Upgrading RAM
J. M. Pescado:
You can put 4 GB, but no program is allowed to use more than 2 GB even with the latest Windoze patches. The remaining 2 GB is used by Windoze, because Windoze always consumes half of your RAM at minimum, no matter how much you have.
Orikes:
So does that mean I shouldn't bother getting 4GB? Or would that actually allow other programs and games to have access to 2GB, whereas less will mean the other stuff will have access to less?
Ultimately, if I can, I'll probably go with a matching set of the Crucial 2x512MB sticks to match what I have. That'll raise it to 2GB, which should be fine for now. I also know that the RAM is about $20 cheaper now than it was when I bought eighteen months ago.
KatEnigma:
If you're running XP, 4 GB is more than you need unless you're doing a lot of video editing.
If you're running Vista, go for the 4 GB. ;)
Magicmoon:
Quote from: Orikes on 2007 July 19, 00:13:13
The manual says I have four slots that can have up to 1GB 'unbuffered ECC or non-ECC DDR DIMMs' using the proscribed memory configurations.
Does this mean I can have 2 sets of dual channel ram totally 4GB?
I looked at the specifications and as pointed out by katenigma, assuming that this is actually your motherboard, yes. Pescado is also right in the fact that that much isn't really needed.
I'm curious as to why you feel the need for so much memory. If it is because you believe that Sims will run faster, then you are barking up the wrong tree. While you will see slight improvement in speed, you are much better off spending your money on a high quality video card with as much memory on the card as you can afford. How much memory does your video card have?
For example, my personal computer is using 1 GB RAM with a Radeon 9550 (256 MB RAM). Another computer in my household with the same processor speed is running the same configuration except that the video card has 512 MB RAM on it. Sims runs smoother on the 2nd computer. This 2nd computer was given the better video card because the operator runs many video intensive programs such as Half Life 2 and Oblivion. On the other hand, Sims 2 is my most video intensive program.
Whatever you decide, I'll help you get the right thing.
Also as katenigma pointed out, Vista is a bloated memory hog and will require more memory than XP.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: Orikes on 2007 July 19, 00:27:16
So does that mean I shouldn't bother getting 4GB? Or would that actually allow other programs and games to have access to 2GB, whereas less will mean the other stuff will have access to less?
Other programs and games would not enable you to have access to more than your 4 GB, because Windoze takes up the other 2 already. How much memory you need depends on how much CC crap you have. By default, a standard TS2 loadout (no CC) appears to load about 500 MBs of crap. This means that having 2 GBs free (because you have 4) will enable you to load another 1.5 GBs without a real performance hit. If you had only 2 GBs, you'd only be able to load 500 MBs of crap, as Windoze would take up half your RAM, leaving you with about 500 MB MBs free after TS2. If you had only 1 GB, you would not be able to load anything other than TS2, and no CC other than perhaps overrides, and it would struggle. If you had even less, TS2 itself would thrash, since you'd have less than the minimum 500 MBs of RAM needed to load an empty install.
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