8GB of Ram in 64bit OS

Discussion in 'Operating Systems' started by Stukov, Apr 18, 2008.

  1. Stukov

    Stukov Ancient Guru

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    I currently run 4GB of ram on XP-64 and I was thinking of going to Vista-64 bit when I upgrade my computer when the R700 comes out in June/July. I will be getting 8GB of ram and placing this current MB/CPU/Ram into a case for my GF.

    My question is, is there a way in Vista to actually take advantage of 8GB of ram in the sense that it doesn't use the page file any more? Is there any way to load things into the ram and not into a virtual files on my hard drive?

    I would love to do it on XP-64 but as best I can figure out a limition of XP doesnt allow this to work with any great effect.
     
  2. bug77

    bug77 Banned

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    Modern OSs don't work well without swapping. Technically they can, but you'll always find a program to say it needs swapping no matter what.
     
  3. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

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    sadly you will need a tiny page file at least otherwise it might throw up errors.
     
  4. roguesn1per

    roguesn1per Ancient Guru

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    6 gigs i believe is the sweet spot for 64 bit vista, Everything goes fast and never slows down. 8 gigs just makes it even better than fast:p
     

  5. allesclar

    allesclar Ancient Guru

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    is super fast with 8gb over 4gb, and 4gb is alot faster than 2gb.
     
  6. virtualex

    virtualex Master Guru

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    how about moving the swap file to a really fast usb-stick, like corsair 16g ?
     
  7. bug77

    bug77 Banned

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    It probably won't work. I expect Windows initializes the swap way before mounting any USB device. The only trick to speed-up the swapping is to place the swap file at the beginning of another HDD. Maybe use a dedicated partition for this (Linux style) so you won't need to worry about defragmenting.
     
  8. tyxeros

    tyxeros Guest

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    Take notice that in Vista 64 with 8gb ram , Crossfire is not operational. Its a driver problem noted in ati faq.
     
  9. dukedave5200

    dukedave5200 Ancient Guru

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    I have yet to find any benchmarks comparing 4GB to 8GB in vista. I hear people saying 8GB is faster than 4GB and I don't personally believe that at all. I'd like to see some benchmarks or something to quantify those statements.

    Also, I have my page file completely disabled and have not had one error or message or anything related to memory (actually I did have one warning about low memory once when I was "trying" to cause an error.)

    I lowered the page file to the lowest allowable size, rebooted windows, then turned it off and rebooted again. It's been turned off for several weeks now without issue.
     
  10. proFits

    proFits Guest

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    @Duke : In vista, the more memory you have, the more memory it uses

    Thus the less vista will read stuff off the hard drive, hard drive access being MUCH slower then memory, you can easily understand that, this makes the access time for everthing at least a bit lower
     

  11. dukedave5200

    dukedave5200 Ancient Guru

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    Benchmark? Something to show that Vista runs "faster" with 8GB compared to 4GB?

    I understand Vista uses more memory, however Vista only is using 33% of my 4GB. Most people who have 8GB when asked how much Vista is using, is still about the same as I'm using with only 4GB...

    OF COURSE reading from the hard drive is slower, duh... But I fail to see how how having 8GB does anything over 4GB when vista uses less than 2GB for people with 8GB of ram and 4GB of ram.

    And the statement "In vista, the more memory you have, the more it uses" -- going from 1GB to 2GB or from 2GB to 4GB, this "can be" the case, but going from 4GB to 8GB makes no difference in performance or usage or anything.

    So, again, show me some benchmarks or something to quantify the difference going from 4GB to 8GB... That is what I am asking and looking for.
     
  12. orgnlprankster7

    orgnlprankster7 Master Guru

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    Sure vista is a little bit quicker on boot with 8gb vs 4, but not by much. probably wont see much of a gain unless your running something that uses a lot of ram, from a fresh boot its only using around 19-23%. All tho with 8gb it makes it much easier to multitask, i had over 180 processes running the other day without any slowdowns, smooth as butter :)
     
  13. dukedave5200

    dukedave5200 Ancient Guru

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    If you are multi-tasking and require more than 4GB (or even slightly less) then yes, having more than 4GB will certainly be beneficial. But if we are just talking about normal usage, and/or gaming, I never come close to using 3GB. There would be absolutely no difference going to 8GB if I am only using a max of 3GB at the worst case.

    The only thing I can see that may make a difference is the amount of shared system memory being used for video. Perhaps this helps with aero or other shared video memory uses.

    I am looking for a benchmark of some kind that shows a performance difference between 4GB and 8GB... So far it's just been people saying it is "so much faster" or "my boot times are quicker" or etc... Not one benchmark (that I've found) or anything to quantify the statements.

    Until then I just feel that those people who bought 8GB of ram need to justify it by making those statements. Of course, there are things people can do that require (or make better) when having 8GB of ram. But by and large, 4GB is PLENTY for vista and gaming on vista.

    Kind of the same when it comes to XP vs Vista. Those who bought vista will defend it to the end, and those who refuse to buy it defend XP to the end. Each making claims that the other OS is "MUCH" slower than the other.

    Anyway, can someone point to a benchmark showing performance differences going from 4GB to 8GB?
     
  14. Animatrix

    Animatrix Ancient Guru

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    "Run faster" is the wrong way to put it. It is not like a faster CPU or faster memory, NB, network, etc etc speeds. All it means is Vista can cache more code and data in memory, the more it can cache the faster the cached stuff will be re-accessed.
     
  15. eRa`

    eRa` Ancient Guru

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    I've turned it off too, but if you have an application that needs a page file and you have sufficient RAM, creating a RAM-disk may be an option. However, I've not done this myself because I don't have any problems without a pagefile.
     

  16. bug77

    bug77 Banned

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    That's true. All benches I saw, showed modest increases in gaming when going from 2 to 4GB. On 32bit, any given application can only access 2GB anyway. Of course, with 8GB you can probably put all your apps in the startup folder and never worry about closing any of them ;)
     
  17. Ourasi

    Ourasi Guest

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    That was in the past, not now!!
    My Server 2008 x64 (vista64 SP1 kernel) with 8gb Mushkin 1066mhz work like a charm with 2 HD3870 in Crossfire..
     
  18. Stukov

    Stukov Ancient Guru

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    So you can create a ram disk in XP-64 and Vista-64?

    Ive always heard about this, but I haven't seen any good documentation how to do it. Basically how I understand it works is you use X amount of your ram to be the Virtual disk, rather than your hard drive.

    If this is true, how do you do it?

    The main concern I had was in some games (thinking of Stalker off hand) require to load textures and other things through out the level and for me, I can't find anyway in the game to get it to precache everything in the Ram. It seems the game is set on precaching but yet doesnt pre-cache everything (even if I am running the 64bit exe).

    I don't know if its just a limitation of the game or if its because the game is still trying to use the Virtual file even though I have 2GB of ram free. I am just trying to get the OS/Game to use more of my ram instead of swapping to the hard drive so much.

    I am trying to correct HD speed when I upgrade here in June/July by doing Raid on the WD500AAKS hard drives, but I am just trying to determine if Vista would provide a benefit to me (may just get it for DX10.1 if those one benchmarks with Assassins Creed are true).
     
  19. Mannerheim

    Mannerheim Ancient Guru

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    6144MB and RAM usage 32%
    Free 4177MB.
    Lots of programs working now.


    wow im now Ancient Guru.
    SO HAPPY =) Drink for that.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2008
  20. juang3d

    juang3d Active Member

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    ONe advice about swap file, try to have it in and stand alone partition of your disk (and if you can try to have this partition in a RAID0 hard disk configuration, but if you want REALLY FAST swap file all you need is two SDD (Solid State Disk) hard drives in RAID0 then, configure it to have only the page file, and you will what the word performance is about (specially if you work in 3D)
     

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