If you can install 3GB and get Vista to recognize it then there is almost no
benefit to installing 4GB and only have 3.2GB of it used by the OS with the
address space for the remainder being used to support hardware controller
cards which have their own memory
"Tom Lake" wrote in message
...

"JC" wrote in message
...
I have 4GB of physical RAM, windows vista shows only 3326MB. Does it
really
help with performance if I have 4GB or should I just install 3GB memory?
I
just bought the additional 2GB memory (had 2GB before) and wondering if I
should exchange for a 1GB one. Thanks.

If your motherboard is dual-channel capable, install memory in pairs.
3 GB is OK if you install 1 GB, 1 GB, 512 MB, 512 MB

If you don't install in pairs, you won't get the benefit of Dual-channel.

Tom Lake