processors and ram - is there a table?

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jameshanley39

is there any table showing how much RAM is reasonable for various
processors.

e.g. P4 2.8 with Win XP.
256MB is just about ok.
512MB is good / a really big improvement
1GB is more than enough.

How about a P3 450MHz running Win XP.

What about Core 2 duo "or" Athlon 64 X2. Running windows xp "or"
Windows vista ?

Whether or not there is a table. Are there rules of thumb?

Is there a way of going about finding out ?
 
is there any table showing how much RAM is reasonable for various
processors.
Click to expand...


No, because these two parameters aren't really related. A
Pentium 2 database server needs more than Grandma's newish
3.4GHz system that only checks email.


e.g. P4 2.8 with Win XP.
256MB is just about ok.
512MB is good / a really big improvement
1GB is more than enough.
Click to expand...

A bit misleading.
XP requires about 90MB, give or take, to run the OS without
undue paging. Everything beyond that figure depends
entirely on what is running. If you don't need 1GB, it does
not change that someone else might, and yet a 3rd person
might have an XP system running fine with less than 256MB.
We might say an average system with software that shipped
during the earlier part of the WinXP era, for a "PC" could
use about 512MB if the user happened to be one that only did
light multitasking and ... (infinitely more and more
presumptions until it got to the point where it ruled out
just about everyone).

How about a P3 450MHz running Win XP.
Click to expand...

It has no effect on amount of memory needed to run same
jobs.

What about Core 2 duo "or" Athlon 64 X2. Running windows xp "or"
Windows vista ?

Whether or not there is a table. Are there rules of thumb?
Click to expand...


yes the rule is forget about CPU:memory, it's
applications:memory.
 
is there any table showing how much RAM is reasonable for various
processors.

e.g. P4 2.8 with Win XP.
256MB is just about ok.
512MB is good / a really big improvement
1GB is more than enough.

How about a P3 450MHz running Win XP.

What about Core 2 duo "or" Athlon 64 X2. Running windows xp "or"
Windows vista ?

Whether or not there is a table. Are there rules of thumb?

Is there a way of going about finding out ?
Click to expand...

To elaborate on the previous comment, the amount of RAM appropriate
for your machine is determined by the applications you plan to run on
it, including the OS. For example, browsing the web on Mac OS 10.4.x
is pretty smooth with 256MB of RAM, while Windows Vista Home Premium
struggles to play a video in Windows Media Player 11 with almost 1GB.
So the OS makes a considerable difference. By the same token, you
need more memory for applications like Adobe Photoshop than you do for
something like Notepad or any of the myriad UNIX command line tools.

Here are some general guidelines, IMHO:
Windows XP w/SP2 -- 512MB minimum, 1GB recommended
Windows Vista Home Premium -- 1GB minimum, 2GB recommended
Mac OS 10.4.9 Tiger -- 256MB minimum, 512MB recommended
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS -- 256MB minimum, 512MB recommended

I've told people in the past that there's no such thing as too much
RAM. I still stand by that statement, but there is such a thing as
spending more money than necessary on your machine. For further
guidance, you may want to check out the recommended system
requirements for the software you use most often.
 
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