Several benchmarks have shown going from 2GB to 4GB of RAM makes little to no difference in performance. As of yet neither processors nor any programs on the market can utilize 4GB of RAM effectively.
If I were you, I'd save the money and invest in a video card upgrade instead.
2007-05-14 05:49:49
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answer #1
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answered by Tyrantula3 3
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basically mate,your system will run more applications at once,they wont run any faster but will run much smoother
however as your running 2gb allready the difference will not be as noticable as when you move from 1gb to 2gb
normally windows xp 32bit os will only go up to 4gb but as your cpu is a 64bit athlon 4600+ x2 the max memory you can use is normally 16gb
the overall difference will only be noticed when you run applications that are memory intensive,such as video editing suites but as you have dual core facilities why not run a intensive application while running a virus scan,this is were dual core computing comes in to its own
good luck in having one of the most powerful p.c,s in the world
good luck mate
2007-05-14 04:52:52
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answer #2
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answered by brianthesnail123 7
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Most users will notice no difference on thier pc beyond 2gb.
Consider fast hard drive or video card instead. If you have 5400rpm hard drive, you will notice a large difference in 7200, 10,000 or even 15,000rpm now. This will make a bigger difference for your money. People are surprised how much their hard drive bottlenecks their systems.
The next thing I would do is use a Windows cleanup program to stop wasteful operations. I personanlly like AdvancedWindowsCare, a free program at http://www.iobit.com/AdvancedWindowsCarePersonal/index.html
Only the last choice would be to update the RAM. And check the specs for each OS, as each one is limited as to how much ram they can actually use.
Here's the official answer from MS:
Memory Support and Windows Operating Systems
Updated: February 9, 2005
Operating systems based on Microsoft Windows NT technologies have always provided applications with a flat 32-bit virtual address space that describes 4 gigabytes (GB) of virtual memory. The address space is usually split so that 2 GB of address space is directly accessible to the application and the other 2 GB is only accessible to the Windows executive software.
The 32-bit versions of the Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition, operating systems were the first versions of Windows to provide applications with a 3-GB flat virtual address space, with the kernel and executive components using only 1 GB. In response to customer requests, Microsoft has expanded the availability of this support to the 32-bit version of Windows XP Professional and all 32-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.
Windows 2000 Memory Support. With Windows 2000 Professional and Server, the maximum amount of memory that can be supported is 4 GB (identical to Windows NT 4.0, as described later in this section). However, Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports 8 GB of physical RAM and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server supports 32 GB of physical RAM using the PAE feature of the IA-32 processor family, beginning with Intel Pentium Pro and later.
Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 Memory Support. The maximum amount of memory that can be supported on Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 is also 4 GB. However, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition supports 32 GB of physical RAM and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition supports 64 GB of physical RAM using the PAE feature.
The virtual address space of processes and applications is still limited to 2 GB unless the /3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file. When the physical RAM in the system exceeds 16 GB and the /3GB switch is used, the operating system will ignore the additional RAM until the /3GB switch is removed. This is because of the increased size of the kernel required to support more Page Table Entries. The assumption is made that the administrator would rather not lose the /3GB functionality silently and automatically; therefore, this requires the administrator to explicitly change this setting.
The /3GB switch allocates 3 GB of virtual address space to an application that uses IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE in the process header. This switch allows applications to address 1 GB of additional virtual address space above 2 GB.
2007-05-13 21:02:55
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answer #3
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answered by Jim 7
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It will maximise the potential of your processor. RAM is like a workspace. If you add more of them, of course you can do more things at the same time.
In gaming, bigger RAM enables you to have more rendered particles and faster loading (both the game & the graphics).
In other uses, more RAM is generally used for people who like to multitask i.e. use Photoshop, Winamp, and MS Office at the same time. This is where the concept of "bigger workspace" applies. If usually your program lags when you tandem it with Media Player, well, say goodbye to it. And given that you add 2 GB RAM, which is quite huge for me, it will certainly make a difference in your computer's performance.
2007-05-13 20:56:45
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answer #4
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answered by Zeifel Felritz 2
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It depends what operating system you have, and whether your motherboard can recognise it. You can check all that online.
Its pointless installing more RAM than the lowest spec componant can use. XP home can only use 2 gigs for example so any more would be a waste of money.
But if your mobo and os can use it then go for it, especially if you run stuff like games, 3d rendering or graphics.
2007-05-13 22:45:22
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answer #5
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answered by sarah c 7
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You will get anywhere from a 5% performance increase to a 10% performance decrease from adding that RAM, unless you have a special need for a ridiculous quantity of RAM such as high definition video editing.
2007-05-13 20:54:16
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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2GB is sufficient for most up-to-date desktop applications with a few exceptions. For example, if you frequently edit very large images in Photoshop, additional 2GB will definitely help. The extra memory can improve some memory intensive games too.
However, such large amount of memory can slow down your hibernation a lot.
2007-05-13 21:04:12
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answer #7
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answered by coolaomnet 2
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Don't bother, XP will have problems addressing the final GB of it anyhow.
If you're really a performance junkie get a better graphics card, or another one and SLI/Crossfire it.
Or there's always a better processor out there.
2007-05-13 21:00:02
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answer #8
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answered by Gophur 2
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Should be OK. Just beware some people have found that, in Vista at least, the computer may not recognise the full 4GB. I am not entirely sure why, but apparently only affects 32bit (??) versions of windows.
2007-05-13 20:58:48
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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speeds up your machine's operations.
If you are using photo/music editing suites, gaming or using some other high memory usage application then it will ease up the burden on you machine.
If you press you should get your Windows Task Manager and press the Performance tab you can see how much memory is being used in the lower grid (the CPU useage is at the top).
Have fun :P
2007-05-13 21:00:54
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answer #10
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answered by Icarus 6
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