Is More RAM Better?

[George Underwood Edwards]

I'm looking into getting a new PC and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to go for 4 GB of RAM?
Would I see much/any improvement over 1 or 2 GB of RAM?

[gandy]

Since PCLinuxOS is a 32bit system, it will only see about 3.5GB of RAM no matter how much you have. There is talk about having a PAE kernel available. That will be able to use more than 4GB. I have 4GB on my system and I think it's more than enough but I don't do anything major like video editing or such.

[AndrzejL]

Hi George Underwood Edwards

Buying 4 GB of RAM (or more) would surely save You hassle with adding more of it in the future and since PCLinuxOS will have PAE kernel in the 2010 repository all 4 GB can be detected / used. I have 2 GB of RAM on my Acer laptop and I have never found myself in position where I was lacking RAM. I was close to the top limit several times when working with some huge graphics and this sort of stuff but then all depends on what You're using the machine for.

My advice is:

1) If You have the cash go for it. Buy 4 GB of RAM or even more.
2) If You are under budget buy a motherboard that will have maximum RAM 4 GB or more and 2 GB of RAM in 1 chip. You can always buy and add extra chips later.

I am not an expert but thats what the common sense tells me. Hope it makes any sense to You.

Andy

[Bald Brick]

I'm looking into getting a new PC and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to go for 4 GB of RAM?
Would I see much/any improvement over 1 or 2 GB of RAM?

It depends on how you use your system, on which programs you run and how many programs you run simultaneously.

Not too long ago I might have said that doubling your RAM would give you more of a performance boost than doubling the speed of your CPU. At this moment, however, I have 8 gigabytes of RAM, and PCLinuxOS only utilizes 42% of it, so I'm waiting for the  new kernels coming with PCLOS 2010.

But if you expect to use your new computer for four or five years, go for at least 4 gigs.

[manmath]

2gb is enough for pclos.


(my first system had only 2mb of ram.)

[OldJimbo]

I'm looking into getting a new PC and I'm wondering if it's a good idea to go for 4 GB of RAM?
Would I see much/any improvement over 1 or 2 GB of RAM?

It's already been pointed out that any benefit of going over 2 gigs of RAM will depend on what you are doing.

If you are going to dual boot with Windows then there are advantages to going 64 bit Windows because more stuff (AV etc) is running.
On 32 bit Linux then subtract the RAM on your video card - basically you'll only be using 3 -3.5 gigs of those modules.
BUT RAM is cheap now and you want to know that 2 gig modules work. That is, 4 gigs - but in two modules of two gigs each, leaving at least two slots open. I realize that 4 gigs in 1 gig modules would save $5, but then you wouldn't know if your MB works with 2gig modules.. It seems that even cheap motherboards now handle 2 gig modules with ease - this Lenovo does. But not long ago when Tom's Hardware tested top end expensive boards with 2 gig modules, they failed.
So knowing that your motherboard can handle 2 gig modules is important. If possible borrow some extras and run with 8 gigs to see that you can expand in the future - or the MB bites the dust within warranty.

[T6]

2 gb is enough for pclinux?

i booted kde 3.5 with 256!

i will test if kde4 boots with that same amount, wait, i will be back in a moment    with a picture, i hope   

[T6]

as you see kde4 and compiz running with 256 of ram, it adds around 10 to 15 seconds to kde4 load

in general, after 2 gbs in linux you don't see difference unless you are going to edit a big image(over 200 mbs) or compress big files

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[menotu]

One thing you may want to consider is that it may be more expensive adding more ram sometime in the future than it would be to have it come pre-installed on a new system.

My current system came with 2Gb ram and I added a further 2Gb and I see a big difference in using my system (especially if VirtualBox or similar is used)

[George Underwood Edwards]

Thanx, boyz! RAM is about $40. a GB (depending on where you shop) so it's worth it to grab a few extra Gs.

[T6]

expensive gbs!

usually is $20 but depends on the brand and if it is ddr2 or ddr3, recommended kingston and markvision, also corsair(expensive overclockable)

[OldJimbo]

$40. a GB

I got 4 gigs for under $80CAN so $20/gig here.
Look around.

[Georgetoon]

Just to chime in here,  my new PCLinuxOS system came with 4 gigs of RAM.  My older system ran with only 1 gig a RAM.  I see a huge difference!  I run WinXP in VirtualBox and am so a very happy that I have the extra memory.  WinXP in VB runs FASTER than Windows XP on its own Hard Drive.

Get the extra memory and get a Video Card with about 1 gig, as well.  The video card and extra memory make a big performance difference.  When I first booted the new system, the NVidia drivers were not installed.  Things ran fast, but desktop effects, etc. were not present.  The screen rez wasn't all that great, either.  As soon as I installed the NVidia driver and configured my flat panel in PCC, WOW!  KDE4, everything just came to life!

[AndrzejL]

2 gb is enough for pclinux?

i booted kde 3.5 with 256!

i will test if kde4 boots with that same amount, wait, i will be back in a moment    with a picture, i hope  

Beat this:



Look at kima for CPU, uptime, and ram is in konsole...This machine plays avi and dvd videos on 2 MB NeoMagic GPU ... All I need... Little music / movie / www and email...

Andy

P.S. It was running just fine with 128 MB too before i got extra 64 MB chip...

[Was_Just19]

If I were to but new at this time I would select 8GBs of RAM.

I don;t do a lot of video encoding but do use VBox quite a bit.
There is nothing like having several OSs running together in a session and all of them flying!

RAM is probably at a low point price wise so I would buy now rather than later.

regards.