I am replacing my motherboard with a XFX NVIDIA NFORCE 790I ULTRA (Model # MB-N790-IUL9 )
Due to this, I will have to replace my current ram with new ram, DDR2 to DDR3.

I will continue to use two operating systems on two seperate harddrives, one 32 bit and one 64 bit.
The 64 bit will be the main operating system, and the 32 bit is just for certain homework situations only.
The 32 bit is very rarely used on my PC.
I am going to change from XP Pro 64 bit to 7 Pro 64 bit for the main OS on "F" drive.
The 32 bit OS I haven't decided on yet, but will be either XP Pro or 7 Pro on "C" drive.

Okay, so here's where I have questions.
I am looking at two choices for the amount of ram.
Four sticks of 1 Gb for a total of 4 Gb, or four sticks of 2 Gb for a total of 8 Gb.
I currently use four sticks of 1 Gb (4 Gb total) with the XP 64 bit and like it, but will 7 Pro 64 bit want or give me any advantage to using twice as much?
I can afford it either way, but don't want to pay extra if it serves no or very little purpose for a home user.

Thanks!

I've read that 4GB is the best bang for the buck. After that, you do see benefits with >4GB but the benefits tend to be less than 10-15% and continue to decrease % gain with each additional GB. (I think it was around 10% total gain going from 4GB to 6GB, but I don't remember) It also depends on the applications you use. The stuff I read regarding % gain were tests performed with games. Video/Photo editing software will benefit the most if you use those. Win 7 64bit vs.WinXP 64bit obviously doesn't change how much it can see or use, but so far Win 7 itself is much more optimized and you will see a very noticeable difference.
Also the change from DDR2 to DDR3 will also afford you more speed.

I know not a yes/no answer, but hopefully some food for thought in helping with the decision.

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Thanks for the info Crazy.

Sounds like XP Pro and 7 Pro 64bit OS are similiar in usage, but 7 is more effecient and will probably use a little more.

Since XP hardly ever used much RAM (even though I had windows loading into RAM), I think I will go with 4 Gb of RAM and save myself the money. I'm not looking for as much edge as I can get, just the best bang for the buck.

Again thanks Crazy for the info.