Question about upgrading RAM in MacBook

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malibu434343


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Hi all,

I posted my question on another forum, but though I'd post here as well since this is Mac specific.

Hey folks,

This question(s) may seem elementary, but this subject isn't really my area of expertise...

I have a MacBook with a 2.2ghz Intel Core-Duo and 1GB RAM. Graphics is an Intel integrated x3100 chip (yeah I know - that's my first problem, but nothing I can do about it). I run Win. XP through bootcamp on a separate partition of the harddrive, and have a bunch of flight sims (SF2 series, IL-2 1946, EECH, FS2004) loaded on it, along with a few utilities and Free-Track. I've noticed that in some of these games, I see a drop in performance/FPS when I have free-track running while I fly. FS2004 is the worst, especially when in the virtual cockpit view.

So, my first questions are: is it likely that upgrading to 2gb would give me any increase in performance when running Free-Track and a flight sim? Since Free-Track and a flight sim are really the only programs I ever run at the same time, would those two programs be enough to use up all of my 1GB?

My second question has to do with programs running on the Mac OSX partition. I tend to run more programs in parallel when in OSX (iTunes, Neo Office, Safari, and sometimes Garage Band). I don't do any photo shop work or video editing. My MacBook will recognize up to 4GB of RAM, but I'm wondering if (given the "light" workload I put on it) I will see any difference between a 2GB or 4GB upgrade. Since Win. XP will only recognize 2 GB, I don't want to spend the $$$ on another 2GB of RAM if it isn't going to get utilized by my OSX partition either. From newegg.com, I can get 2GB for ~$50 or 4GB for ~ $100.

Any help would be appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

If anyone here has some thoughts, please share them!

-Gregg
 
chscag

chscag

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First, more memory is really not going to provide much in the way of graphic power needed to run FS. BTW, Windows XP will recognize up to around 2.7 GB of memory depending on the phases of the Moon. :)

However, it certainly can't do any harm to add more memory for use on the OS X side of things. I currently have 4 GB of memory installed in my MacBook and also have the Intel GMA X3100 chipset. I'm also dual booting to Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit and can get more than 3 GB of memory recognized using a tweak.

Memory is not expensive and is easy to add. I'd say go for it - even if it's only for better OS X computing.

Regards.
 
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malibu434343


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chscag said:
First, more memory is really not going to provide much in the way of graphic power needed to run FS. BTW, Windows XP will recognize up to around 2.7 GB of memory depending on the phases of the Moon. :)

However, it certainly can't do any harm to add more memory for use on the OS X side of things. I currently have 4 GB of memory installed in my MacBook and also have the Intel GMA X3100 chipset. I'm also dual booting to Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit and can get more than 3 GB of memory recognized using a tweak.

Memory is not expensive and is easy to add. I'd say go for it - even if it's only for better OS X computing.

Regards.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the thought in the other forum was that if I'm maxing out my system memory, the x3100 may have less system memory available to "borrow"... maybe. Plus, I was thinking that I am actually running two programs at the same time (FS9 and Free-Track), and from what I know, that is where RAM does help a little.

Do you know how much memory the X3100 in a MacBook will actually use? I've seen 128MB in one place and ~350MB in another.

The only reason I'm considering 2GB over 4GB is that I basically have $100 to spend on this right now, and if I go with 2GB ram, that leaves me enough money to get a 250GB external drive, which I may need at some point in the near future. I have 40GB left on my OSX partition, but only 10GB left on my XP partition. Started with a 160GB HD.
 

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