CPU/Mobo Confusion with >4GB RAM

Status
Not open for further replies.
blackpixel0x17

blackpixel0x17

Contributor
Hey,

It is a known fact that a 32 bit OS cannot support RAM >4GB, since it cannot use so many addresses. But can anyone tell me, if we want to upgrade to >4GB RAM, do we also need a processor/motherboard upgrade? We might need a different architecture for handling 64 bits, wouldn't we? Or merely installing a 64 bit OS solves the problem?

Thanks.
 
To install 64-bit os needs a 64 bit processor,if you've an old mobo then you'd have to check if it supports 8gb ram before upgrading it,Also check if the mobo supports 1600mhz frequency otherwise there'd be no point in buying 8gb 1600mhz ram,post your rig details to confirm things.
 
Whats your current cpu ? I dont think it will be a problem unless you have something really really ancient.
 
Well this my laptop we are talking about, bought it 3 years back
<


CPU - P7350 2.0 Ghz

Supported RAM - 8 GB DDR2 (mentioned in product specification)

How do I find the maximum supported frequency?

I found this site to be very useful Crucial btw. However, it points out that an 8 GB upgrade will cost me nearly 10K bucks, so do you guys think is it worth the upgrade? See, I multitask a lot but I dont think even that justifies a 10K spending.
 
your processor does support 64 bit OS.. however, even though the ram upgrade can be done i dont think it will do you any good..if you observe, your computer will hardly every utilize the full 4 GB of RAM, let alone 8 gb... your processor supports 64 bit for the sake of it.. even if you upgrade to 8 gb ram, you will first of all have to open up a lot of applications to utilize the ram. (atleast 5 to 6 heavy load programs) and if you do that, your processor wont cope up anyway..

and if you dont use so many applications, then even the most processing and graphic intensive games that you can probably play on your comp. wont even eat up more than 1 gb of ram at a time at any given point of time.

i dont think upgrading the ram more than 4 gb is gonna do you any good.. rather spend that money elsewhere.. .

even processing intensive 3D applications like Autodesk Maya which i use, uses about 350 MB of Ram under normal conditions and goes up to not more than 500 to 600 mb at any time even when it is running on full capacity rendering and churning the processor at 100% continuously for more than 2 hours..

windows 7 wont use more than 1 gb for itself, even if you consider that each other app. of yours uses 1 gb of ram all the time, you need to run 7 such applications to fully use the 8 gb of ram, and if you do that, your processor will give up...

and the above spec. you have given is of your processor. What RAM you can use, how much u can use, and what frequency you can use, whether you can use DDR2 or DDR3 or higher depends on your motherboard..

Plz mention which motherboard you have if you finally want to upgrade your RAM anyway..
 
Thats an aging system, but 4gb ram should be good for it. I really dont think its worth going 8gb on that. A newer laptop absolutely 8gb is worth it but in your case no.
 
Have seen systems with 16GB ram on their knees and crashing due to memory overload where cpu is <30%. But as per your requirements, 4GB is more than enough. But installing a 64 bit OS does makes utilization of that 4GB more efficient as 32 bit OS will use only close to 3.5GB and have seen memory management to be better on win7/XP/2008 64 than on their 32 bit versions.
 
your best option is to use Windows 7 64 bit. I tried using windows xp 64 bit, but found it to be a little buggish. windows 7 64 bit works just fine.. the main difference i saw in speeds were in winrar 64 bit. and the windows media player 64 bit version opened up a little faster, but other than that, not a lot of significant difference will be visible, but difference is definitely there..
 
If you keep your computer on sleep/hibernate instead of shutdown, the more RAM, the better

Win 7 will cache the stuff after the 1st time you open it, and remove it from cache when it needs the RAM for some other purposes

So, even with 4GB and a C2D 1.8GHz in my laptop, most of the programs start instantaneously since I restart only once/day, and they get cached the 1st time I start the program after the restart
 
Mate, check the service manual for your laptop OR check the chipset specs [Northbridge]. The processor does not determine the max amount of RAM that can be used.

IMO, 4GB is more than enough.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
Mate, check the service manual for your laptop OR check the chipset specs [Northbridge]. The processor does not determine the max amount of RAM that can be used.

IMO, 4GB is more than enough.
Click to expand...

There are cases where the cpu does limit the max supported RAM available, which is not any 32 or 64 bit addressing limitation, like the case of most atoms, where CPU can only have max of 2GB or ram. Intel doesnt state if the limitation is 100% due to the CPU or their chipset, and we can't defenitely tell as there arent any other compatible chipsets for the atoms. But in Intel's cpu specs, its stated 2GB max for these atoms.
 
Thanks guys, I wont go for any more RAM now. Instead will be switching over to Ubuntu. See, Vista becomes very sluggish for me after 4-5 months of use after format, it sort of hangs up when I open a large no. of tabs or if I hibernate.. I was pretty frustrated but seems like increasing the RAM isnt a wise choice. Need to look at other options.
 
Increasing ram does wonders on performance of browsers. I can now open up a 100 more tabs with 16GB or ram than when I was on 4GB ram. Havnt seen any other small windows softwares consuming so much memory. Adding more surely aids you to open up more tabs without lag/slow downs, as it reduces the need for paging with the amount of tabs you have problem keeping them open without lag.

btw @ OP. If you are using Vista,. then I recommend you to switch over to win7 64. Application response it lot better and slow downs has been cut down by more than half. Try windows 7 in trial mode, and if only not satisfied, switch to Ubuntu.

As per my experience, linux is good for only servers
<
, and by linux, I meant redhat, fedora, suse and cent.
 
I guess that I should have posted it more clearly. In case of proccy's without an IMC as in case of the OP, its the chipset that controls the max amt of RAM. As for the latter ie. Core i based platforms, the CPU controls the max amt of RAM.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom