manufact.are not supplying 64 bit drivers.
Then you can seat yourself down and weigh the pros and cons ...........
peter
 

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