RAM???

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My friend says WIN XP won't use anything over 512Mb RAM, and I want 2Gb. Can anyone point me in the right direction to validate/discredit this claim? Email @yahoo.com
 
phisto1 said:
My friend says WIN XP won't use anything over 512Mb RAM, and I want 2Gb.
Click to expand...
Can anyone point me in the right direction to validate/discredit this claim?

XP will use >512 MB. However, in most single-CPU home systems, the "knee in
the curve" of price vs performance lies somewhere between 256 and 512 MB.

You can get some performance increase over 512 MB if you have the right
setup and are a "power user." For web surfing, though, anything over 256 is
wasted $$.
 
If your mobo will support it, XP can use 4 GB, it will
default to using 2 GB for system and 2 GB for applications,
but that can be changed with a regedit.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | > My friend says WIN XP won't use anything over 512Mb RAM,
and I want 2Gb.
| Can anyone point me in the right direction to
validate/discredit this claim?
|
| XP will use >512 MB. However, in most single-CPU home
systems, the "knee in
| the curve" of price vs performance lies somewhere between
256 and 512 MB.
|
| You can get some performance increase over 512 MB if you
have the right
| setup and are a "power user." For web surfing, though,
anything over 256 is
| wasted $$.
|
|
 
XP will support up to 4gb of RAM, provided the motherboard does so. I now
have no PCs with less than 512mb, my tablet has 768mb and my desktops and
server have 1gb. The server will go higher as soon as finances allow, but
it's not running XP, it's running Windows 2003 Server.

XP adores 512mb, unless you're doing graphics work and/or digital video
editing, in which case go as high as the budget allows.
 
phisto1 said:
My friend says WIN XP won't use anything over 512Mb RAM, and I want 2Gb. Can anyone point me in the right direction to validate/discredit this claim? Email @yahoo.com
Click to expand...

Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) will use up to 4 gb of RAM

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.
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
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