Memory upgrade?

[tempest]

Does it make sense upgrade memory up to 4GB on new laptop with 3GB RAM?
Will it improve anything, meaning that I will use 32-bit operating system(XP
or Vista), not 64bit?

 

[Jerry]

Going from 3 to 4 will not make a big improvement as you will probably see
an increase of only .25 to .4 Gb. The 'missing' memory will be allocated at
the top of memeory to your hardware devices. Google 4Gb RAM and info will be
provided.

 

[smlunatick]

Does it make sense upgrade memory up to 4GB on new laptop with 3GB RAM?
Will it improve anything, meaning that I will use 32-bit operating system(XP
or Vista), not 64bit?

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB. You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

 

[tempest]

Does it make sense upgrade memory up to 4GB on new laptop with 3GB RAM?
Will it improve anything, meaning that I will use 32-bit operating system(XP
or Vista), not 64bit?

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB. You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

 

[Mark Adams]

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB. You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

Not worth buying more RAM for; even as cheap as it is these days.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

No, it does not.

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB. You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

Almost certainly not in any detectable way.

My Thinkpad has 3 gig, I use many apps simultaneously, and never come close
to using all the memory.

But it's your money if you want to waste it.

HTH
-pk

 

[smlunatick]

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB.  You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

Makes not difference. I changed my "desktop" from 2GB to 4GB (waiting
for Windows 7 64Bit) and there is not much improvements. It seems
that the "sweet spot" for 32 bit Windows RAM appears to be 2 GB.

 

[tempest]

Any 32 Bit versions of Windows does not seem to be able to see the
full 4GB. You might only get 3.25GB.

64Bit will take advantage of 4GB or more RAM.

Makes not difference. I changed my "desktop" from 2GB to 4GB (waiting
for Windows 7 64Bit) and there is not much improvements. It seems
that the "sweet spot" for 32 bit Windows RAM appears to be 2 GB.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the helpful info. The only one thing, maybe, if use two
equally memory sticks, RAM will work in dual mode, which is better?

If the computer is "dual channel", then two equal sticks give
more memory bandwidth.

But at least some chipsets, still operate in dual channel mode,
even when the sticks are mismatched. For example, some Intel
chipsets, offer a flex memory mode. If a 1GB and a 2GB stick are
installed, one on each channel, the bottom 2x1GB of memory space
runs dual channel, and the remaining 1GB at the top of the 2GB
stick, runs single channel.

Memory bandwidth doesn't always give a big boost to visible
performance. If you're expecting the computer to become a
"whole different machine", that probably won't happen. If
the computer was an older one, some of those did benefit
from changes like this.

On laptops, improving the hard drive can make a pleasant
difference. It all depends what the price is for such
an improvement. If you go really cheap on these, they
really suck. The technology is still not mature.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820167014

Paul

 

[Twayne]

Does it make sense upgrade memory up to 4GB on new laptop with 3GB
RAM? Will it improve anything, meaning that I will use 32-bit
operating system(XP or Vista), not 64bit?

In general, for a "normal" usage, 1 Gig is enough and will prevent the
page file from being used. 2 Gig is usually the point after which
further improvements won't be noticed unless you have some very special
RAM intensive programs running. So, no, it makes no sense. Your'e at a
good place; no need for more.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[tempest]

If the computer is "dual channel", then two equal sticks give
more memory bandwidth.

But at least some chipsets, still operate in dual channel mode,
even when the sticks are mismatched. For example, some Intel
chipsets, offer a flex memory mode. If a 1GB and a 2GB stick are
installed, one on each channel, the bottom 2x1GB of memory space
runs dual channel, and the remaining 1GB at the top of the 2GB
stick, runs single channel.

Memory bandwidth doesn't always give a big boost to visible
performance. If you're expecting the computer to become a
"whole different machine", that probably won't happen. If
the computer was an older one, some of those did benefit
from changes like this.

On laptops, improving the hard drive can make a pleasant
difference. It all depends what the price is for such
an improvement. If you go really cheap on these, they
really suck. The technology is still not mature.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820167014

Paul

-----------


what you meant by improving the hard drive?? If I got entry-middle level
laptop with 320Gb HDD, it would be quite enough for me, what else I can
improve? The only problem is that all laptops have SATA drives, but WinXP
does not understand SATA, so we should rely on luck, or tinkering with bios.

 

[tempest]

In general, for a "normal" usage, 1 Gig is enough and will prevent the
page file from being used. 2 Gig is usually the point after which
further improvements won't be noticed unless you have some very special
RAM intensive programs running. So, no, it makes no sense. Your'e at a
good place; no need for more.

HTH,

Twayne`

--------
and how affect memory speed, for example:

DDR2 SDRAM Memory Speed: 667MHz (PC2-5300)

vs

DDR2 Memory Speed: 800MHz (PC2-6400)

is 800 MHz much better?

 

[Paul]

-----------


what you meant by improving the hard drive?? If I got entry-middle level
laptop with 320Gb HDD, it would be quite enough for me, what else I can
improve? The only problem is that all laptops have SATA drives, but WinXP
does not understand SATA, so we should rely on luck, or tinkering with bios.

I was making a reference, to replacing a rotating hard drive, with
a 2.5" SSD drive. That particular one is built by Intel, and
internally has ten flash channels. It has a relatively high bandwidth
(and uses a SATA interface). It would be an example of what
a rich guy would use, to beef up his laptop. The seek time is
quite low (0.1 millisecond or less), which is where the improvement
comes from.

(Inside an SSD drive, showing the flash memory chips - 64GB worth)
http://techreport.com/r.x/intel-x25e/money.jpg

The capacity of that drive is quite small. It uses good quality
flash chips (SLC type). The drive has wear leveling, to promote
a long operating life. It is about the best drive of that type
you can get. The drive is barely big enough for comfortable
WinXP use, and wouldn't leave enough space, to hold your
entire movie collection. But that is not the purpose.
It is to speed up basic operations on frequently accessed
files.

If you read the Newegg customer reviews, listed for some of
those items, you can learn how much the purchase helped the
person who bought it. For example, boot time doesn't improve
that much.

There is a technology that is faster than that, but it won't
fit inside your laptop

Paul

 

[Paul]

--------
and how affect memory speed, for example:

DDR2 SDRAM Memory Speed: 667MHz (PC2-5300)

vs

DDR2 Memory Speed: 800MHz (PC2-6400)

is 800 MHz much better?

This is the first article I could find.

Look at the column "SuperPI 2M", which is a computation of the math constant
PI to 2 million digits of accuracy. The application only completes a tiny bit
faster (couple percent), with higher speed memory.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2813&p=4

Paul