4GB RAM to 6GB RAM

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My current setup:

Early 2008 MacBook Pro
2.5 Ghz C2D
10.6.4 and Windows XP (Bootcamp/Parallels)
4GB RAM

I've read that I can bump my RAM up to 6GB (despite Apple's said 4GB limit) and with a current sale, I can get a 4GB module pretty cheap so I'm thinking "why not?". I'm planning on installing Windows 7 as well as playing more games on my laptop (my PS3 broke down on me).

Would I realize any noticeable performance difference with the extra RAM in Windows 7 and/or OSX?

 

[TheBritishBloke]

Should do.. The leap from 4GB-6/8GB is usually considered the most noticeable. If you can afford it, do it!

 

[Kaviar]

I'm less convinced

If were talking games on Windows then you'd have to have one hell of a game to max out 4GB never mined 6GB. Going to 6GB would also result in a loss of dual channel and cut down the bandwidth.

I've got 8GB in my Windows desktop as i do a lot design work and with a lot of heavy apps running at the same time it can soon eat it up a fair amount of RAM but I've never seen a game use 4GB. Mainly down to most games only being 32bit.
It's all here,
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx
Unless coded to do so a 32bit app will only be bale to address 2GB of ram.
So if you've got 4GB in your system and the game is using all 2GB it can address you've still got 2GB to run Windows and that's more than enough.
If the game is coded so the process can use up more (3GB for a 32bit game on a 32bit OS or 4GB for a 32bit game on a 64bit OS) then fair cop but I've not seen a game use that much, and yes if the game is 64bit then it can use a lot more but there are very few 64bit games out there

There's bigger bottlenecks in a system once you've got a good amount of RAM like 4GB.
As games aren't going to use that much RAM I'd say stick with 4GB and then you'll benefit from the slightly faster speed of dual channel and still have more than enough RAM.

As there's not a right lot you can do to laptops in terms of upgrades. If you need to squeeze a few extra fps out your rig look at overclocking or and SSD.

Just my take on the gaming aspect.

 

[Mike225]

I would bet you would notice very little performance gain. 4GB is plenty unless you run RAM intensive programs

 

[Kaviar]

I would bet you would notice very little performance gain. 4GB is plenty unless you run RAM intensive programs

Just what I was trying to say but i do have a habit of going on a bit

 

[circularforward]

I would bet you would notice very little performance gain. 4GB is plenty unless you run RAM intensive programs

+1. Get a faster hdd or ssd for a more noticeable performance gain.