You can install a pair of 1 GB sticks and a pair of 512 MB sticks to get a total of 3 GB. Works fine. The decision to install 3 or 4 GB just boils down to economics. If its a brand new machine and you intend to migrate to a 64-bit windows "real soon" then you may as well get the 4 GB. On the other hand, if you're upgrading from an existing pair of 512 MB dimms then you may as well just add a pair of 1GB dimms. Or if ... decisions, decisions.

Installing 3 sticks will force most motherboards into single-channel mode which reduces the memory bandwidth. So that's not a good plan.

In XP, there's no hard and fast 3.2 GB limit. It's just an estimate of what would be addressable. Could be more, could be less. The more hardware you install, the less RAM (which is also hardware) might be available.

For Vista, I had read a Microsoft KB bulletin that said there was self-imposed a top limit of something like 3.12 GB, but maybe that's changed since then.

People have said here that 32-bit XP/Vista generally only allows a program to use 2 GB of memory in a combination of RAM and page file. A 32-bit program could be built to use 3 GB if the OS would allow it, so for example if Vegas were built this way then could use 3 GB under a 64-bit OS, even though it were designed for a 32-bit OS. (As far as I know Vegas is not built this way)

Rob Mack

Hmmm...?

I am u/g-ing my PC. Presently it does have 2gb. I was hoping for some cut 'n dry comment about improved performance as a result of upping the 2gbs. As part of the u/g I will have to get have new RAM installed. It is a question of either staying with 2gbs OR getting more - subject to Vegas being able to make use of it AND XP Pro dealing with it and NOW what I hear is that maybe the MoBo might even, as a result of the extra, go to ONE channel .. . ?

Honestly, I am glad I asked the question.

Thank you,

Grazie

IMHO Grazie, if ya got room for it, put it in. Might not always benefit Vegas directly but inderectly a system will almost always get better performance with 3gigs over 2. Frees up space for all the other stuff running on your machine, especially if you multi task. I'm no expert but I know that when I dropped in an extra gig, I noticed.

- Ray
www.undergroundplanet.com

I'm with Ray on this one. RAM isn't overly expensive in the grand scheme of things so why not max it out unless there's a compelling reason not to do so. The same goes for the 2/4 core quandry.

Many fo these kinds of questions have no hard answer and even then everything is subject to change and change by many factors. Consider building a dynamic RAM preview from HDV. Vegas uses the MC codec for this I think. Maybe today it does only use 1 or 2 cores. Next month MC might change their code and suddenly it's capable of using 4 cores. If you made your decision based on where we were at today you might be kicking yourself very shortly or not.

Bob.

If you have 4 slots, and using 2 with 2x1gb atm, then stick another 2x1gb in. They're cheap, and you'll get as much as XP will allow, and they will all run in dual-channel memory mode.

When you switch to Vista, you will have access to almost all of the 4gb then without any new hardware. My Vista 32bit show 3582MB available to system, and of course, 64bit shows the whole amount.

Mutts, Bob and Kenny! Thanks for the reassurance. Done!

Like a good dentist, all 4 "cavities" to be drilled and filled.

Grazie

Just curious, but how much of that RAM do you folks normally see in use? I've got 1GB here, and on a typical day i might have two or three Vegas sessions open, VidCap, Sound Forge, Microsoft Word, Mozilla, VisualBasic, half a dozen ssh terminal sessions ,etc. Vegas tells me i still have 668MB free for RAM previews. Paging is still nearly zero.

What is everyone else doing that needs so much RAM?

Kelly, I really don't know.

However, Vegas MIGHT say I have buckets of it, it does, but when I come to BUILD Ram preview, it can be as little as 3 seconds of RAM build.

Your question can open up much debate as to exactly what .. and more to the point I'm guessing YOU are making, which is, why the devil have THAT process working? Yes? Well, if I knew just WHAT to jettison I would - but I don't. Please fly over to London and tell me what to do and I'll do it.

Grazie

Well, I'll tell ya. Throw 100 5 meg jpg's on the timeline, 2hrs. of HDV, a couple of text crawls with 5 meg jpg's as background and V8 will croak on the render. You will wish you had 16 gig of ram. In my opinion ram is the major hurdle of V8 especially with HDV stuff.
JJK

There is a "switch" that needs to be switched on in the boot.ini file, in order to use more than 2 Gb RAM. Once the command string is added, XP will use about 3Gb of an available 4 Gb.

I use this switch on my DAW and for CS3, but, don't have it installed on my laptop. I can't remember the command, but, I'm sure you can find it on the MS website.

Remember, too, that all RAM is not equal. For example, if you were to go online and try to configure a new computer with Dell or Alienware, etc; you will see several options for RAM other than just SIZE. Go for the largest and FASTEST RAM you can afford, you won't be disappointed.

4GB DDR2-667 memory? Yeah?

Grazie

Grazie,

I just completed a brand new Quad Core build using the Intel DP35DP motherboard and a host of other tasty hardware - but let me tell ya - 4 GB on this board using Windows XP Pro 32 bit - resulted in horrible graphic card performance.

For this new box - I chose a very nice eVGA 8600GT (nVidia) with dual dvi, 256MB RAM etc etc. When I installed XP (32Bit) and got everything going - it did not matter what drivers I used...latest, beta, the ones that came in the box - I got lame, sluggish on screen performance from XP just opening dialogs, closing folders...screen was constantly flickering and painfully repainting itself....took a week of troubleshoot to find out the memory was the problem.

Since I will one day move to 64 bit - I chose 2x2GB modules for this board - which worked excellent in a test install of Windows XP x64 Professional....but since I need XP (32bit) for quite some time yet - yanking these 2GB modules out and putting in single 1GB modules was like night and day - instant speed and satisfaction.

So - I am not sure if it's just this combination of hardware or what - but 4GB of RAM in my rig (using 2x2GB) was a miserable experience. Some resources I chatted with mentioned it's probably Windows just not liking this config and having problems with that higher end of the 4GB mapping memory for hardware etc etc.

I am exchaning the 2x2gb for 4x1GB. Folks in the know say 3GB is the magic sweet spot for XP...in my motherboard - I can load 3 1gb sticks and stay in dual channel mode. That will do me just fine until I can completely switch over to 64bit and load up with 8GB of RAM.

Also - to answer your question - Vegas will only ever be able to access 2GB of RAM as long as it's a 32 bit version (even on a 64 bit OS). A 64 bit compile of Vegas will have access to as much RAM as you can throw at it.

Cheers!

VP

You'd be better off going with DDR2-800... 667 is on the slow side. Also, try to go with a brand like OCZ or Corsair. My current system is using 2GB of DDR2-800 OCZ Platinum XTC Revision 2, and I've been quite happy with it so far.

Depending on RAM prices when I upgrade to Vista 64, I'll either get 2 more sticks of the same RAM, or just pick up 2x2GB sticks of DDR2-1066.

OK!!!!

Called PC builders with your comments.

A] Back to 2gb RAM - but faster.

B] And .. a newer uptodate nVidia GraphCard.

Save a bit on RAM spend more on new graphics card.

Grazie

I am going to go with the Nvidia 8800 GTS w/320 MB. Comes in around $280 but I think it is worth the price. It uses the faster DDR3 graphics memory and has dual DVI out. Compatible with Vista 64 as well.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCIe graphics card.

G

Bill,
to make XP allow more than 2GB for a single app you add the switch /3GB in boot ini. Certainly helps AE.... tutorial here...

http://generalspecialist.com/tutorials/ae7_ram.html

It takes more than just the /3GB switch. Every system is different and there's an additional switch to preallocate memory to the OS.

To have memory operate in dual channel mode you have to have pairs of dimms. An even number, not an odd number.

Vegas isn't the only thing using memory so upgrading above 2GB is good even if Vegas only uses 2 GB. You've got Windows running too!

As far as what to upgrade to from 2GB...you can go to 3 or 4 GB. Your choice. Your memory doesn't really have to be identical--that's old info--but it should probably be the same manufacturer and timings. That said, getting a brand new set of factory matched DIMMs couldn't hurt.

The benefit to Vegas of installing 3 or 4 GB is indirect. More memory means that more can be available to Vegas, up to 2GB. If all you have is 2GB, everything gets a piece of that pie, and Vegas gets less.

Going to 4GB leaves you better prepared for a 64-bit OS later.

Rob