which option is the best...

Hi,

I'm about to get a new core i7 rig in may and I've choose all my pieces but I have one last decision to make: I have windows XP 32-bit and I will stay with this OS until they release windows 7 and I know XP 32-bit does not use more than 3,5 GB of RAM so here's my options

1-Get 3X1 GB of 1333 Hz DDR3 RAM and then getting an other 3X1 GB of 1333 Hz DDR3 RAM in about 6 months when they release windows7 64 bit

2-Get 3X2 GB of 1333 Hz DDR3 RAM right now (I'll save around 30$ with this option over the first)

I'm asking this because I don't know nothing about RAM and OS and I'm afraid 6 GB with XP-32 bit could make my computer lag or something...also, if the first option is the way to go in my case,6X1 GB of RAM will offers less performance than 3X2 GB of RAM more or no changes?

Thanks

Yes 3x2gb is better, increases your PC's life span, 6gb's of RAM will mean no need for upgrades in that area like ever, unless you want to go 1600mhz+ speeds. As a suggestion what about buying that 3x2gb(6gb) as you say will save you money, and only using 4gb of it until windows 7 is out because i think X58 boards support both dual/triple channel ram and add the last 2gb once you got win 7 64-bit installed?

Yes 3x2gb is better, increases your PC's life span, 6gb's of RAM will mean no need for upgrades in that area like ever, unless you want to go 1600mhz+ speeds. As a suggestion what about buying that 3x2gb(6gb) as you say will save you money, and only using 4gb of it until windows 7 is out because i think X58 boards support both dual/triple channel ram and add the last 2gb once you got win 7 64-bit installed?

jamesfffan

Yep, good idea, I was thinking about doing that...I just hope this stick would not be DOA without knowing it until using it with windows 7

You could always test each 2GB stick individually to ensure none of them are dead on arrival. It wouldn't take more than 10 minutes to do that. Honestly, I think you should've just bought Vista 64bit since you're even considering buying 6GBs of RAM. Vista isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. But to each his own.

I agree with that, Im on vista 64 - very stable, very snappy, few tweaks here and there and a lil bit of normal maintenance like jkdefrag n ccleaner once a month its a solid OS. Win 7 is nice but feel like it should be vista sp3 imo, yes it runs on lower hardware but appears to be similar in many scenarios to vista, as its built on the same code.

I agree with that, Im on vista 64 - very stable, very snappy, few tweaks here and there and a lil bit of normal maintenance like jkdefrag n ccleaner once a month its a solid OS. Win 7 is nice but feel like it should be vista sp3 imo, yes it runs on lower hardware but appears to be similar in many scenarios to vista, as its built on the same code.

jamesfffan

64bit gives you the freedom of as much RAM as your MOBO can handle. Apart from that I really don't know of many increases in gaming performance.

4gb+ ram the benefits are good for gaming, games such as MMO's benefit alot from it, and games like crysis/warhead, rts's and such, as games advance I would expect them to start using more ram, just think 6gb ram you could run windows 7 within vista in a virtual machine, and xp in VM too.

Thanks all, I'll get 6 GB like you all advised and I'll test them, then remove one....but I won't buy vista...it's around 130 $ were I live and in ~ 6 months, windows 7 will be released...I may wait just another 3-4 months after the launch just to see how good it is.

Thanks all, I'll get 6 GB like you all advised and I'll test them, then remove one....but I won't buy vista...it's around 130 $ were I live and in ~ 6 months, windows 7 will be released...I may wait just another 3-4 months after the launch just to see how good it is.

lamx30108200