(07-21-2021, 05:45 PM)Thunderer Wrote: RAM isn't that expensive, I'd have bought more earlier if I knew legit win 10 could be acquired so cheaply. 32 bit Windows limit is not even 4 GB, it's 3.2.
Meanwhile, the GPU runs quite fine. I get over 20 FPS in Attila total war with high settings and large units. Going to take a look at how I can cap my FPS in Disco to 120.
Well the 4GBs is just a theoretical limit. It can be cut down further for various reasons. One of them is RAM being assigned as a memory for graphic card. Check your BIOS settings. Your integrated GPU was using the RAM, but now that you have dedicated GPU it is no longer needed but the setting might still be in effect.
Also you wrote about being reluctant to reinstall windows. You might consider getting an SSD if you do not already have one and installing W10 on that.
That way you will have Win7 as a fallback option until you are satisfied with your new OS. And won't have to deal with data backup during OS install. OS installs are always a bit of a risky business and having backups in some form is always a good idea.
In the end you will end up with fast OS drive which will do wonders for OS responsiveness, starting times etc. particularly with the low amount of ram you have. Having a pagefile on an SSD will also help a lot and will partially make up for the low ram. SSD might actually help more than the ram in your current situation.
And your current drive will serve as data drive for backup and archive. So the SSD does not have to be big.
In your situation I would personally go for New OS + SSD first and then for an additional RAM.