Question About Total RAM/Graphics Card

[hexagram23]

I was reading another forum and I seen this post:
Question: Upgrading my graphics card to GTX 285 - NVIDIA Forums

The part that made me confused was about the RAM. I know 32-bit Vista only recognizes 4 Gigs of RAM total....but according to this person any RAM on your graphics card counts towards the total?

Is that accurate? So if I installed 4 Gigs of RAM, then got (let's say) a GTX 280 1 Gig, it wouldn't recognize 1 Gig of RAM, because the total would be 5?

That don't sound right, but I dunno.

[Jotaru]

That doesnt sound right at all. I have 8gb installed in my machine running 32XP while I wait to reformat to Vista64, and my vid card still works wonderful.. so I imagine the video memory is still there.

[Pikarya]

Motherboard RAM and Video memory are two different things. Only will your motherboard ram be limited in that case depending on your operating system.

[hexagram23]

I didn't think it sounded right. Thanks for the info guys.

[Cephius]

No, actually the poster in the Nvidia forums is correct. I've personally experienced this. Video card memory does count against your total addressable space when using a 32 bit OS.

Explanation.

[Olo401]

The available system memory would actually go down. Memory on your video card reduces the total available memory for programs, because you have to create registers in system memory for the video memory. For example I have 4GB of physical memory installed, but only about 2.78GB of it is available for programs after all the hardware is addressed (and 512MB of that "missing" amount is the memory on my GPU).

It's really tough to understand unless you're good with the technical aspects of the whole thing, and even tougher to explain to others. This thread does a pretty decent job trying to explain it though.

[hexagram23]

So, should I get 4 Gigs of RAM if I have a GTX 280 with 1 Gig of RAM, or not?

Would it make more sense to just have 3 Gigs of RAM and the card? I already have 3 Gigs of RAM now as is, but I was going to get some of these:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Lastly, would it hurt anything to just use the 4 Gigs and the video card? I know it's technically a waste of money but other than that would it slow down my system? If I understand what you're saying the graphics card RAM would actually slow down my system, because the computer would address it first, something like that?

Would it make more sense to just get 3 Corsair with 1 Gig each, and the GTX?

[Blubbartron]

It shouldn't hurt anything to leave it as is, and it's a damn sight better than dropping back to 3 sticks, as then you're not even getting the dual channel benefit for the RAM you can address.

[hexagram23]

It shouldn't hurt anything to leave it as is, and it's a damn sight better than dropping back to 3 sticks, as then you're not even getting the dual channel benefit for the RAM you can address.

Fair enough but should I get the graphics card? Also, could I get one 2 Gig stick and one 1 Gig stick? As it stands right now I have two 1024 MB sticks and two 512 MB sticks. That's what came with the computer.

[hexagram23]

Sorry for all the questions guys.

According to CPU-Z this is the processor I have:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

It says it has 64-bit support. Does that mean I can upgrade to 64-bit Vista? Is it worth it in the long run to do that? Also how difficult is that to do?

[Blubbartron]

Installing an operating system is a piece of cake. If you can follow simple instructions, you can install one. Configuring it to run optimally is another story, but the default installation should do well enough if you can manage to turn off the stupid security features in vista. Getting the graphics card is a matter of choice. If you think it will improve your performance in the way you want, go nuts. You should still have enough RAM to handle vista's basic operation. On the topic of RAM, I'd really recommend upgrading. To really see RAM perform the way it should, you want packaged sticks all the same, and tested together by the manufacturer. Mixing and matching means you're already not getting the dual-channel benefit.

edit: my apologies, I reread some of your previous posts and realized I've missed some things. Please ignore my first response as it makes absolutely no sense in proper context. The RAM you found on newegg is excellent, I happen to have it. If you buy it, you will already be "wasting" a small portion of it without a 64 bit operating system. Anything your graphics card has in memory will increase that "waste." It won't run any slower except in the aspect of not having the memory available that it technically should.

[hexagram23]

Installing an operating system is a piece of cake. If you can follow simple instructions, you can install one. Configuring it to run optimally is another story, but the default installation should do well enough if you can manage to turn off the stupid security features in vista. Getting the graphics card is a matter of choice. If you think it will improve your performance in the way you want, go nuts. You should still have enough RAM to handle vista's basic operation. On the topic of RAM, I'd really recommend upgrading. To really see RAM perform the way it should, you want packaged sticks all the same, and tested together by the manufacturer. Mixing and matching means you're already not getting the dual-channel benefit.

edit: my apologies, I reread some of your previous posts and realized I've missed some things. Please ignore my first response as it makes absolutely no sense in proper context. The RAM you found on newegg is excellent, I happen to have it. If you buy it, you will already be "wasting" a small portion of it without a 64 bit operating system. Anything your graphics card has in memory will increase that "waste." It won't run any slower except in the aspect of not having the memory available that it technically should.

You probably missed some things because I asked the questions all retarded, because I don't know much about this stuff.

Thanks for the info homie I really appreciate it.

Ah now I think I get it. So it won't run slower except when compared to how fast it technically SHOULD be running? That makes sense now.

Lastly, you said "on the topic of RAM, I recommend upgrading"....did you mean upgrading the RAM, or upgrading to 64-bit? Or both? I've heard the RAM from that link is really good.

[Blubbartron]

At the time I had written that I hadn't noticed you found some RAM on newegg. But yes, you should buy that, it's good stuff. You should also bear in mind that "slow" and "fast" are tricky things when it comes to RAM. For a mini computer lesson, RAM is the equivalent of storing stuff you use in your closet, as opposed to some rented storage facility (that'd be the equivalent of your HD). The only time you really experience a slowdown is if you don't have enough closet space (physical RAM available) for all the stuff you use constantly. That means you'd be constantly driving down to the storage facility (HD) in order to get things.

This isn't even getting into the timings of the RAM, which is the true "speed" of RAM. It'd be most closely associated to how quickly you can place items in/get items from your closet, as well as the time between trips to the closet.

[Rockstaru]

I think that provided you can get your hands on a 64-bit install disc of the same version of windows Vista (that is, if you're running 32-bit Ultimate, a 64-bit Ultimate DVD, if you're running Home Premium 32-bit, a 64-bit Home Premium DVD), your product key for your current 32-bit install will work with the 64-bit install (even if it's OEM.)

[hexagram23]

I think that provided you can get your hands on a 64-bit install disc of the same version of windows Vista (that is, if you're running 32-bit Ultimate, a 64-bit Ultimate DVD, if you're running Home Premium 32-bit, a 64-bit Home Premium DVD), your product key for your current 32-bit install will work with the 64-bit install (even if it's OEM.)

Yeah I was looking into that earlier. You can actually go to the MS website and request a 64-bit version of whatever OS you have as long as you provide your product key.

Unfortunately the service was down though, and I kept on getting errors. I'll try again tomorrow.

[Olo401]

Yeah I was looking into that earlier. You can actually go to the MS website and request a 64-bit version of whatever OS you have as long as you provide your product key.

Unfortunately the service was down though, and I kept on getting errors. I'll try again tomorrow.

You can? I was under the impression that they'd charge you for an OS upgrade..

[Cephius]

You can? I was under the impression that they'd charge you for an OS upgrade..

Nope, product keys are valid for 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista, you can buy the alternate media for $10 shipped if you provide them with your key. You just can't have both installed at once.

[Olo401]

Ahh.. you said Vista. I'm running XP.

[Cephius]

Yeah, I don't know if it's available for XP, but I don't think so.

Anyway, the page to get started with ordering a 64 bit Vista CD is here.

[hexagram23]

Does that site work for anyone? I've been trying to order my 64-bit disc since last night and it's been giving me error messages nonstop. It allows me to type my product key, I hit enter, it says "processing" then:


We're sorry, the following error(s) have occurred:
Error
We are unable to process your order at this time. Please try again later.