Bottlenecking Troubleshooting

[RoyalTea]

I have recently upgraded a Dell XPS 420 with a new GPU (EVGA GTX 760) and PSU (Corsair CX750W). These components appear to be working flawlessly, however, the computer is running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of RAM. When playing video games the game would eventually crash. Naturally one would presume this to be the RAM causing this issue, but I have a friend who did a similar upgrade a few years ago with the only difference in his system being the 64-bit OS and his 4GB of RAM does not seem to limit his performance. Would upgrading to a 64-bit OS help or do I need to increase the amount of system memory? (I would rather not upgrade the RAM as the motherboard only supports DDR2 RAM).

Thanks.

[helping]

upgrading to 64bit doesn't do anything if you don't have more than 4gb of RAM. 

 

you might only want 64bit for compatibility. 

[Izaya Orihara]

I'd upgrade to Windows 8.1 for sure. Also welcome to the forum enjoy your stay. 

[MrYuriy]

I have recently upgraded a Dell XPS 420 with a new GPU (EVGA GTX 760) and PSU (Corsair CX750W). These components appear to be working flawlessly, however, the computer is running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of RAM. When playing video games the game would eventually crash. Naturally one would presume this to be the RAM causing this issue, but I have a friend who did a similar upgrade a few years ago with the only difference in his system being the 64-bit OS and his 4GB of RAM does not seem to limit his performance. Would upgrading to a 64-bit OS help or do I need to increase the amount of system memory? (I would rather not upgrade the RAM as the motherboard only supports DDR2 RAM).

Thanks.

Windows 32-bit, especially Vista, is not very friendly with more than 4GB of ram. So if you do want to upgrade your system memory, I would do that hand in hand with 64-Bit. However, I would also flee as fast as possible from Vista. Go to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 64-Bit.

[antoainb]

I'd suggest more ram and a newer OS, Windows 8.1 or 7 if you don't like Windows 8.

[RINZLR]

You'll need to upgrade your OS. My past experience with Vista... well wasn't too delightful (bugs, crashes, random shutdowns especially with games). Try getting a 64 bit OS (Windows 7 or 8.1) that way if you feel like adding more RAM, you could easily do so plus it improves compatibility. Personally, I'll never just grab every new version of windows when it launches because I believe they have to reach a state of maturity so it will be less of a headache when having to deal with problems yourself. Guess that's why there were so many spastic versions of Windows 8 *cough* *cough* but ah well at least it's improving.

[RoyalTea]

Thank you for your replies.

I will probably upgrade my RAM and the OS based on your recommendations. My next question is: should I buy DDR2 RAM or wait until I can afford a new motherboard and buy DDR3 RAM?