2GB to 3GB RAM - much of a difference?

Just wondering....if I swapped out a 1GB stick in my laptop for a 2GB to give me 3GB in all (the most XP Professional 32 bit will recognize AFAIK), would I see much improvement to warrant it? I'm currently running a 2.16GHz Core2Duo laptop w/ 2GB RAM @ 667MHz. LR 1.4 and PS7 are my two primary tools.

I say yes. Especially keeping them both open at the same time, I felt good difference going from 2 to 3.3 (4 total, but still on Vista 32). And it is so cheap now, too.

That was my next question...should I just spring for 2 2GB sticks even though I'm only on a 32 bit system? Would I have glitches or would the only downside be that not all 4GB is recognized?

turn on your task manager and monitor the ram usage as you do your average workflow. that will tell you if you need more memory.

however, sometimes memory has to be installed in pairs -- depends on your motherboard. this info is in your manual or online at the manufacturers site.

You guys make me feel ghetto. I still only have 512. Personally, I can't imagine 2gigs. That's like too much! And then I hear about 4-8gb... OVERKILL!

cdifoto wrote in post #5851662
Just wondering....if I swapped out a 1GB stick in my laptop for a 2GB to give me 3GB would I see much improvement to warrant it? I'm currently running a 2.16GHz Core2Duo laptop w/ 2GB RAM @ 667MHz.

If you have a GMA video chipset you'll lose the benefit of matched dual-channel memory.

Tony-S wrote in post #5851947
If you have a GMA video chipset you'll lose the benefit of matched dual-channel memory.

Well I've got an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M video card in my laptop. It's 512MB with 256 shared. Not sure if that's considered GMA or not because I'm hardware-retarded.

blinded wrote in post #5851905
You guys make me feel ghetto. I still only have 512. Personally, I can't imagine 2gigs. That's like too much! And then I hear about 4-8gb... OVERKILL!

how are you even able to start and OS, open a browser and make a post?

orisky wrote in post #5852155
how are you even able to start and OS, open a browser and make a post?

Slowly!

blinded wrote in post #5851905
You guys make me feel ghetto. I still only have 512. Personally, I can't imagine 2gigs. That's like too much! And then I hear about 4-8gb... OVERKILL!

No such thing as overkill when you have 900+ images to work on and time is money.

I can't imaging 2GB-3GB will make a lot of difference, but memory's cheap. Personally I have a dual core PC with 2GB of RAM, at the end of the year or next year i'll upgrade to 8 core and 4-8GB of RAM. With the number of weddings I have booked it should save me a fairly large amount of time.

It is 50% more memory... how is that not significant? Assuming Vista is eating at least half a gig, he is running with 1.5 free now... so going to 3, under the hood, will mean 100% more free RAM to work with.


edit: oh yea, and as said above, I'd go to 4 even if you won't see it all now. It is always preferable to have matched pairs.

cdifoto wrote in post #5851662
(the most XP Professional 32 bit will recognize AFAIK)

TheHoff wrote in post #5852517
It is 50% more memory... how is that not significant? Assuming Vista is eating at least half a gig, he is running with 1.5 free now... so going to 3, under the hood, will mean 100% more free RAM to work with.

How do you figure Vista's taking up half a gig when he's running XP?

tim wrote in post #5852563
How do you figure Vista's taking up half a gig when he's running XP?

Even when you're not running Vista, it is still eating unnecessary resources remotely.

I think any you should leave well enough alone. 2 gb seems to be the "sweet spot" for a system like yours (and mine). Also, I subscribe to the belief that most systems are happiest with matched sticks of memory, not different size, different brands, etc. I spec the PCs in the marketing/graphics department of the company I work for and they all run on 2 x 1gb or 4 x 500mb matched memory. I get most of my system recommendations from two old friends, both IT managers for large corporations.

So don't fix what ain't broke and apply the money you would have spent to your next computer.