How much RAM memory to run FTW

  • Thread starter Thread starter George
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George

That machine will run just about every program out there. It will not be a
great gaming machine but will be ok for what you want. If you can increase
the RAM go for it. Ram is fairly inexpensive these days. If you can put
another 512 or 1 gig of memory in go for it.
 
How much RAM chips are enough?

It takes a lot of RAM memory to run FTW ( Family Tree for Windows ). And for
online searches. Or to export or merge your FTW files.

I bought 2, one for a former resident of SBP and one for me.

I have been buying new PC's in the $400 range for years. They all worked
excellent.

This $300 is the cheapest I have every paid. It was $350.00 with $60 rebates
= $290.00.

Processor Brand: Intel

Processor Class: Celeron D Processor

Processor Number: 356

Processor Speed: 3.33 GHz

Front Side Bus: 533 MHz
L2 Cache Size: 512 KB
Memory Speed: PC2-4200 (533MHz)
Memory Type: DDR2-SDRAM
Installed Memory: 512 MB
Memory Slots Total: 2
Memory Slots Available: 1
Hard Drive Capacity: 120 GB
Drive Controllers: SATA-300
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

Optical Drives: LightScribe

Double Layer DVD SuperMulti Drive:
 
XP Novice said:
How much RAM chips are enough?
Click to expand...
<snip>

How high is up? Same type of question.

Adding more memory can noticeably improve performance only if the
added memory results in reduced usage of the virtual memory paging
file. Therefore if the paging file is not currently being used to any
significant extent then adding more memory will not provide a
significant improvement.

Unfortunately there is no ready way of determing actual paging file
usage provided with Windows XP - it does not have an equivalent to the
'Memory Manager - Swap File In Use" reporting provided by the System
Monitor utility in Windows 95/98/Me.

There is a free utility that you can download and run which will
provide this information for you. It was written by MVP Bill James and
you can get if from
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm or from
http://billsway.com/notes_public/WinXP_Tweaks/

If that utility shows actual page file usage of 50 mb or more on a
regular basis then that is indicative of fairly significant paging
file activity. Adding more RAM will reduce or even eliminate entirely
this activity thereby improving performance.

This apples regardless of how much or how little RAM is currently
installed in the computer, at least up to the 4 gb RAM maximum for
Windows XP.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
Usage 110 MB

Size 1440 MB

So I see now what you are talking about. This HP has 1024 RAM chips so
there would no need nor would it help to add memory.
 
XP Novice said:
Usage 110 MB

Size 1440 MB

So I see now what you are talking about. This HP has 1024 RAM chips so
there would no need nor would it help to add memory.
Click to expand...

With 110 mb of actual Pagefile usage there would be some benefit from
adding more RAM, but it would not be great. However you should
recheck this figure at least every few months as computer usage
patterns change and also new program versions tend to use more RAM
than the older versions they replace.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
Off topic.

I gave my son in law who lives in Toronto 2 notebooks, 1 is ME the 2nd is
XP. The 2nd is a Toshiba XP home with a bad end on the power cable. Will
another power cable from a different make and model notebook with to charge
the Toshiba?

Thanks.
 
XP Novice said:
Off topic.

I gave my son in law who lives in Toronto 2 notebooks, 1 is ME the 2nd is
XP. The 2nd is a Toshiba XP home with a bad end on the power cable. Will
another power cable from a different make and model notebook with to charge
the Toshiba?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Highly doubtful, and it could be dangerous as the charging voltage
from a different make might be different.

Best to look for a replacement Toshiba power cord. Try eBay.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
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