add RAM

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sf

Currently, my hard drive is 80 GB and I have 1/2 GB of dual channel
RAM. I thought I was ok, because I'm a home user. Customarily, I have
a web browser, word program, news reader and email client open at the
same time. I was told they are memory hogs (didn't know that). How
much extra RAM should I put in? I only notice lags when I'm running
something like AdAware in the background. If I upgrade, how much more
should be installed?

TIA
 
sf said:
Currently, my hard drive is 80 GB and I have 1/2 GB of dual channel
RAM. I thought I was ok, because I'm a home user. Customarily, I have
a web browser, word program, news reader and email client open at the
same time. I was told they are memory hogs (didn't know that). How
much extra RAM should I put in? I only notice lags when I'm running
something like AdAware in the background. If I upgrade, how much more
should be installed?

TIA
Click to expand...

Read the motherboard manual and check on how to populate the
memory slots. Dual channel RAM is typically installed in pairs.
But some motherboards might require the remaining pair of slots
to have the same RAM as in the first pair. If the 512 MB of RAM
is already on 2 cards, then another 512 MB can be added, for a
total of 1 GB.
 
sf said:
Currently, my hard drive is 80 GB and I have 1/2 GB of dual channel
RAM. I thought I was ok, because I'm a home user.
Click to expand...


It probably is OK. My guess is that it may be *more* than you need. It's not
that you're a home user, it's because of what apps you run.

Here's my standard blurb on how much memory someone needs:

This is *not* a one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the
amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the page file, and that depends
on what apps you run. Most people running a typical range of business
applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works well, others need
512MB. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less than 256MB. Some
people, particularly those doing things like editing large photographic
images, can see a performance boost by adding even more than
512MB--sometimes much more.

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory will
decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. If you are
not using the page file significantly, more memory will do nothing for you.
Go to http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should give you
a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how much more.


Customarily, I
have a web browser, word program, news reader and email client open
at the same time. I was told they are memory hogs (didn't know
that).
Click to expand...


Having many things open uses a lot of page file, but that doesn't
necessarily impact your performance.If you are actively using all of these
programs almost at the same same time, every time you go from one to
another, you may to to page memory in and out to accomplish this, and that
disk access hurts performance. But if most of these programs are sitting
idle most of the time, the memory they use will sit idly in the page file,
and not be moved in and out. That doesn't hurt you at all.

How much extra RAM should I put in?
Click to expand...


Based on what you've said so far, probably none.

I only notice lags when
I'm running something like AdAware in the background.
Click to expand...


That's mostly because of disk access as it searches for spyware, not because
of paging. More RAM won't change that.

If I upgrade,
how much more should be installed?
Click to expand...


Again, my guess is none, but run the program I recommended above for more
information.
 
sf said:
Currently, my hard drive is 80 GB and I have 1/2 GB of dual channel
RAM. I thought I was ok, because I'm a home user. Customarily, I have
a web browser, word program, news reader and email client open at the
same time. I was told they are memory hogs (didn't know that). How
much extra RAM should I put in? I only notice lags when I'm running
something like AdAware in the background. If I upgrade, how much more
should be installed?

TIA
Click to expand...


If *you're* not experiencing any significant performance problems, and
are happy with the way *your* computer runs, than there's no need to
upgrade your RAM just because of a rumor you heard. For the uses you've
described, 512 Mb of RAM should be perfectly adequate.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrum Russell
 
It probably is OK. My guess is that it may be *more* than you need. It's not
that you're a home user, it's because of what apps you run.
<snip
If you are
not using the page file significantly, more memory will do nothing for you.
Go to http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should give you
a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how much more.



Based on what you've said so far, probably none.




That's mostly because of disk access as it searches for spyware, not because
of paging. More RAM won't change that.




Again, my guess is none, but run the program I recommended above for more
information.
Click to expand...

Many thanks to you and the others who replied. I'll run the program
you suggested. In the mean time I'll go with the old adage: "If it
ain't broke, don't fix it".

:)
 
sf said:
Currently, my hard drive is 80 GB and I have 1/2 GB of dual channel
RAM. I thought I was ok, because I'm a home user. Customarily, I have
a web browser, word program, news reader and email client open at the
same time. I was told they are memory hogs (didn't know that). How
much extra RAM should I put in? I only notice lags when I'm running
something like AdAware in the background. If I upgrade, how much more
should be installed?

TIA
Click to expand...

Have dual channel RAM myself. If you want to maintain dual channel use, you
have to populate the RAM slots with identical RAM. The pairing is done with
opposing slots as 1 and 3, and 2 and 4 on my motherboard.

Have used my PC in same in your situation in the past with no problems with
physical or virtual memory. Its when I started decoding/encoding and so
forth with AV that ate into RAM. That's when I kicked it up to 1GB. The
pagefile has always had free reign with adequate freespace for it to occupy.
 
sf said:
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

Many thanks to you and the others who replied. I'll run the program
you suggested. In the mean time I'll go with the old adage: "If it
ain't broke, don't fix it".
Click to expand...


You're welcome. Glad to help. It's a good adage.
 
Hi Ken,

Your comment on Pagefile is very useful. But it is very hard for novice
like me to comprehend page file. When I looked at pagefile usage of my
computer just now, I got following data:

Current Pagefile Usage: 46 MB
Session Peak Usage: 66 MB
Current Pagefile size: 1536 MB

Could you please tell me how to read data mean and how high I should
increase RAM? TIA.
Craig
 
Craig said:
Hi Ken,

Your comment on Pagefile is very useful. But it is very hard for novice
like me to comprehend page file. When I looked at pagefile
usage of my computer just now, I got following data:

Current Pagefile Usage: 46 MB
Session Peak Usage: 66 MB
Current Pagefile size: 1536 MB

Could you please tell me how to read data mean and how high I should
increase RAM? TIA.
Click to expand...


You are barely using it at all. 46MB or even 66MB is a tiny amount. It
confirms my eatlier guess that you should not increase your RAM at all.
 
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