PC memory upgrade, worth it?

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Man, memory has come down in price. I built my last computer at the end of 2007 and I paid just under $90.00 for 2 gigs of DDR2 PC800. Now, I can get 4 gigs of DDR2 PC1066 for under $50.00!

My motherboard will support the PC1066. Plus it's twice the amount of memory on a Vista 64 bit machine.

Do you think it's worth the $50.00 to upgrade? Performance wise, what do you think?

 

[bad_andy]

Absolutely. As long as you're running a machine capable of addressing the total amount of RAM, then giving Vista a large pool of physical memory will cut down on the amount of paging that the OS has to do.

 

[DigMe]

Yup. Do it. I've considered going from 4GB to 8 on my Vista 64 machine.

bc

 

[UnsungZeros]

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to get a nice performance boost out for your computer. I'm looking to upgrade myself.

 

[santucci218]

Yup. Do it. I've considered going from 4GB to 8 on my Vista 64 machine.

bc

im at 6 gigs on vista and i really see the difference from my old 2 gig laptop!

 

[Dfinch]

For Vista 64, you will absolutely see a performance increase.

 

[Syeknom]

Upgraded my RAM yesterday for dirt-cheap

If you were on PC800 before and nothing else is changing, PC1066 probably won't make a noticable difference unless you're a hardcore overclocker. Upgrading the amount of RAM you have will make a fantastic difference though, especially on Vista which adores RAM and makes really good use of any you can give it. Leave the 2gb mark behind and you'll really enjoy the improvement!

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

8 GB, you say. Hmmmm, where do you think the price/performance ratio is. Or with Vista is it more is better.

That's the problem with upgrading.
NOW I'm looking at processors too. I have an Intel Q6600 with a 1066 FSB. I could go the full supported 1333 FSB for about $180.00.

Video cards!!! Don't get me started.

Definitely getting the memory. 4 GB, or 8 GB, hmmmm.

 

[Syeknom]

You will really struggle to notice a difference between 4gb and more right now; 4gb is the threshold for performance/price currently. The best reason to consider going above 4gb is for future-flexibility - I upgraded to 6gb because 2x1gb & 2x2gb is a lot more flexible for upgrading in the future than 4x1gb.

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Upgraded my RAM yesterday for dirt-cheap

If you were on PC800 before and nothing else is changing, PC1066 probably won't make a noticable difference unless you're a hardcore overclocker. Upgrading the amount of RAM you have will make a fantastic difference though, especially on Vista which adores RAM and makes really good use of any you can give it. Leave the 2gb mark behind and you'll really enjoy the improvement!

Not hardcore, but I do push it a little.
I'm sure after I put in the new memory I will want to see how fast I can get her to go. I usually back it off a little after that.

 

[Syeknom]

800mhz is somewhat overspecced for your Q6600 already - which gives you plenty of room to overclock with. There's really little point going over 800mhz in my opinion

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Yeah, I'm not really going to buy a new processor. Even though I would be going from a 65mn to a 45mn with twice the L2 cache, that and the memory is too much money for me right now. There's probably more performance in adding the memory, anyway.

 

[Syeknom]

Yep, without a doubt. You won't regret getting more memory in your system right now

 

[mkrtu9]

I think so. I'm going to upgrade soon also.

 

[DigMe]

You will really struggle to notice a difference between 4gb and more right now; 4gb is the threshold for performance/price currently.

I disagree. The way that Vista uses RAM he should see benefits to having 8GB.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vista-workshop,1775-12.html

bc