Upgrading just curious.

Ok..so im upgrading soon. So I decided to consult with some people before jumping in. I was thinking about upgrading RAM as priority. Because I have only 2gb.
I have 4 slots for upgrade. 2 slots are used, currently with 1gb per slot. Should I get 1 4gb RAM stick? Or get 2x2gb RAM stick? Does it matter? Also if I do upgrade, Do I have to buy window 7 x64? If I want all my ram to be recognized? Or can I upgrade my 32bit to 64bit?
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Second is video card.
My video card is getting a bit old, so I think it was about time to upgrade. (oddly it can handle crysis on low..) I am stuck between a few cards. Should I get the
GTX 460
ATI 5770
gtx 260 216 (too old for mainstream games?)
...

Anything around the 150-100 range. Money is tight, but pc gaming is fun, and its time to upgrade anyways...Feel free to reply with any input.
Oh and if I get one of those cards, can I use my 9600gt as a physx card? Or is it too old . And what are the benefits of physX card?

johnnypakajp said:

Ok..so im upgrading soon. So I decided to consult with some people before jumping in. I was thinking about upgrading RAM as priority. Because I have only 2gb.
I have 4 slots for upgrade. 2 slots are used, currently with 1gb per slot. Should I get 1 4gb RAM stick? Or get 2x2gb RAM stick? Does it matter? Also if I do upgrade, Do I have to buy window 7 x64? If I want all my ram to be recognized? Or can I upgrade my 32bit to 64bit?

I think that CPU/motherboard combo supports dual channel, so the typical upgrade in your position would be to buy 2 more 1 gig sticks of RAM, for a total of 4.

No need to buy a single 4 gb stick. Most likely you could buy 2 x 2, for a total of 6. But don't just buy 1 more stick. Buy 2 or none.

Frankly, depending on what you do with your PC, you may see little or no difference in performance.

32 bit Windows can make use of about 3.2 gb of RAM---maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. If you want to use all 4 GB, you have to upgrade to 64 bit.

If you have a 64 bit Windows disc, you can upgrade, but again, you might not notice any performance improvement from going to 64 bit or from going from 2 gb RAM to 4 gb. It just depends on how much RAM you use in your normal operations. Don't expect to be overwhelmed.

Your CPU is 2006 vintage. If I were you, I would bite a bullet, not upgrade RAM, and instead put the money toward a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. I just upgraded a 2006 machine to an i5-2500 for $370 (CPU, motherboard, 4 gb new RAM).

The case against spending for a new mobo, CPU, and RAM is that you won't often notice an upgrade from a Core 2 Duo 6550 like you have unless you do something fairly strenuous. It won't make any noticeable difference for many common operations--web surfing, email, Word, Excel, etc.

But most people upgrade because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to.

I am not seeking performance out the ram. I noticed that I run alot of RAM heavy apps. The 2gig was not enough. I understand what you mean by cpu is 2006 vintage, like a bottleneck. I don't want to upgrade the motherboard, because I want to stick with the cpu for a bit more longer, before I start making a better computer. Just to feed off my gaming needs for now.

Keep in mind that you don't really upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, you switch from 32 bit to 64 bit. You will have to reinstall Windows using the 64 bit install DVD to make the switch. The upgrade option will not be available.

*Like^^

I still don't really understand, what if I put a 4gb / 1gb/1gb? Will the computer be like unbalanced of some sort? I just wanted to leave some room, for like future upgrade.

johnnypakajp said:

*Like^^

I still don't really understand, what if I put a 4gb / 1gb/1gb? Will the computer be like unbalanced of some sort? I just wanted to leave some room, for like future upgrade.

There may be exceptions, but if you want to preserve dual-channel mode (read the RAM in parallel to double the memory bandwidth), you need to install RAM in same-sized pairs. If you stick in a single 4GB DIMM, you'd probably lose dual channel.

You may also have compatibility issues if you mix memory from different makers. That's particularly true in a notebook, which may lack the BIOS settings that would permit a desktop PC to work around RAM incompatibilities.

alphanumeric said:

Keep in mind that you don't really upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit, you switch from 32 bit to 64 bit. You will have to reinstall Windows using the 64 bit install DVD to make the switch. The upgrade option will not be available.

bobkn said:

johnnypakajp said:

*Like^^

I still don't really understand, what if I put a 4gb / 1gb/1gb? Will the computer be like unbalanced of some sort? I just wanted to leave some room, for like future upgrade.

There may be exceptions, but if you want to preserve dual-channel mode (read the RAM in parallel to double the memory bandwidth), you need to install RAM in same-sized pairs. If you stick in a single 4GB DIMM, you'd probably lose dual channel.

You may also have compatibility issues if you mix memory from different makers. That's particularly true in a notebook, which may lack the BIOS settings that would permit a desktop PC to work around RAM incompatibilities.

Ohh...so I have cosair X3 ram. So I should get the same ram for compatibility right? I know there is something whacked about my mobo. It takes only 1.5v at 9-9-9-24 timings.