Ram and XP Pro

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A

Amy

I have a gig of RAM running XP Pro. I'm run a few programs like Money
and Works, but mostly just surf the net. However, I may start doing
some pictures and short vids from my camcorder. Question;

Would it be advisable to get another gig of RAM. TIA
 
Amy said:
I have a gig of RAM running XP Pro. I'm run a few programs like Money
and Works, but mostly just surf the net. However, I may start doing
some pictures and short vids from my camcorder. Question;

Would it be advisable to get another gig of RAM. TIA
Click to expand...

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 - 2006)
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."
 
You can also download a free-Lite software called Sandra from
www.sisoftware.net
It has A LOT of features ... one of them the exact usage of RAM and SWAP
(PAGEFILE.SYS) usage.

If RAAM is cheap right now AND you plan on ever to upgrading to Windows
Vista ... it really wouldn't be so bad to add more memory. Supposedly,
Vista MINIMUM requirements is 512MB, and it you are going to do Videoa work
and such, with multiple apps open at the same time, wouldn't be a bad idea.

Besides, as soon as a new Windows OS comes out, EVERYBODY's next upgrades
all try to grab a piece of the new OS, as far as memory is concerned. They
figure, with abundance of the new OS, let's get more of a piece of the
memory.
 
Amy said:
I have a gig of RAM running XP Pro. I'm run a few programs like Money
and Works, but mostly just surf the net. However, I may start doing
some pictures and short vids from my camcorder. Question;

Would it be advisable to get another gig of RAM. TIA
Click to expand...


It might, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to get it. Wait until the need
demonstarates itself. Read my standard blurb on this subject below, and use
the utility mentioned:

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.
 
Amy said:
I have a gig of RAM running XP Pro. I'm run a few programs like Money
and Works, but mostly just surf the net. However, I may start doing
some pictures and short vids from my camcorder. Question;

Would it be advisable to get another gig of RAM. TIA
Click to expand...


If you are going to be using Photoshop PS-2...then yes...get more RAM...

however if you are not going to be doing any major editing...
the one gig of RAM should be fine
 
Amy said:
I have a gig of RAM running XP Pro. I'm run a few programs like Money
and Works, but mostly just surf the net. However, I may start doing
some pictures and short vids from my camcorder. Question;

Would it be advisable to get another gig of RAM. TIA
Click to expand...

No, you are very, very unlikely to need more RAM even for the most RAM
intensive applications. With your Gig of RAM, the only way you'd ever want
more would be if you tried to run two or more RAM intensive applications at
the same time and very few people do that.
YOu can add another Gig, it won't hurt anything, but it won't help
anything either. I'd wait until you know you need it.

Pop
 
No, you are very, very unlikely to need more RAM even for the most RAM
intensive applications. With your Gig of RAM, the only way you'd ever
want more would be if you tried to run two or more RAM intensive
applications at the same time and very few people do that.
YOu can add another Gig, it won't hurt anything, but it won't help
anything either. I'd wait until you know you need it.
Click to expand...

Follow up:
I just tried doing some video editing on a celeron2.6 ghz with a gig of
RAM...
not much ram was being used...but the cpu usage was 100% !!!
 
Trying to do video editing on a celeron processor regardless of quantity of
ram is like trying to p*ss into the wind. It may eventually work, but it's
gonna be messy.<G>

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-
 
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