Date: 01/17/08 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: php, software

I was doing research to see if it makes sense to upgrade my system from 3GB of RAM to 6GB (the 3GB is to stay under Windows XP's usage ceiling) for my copy of Vista 64bit Business that I'm dual-booting XP with, and I found this article:

http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4276

The results are basically saying that going from 2 to 4 and even 8GB doesn't help in Vista 64. Here are some snippets:

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Windows Vista 64-Bit

Cinebench (This test 3D rendering.)

2GB Patriot 6400 1322
4GB Crucial 6400 1369
4GB SuperTalent 6400 1307

The 4GB Crucial had a 3.5% increase in performance, but the 4GB Patriot had a 1.3% decrease in performance.

DVD-Shrink (Video and Audio Conversion Software.)

2GB Patriot 6400 3.39 Seconds
4GB Crucial 6400 3.39 Seconds
4GB SuperTalent 6400 4.15 Seconds
8GB Crucial/SuperTalent 4.09 Seconds

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Company of Heroes

2GB Patriot 6400 58.5 fps
4GB Crucial 6400 58.6 fps
4GB SuperTalent 6400 58.4 fps
8GB Crucial/SuperTalent 58.5 fps

Again no real difference.

Lost Planet

Outdoors
2GB Patriot 6400 63 fps
4GB Crucial 6400 59 fps
4GB SuperTalent 6400 63 fps
8GB Crucial/SuperTalent 64 fps

Outdoors there was no real performance increase or decrease, aside from the 4GB Crucial sliding down 4 fps.

Indoors
2GB Patriot 6400 72 fps
4GB Crucial 6400 71 fps
4GB SuperTalent 6400 67 fps
8GB Crucial/SuperTalent 65 fps

As for indoors we lost 7 fps by the time we got up to the 8GB setup.

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After seeing that I decided to not ratchet up the RAM any further than what I have already.

Hope this proves helpful to some of you who are being tempted with deals on 4GB kits :P

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1143351.html