2 GB DDR2-667 for laptops @ $85

[Jammrock]

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5284707

FRYS.com #: 5284707
OCZ PC2-5400 DDR2 SODIMM / OCZ2MV6672G

OCZ DDR2 SO-DIMMs are built to provide optimal levels of compatibility using the highest quality components available.

Each module comes backed with industry leading technical support and the OCZ Lifetime Warranty, ensuring complete product satisfaction for unparalleled peace of mind.

$85, free shipping. 4 GB for $170 USD I'm trying to figure out how to fit it into the budget...

[az]

Take 3, you can't address a lot of the memory between 3 and 4 GB anyway.

[ND66]

Take 3, you can't address a lot of the memory between 3 and 4 GB anyway.

Got Vista?????

Who knows..... .

.

[az]

AFAIK this is still the case with Vista, but IDK.

[Elie]

The limitaiton is with any 32 bit OS be it Win2K, XP or Vista.

To be able to use more than 3GB of ram you must upgrade to ny 64 bit OS (Vista or XP) where they can both address up to (I blieve) 2TB.

Regards,
Elie

[az]

It's not the possibility of addressing - that's already there with certain 32 bit OSes. Just that between 3 and 4 GB is "reserved space". I think.

Read here.

[ND66]

Of course, 64bit is a must.


Just on the tech side, here is a sample Tech Support problem report from the CAD\CAM software I'm using:

Subject: [PR-05514956] Help with animation from Visualizer on a very large shell model

Description of Problem

When attempting to animate results on a particularly large model file(400000+ elements) the user is seeing that visualizer will lock up in the attempt. All memory adjustments have been ineffective. The system specifications are as follows:

64bit Windows with 16GB of RAM. Quadro FX 3450 with 256MG Graphic memory.


It appears that, though the 64 bit windows operating system allows the use of more memory, visualizer is still unable to handle the required ammounts. What's more this file has been seen to crash I12 on 32 bit windows when the same attempt is made.

[Jammrock]

Vista/XP 32-bit can address 4 GB with the 3GB switch added to the boot string (boot.ini in XP, bootcfg for Vista). However, you only have 3-3.5 GB available for user memory, the rest is zoned for OS use only. So it is all used, just not availble to apps.

But then, 64-bit driver support for Vista is very good, and that's the OS I will run when I eventually move to 4 GB RAM in my laptop.