RAM Memory Usage

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Guest

What's the best way to make the decision to upgrade memory?

I tend to have 8 or more windows open at a time, and maybe 4 different
programs. I currently have 512M, and would have to buy 512 sticks at this
point.

Is there a program that monitors my memory usage and can recommend upgrading?

Thanks in advance for any help offered!
Dave Claborn
 
Hi David,

Memory is sooooo cheap! Whats the delay? I use a GB and run up to 50 apps
np.

You can view your memory usage with task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del)

If your are experiencing 100% CPU usage that does not go away, this
indicates that there is a software problem with one of the running programs.
Select the Processes tab in Task Manager and sort by CPU to see whats
hogging the resource.
Notable the first beta release of the MSN Search toolbar had memory leakage
problems.
 
What's your Operating System??
without knowing that, no-one can advise!

Assuming Win9x - it's very unlikely that you'd need more RAM
Assuming WinXP, 512MB should be enough for what you've stated (but what
programs are you running? - how big are the file you're manipulating??)

Have you checked the PC for malware??
Has it slowed down much since you got it??

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's
 
DavidClaborn said:
What's the best way to make the decision to upgrade memory?

I tend to have 8 or more windows open at a time, and maybe 4 different
programs. I currently have 512M, and would have to buy 512 sticks at this
point.

Is there a program that monitors my memory usage and can recommend
upgrading?

Thanks in advance for any help offered!
Dave Claborn
Click to expand...

It depends. You haven't told us the things that matter.
Do the 4 programs have names? The type of program makes a big difference.
What Operating System?
And some motherboards don't cache over certain amounts of memory- the one
I'm using now is at 512MB, going to 1 GB wasn't faster. But it did help with
certain programs- graphics editing is an example.
 
Thanks for the reply, Noel. (And thanks to Rob and Ed, too!)

I'm using XP, and I generally have a few IE browsers open, Word, Outlook
Express, and Excel and/or Access, with a file that rarely gets larger than a
meg or two. Other occassional programs... Maybe as many as 15 windows / 5
or 6 programs at a time.

I check for spyware with spybot. Clean reports, generally.

The Task Manager to monitor memory was a great idea. I've been using more
than half, but less than 75% of my installed memory. Does that sound about
right, or is that an indication that more would help?

Thanks again!
Dave Claborn
 
With those sorts of numbers, there's very little chance that adding more RAM
will do anything for you - I routinely have anything up to 20 IE windows
open, together with Outlook, OE, Excel and Word (not to mention a few
others) - on a 1GB machine also running Virtual PC with two other operating
systems up and running taking anything up to 500MB of the RAM.....it get
kinda cluttered here :)

What's your AV? - Norton has a bad habit of slowing the fastest machines
down to a tortoise-crawl!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's
 
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