" Sweet Spot" for XP SP3?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sue
  • Start date Start date
John said:
I think that is an old wives tale! Adding more RAM may or may not make
the computer perform better or go faster, but it won't slow it down.

John
Click to expand...
Actually, it depends a lot on the motherboard.I have an ASUS A7V8X-X.
The memory requirements are quite confining as to type and amount of
certain type banks etc. There are several places online where you can
have your computer checked. Crucial Memory and All Memory are a couple I
can think of. I went from 1gig to 2gig and really don't notice any
difference under normal things I do. I did notice some improvement when
editing video. I had to wait longer for things to be applied before. Of
course, this is an older board, newer ones may not have these
limitations, but I would check before buying any. I bought some that was
supposed to be backward compatible but it wouldn't work.
 
Sue said:
Hi,
I am getting to the point where I will need to buy a new laptop and
want to have it configured to make optimal use of the XP SP3 OS.
When XP came out, those in the know reported that 2 GB of RAM was
ideal for XP and more would actually slow it down. I am wondering if
the new SP makes optimal use of additional RAM or it remains best to
stick to 2 GB. Thanks!
Sue
Click to expand...

Hi Sue,

1) Before you decide on a laptop, make sure that there are device
drivers for ALL of your components that will run under WindowsXP. Some
component manufacturers are not making WindowsXP drivers for some of
their 'new' components.
2) WindowsXP is a 32bit OS the usable RAM limit is caused by it being
32b. Service Pack 3 will NOT make the OS a 64b OS and therefore will
not be able to affect the amount of 'user' accessible RAM.
3) If you decide to go with WindowsXPpe 64b, realize that not every
manufacturer of components make drivers for WindowsXPpe[64b]. Those
manufacturers that do have not necessarily made them as stable as they
could be. My machine is 64b and I installed the trial of
WindowsXPpe[64b] the ATI graphics card drivers were VERY unstable, and
I ended up uninstalling WindowsXPpe[64b]. That was a year ago, and the
drivers may be better now.

Because you cannot swap out components after the purchase, I would go
to somewhere like comp.sys.laptops and ask there to see if the drivers
you will need for a specific model are actually available.

--

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
 
The OP stated that "2 GB of RAM was ideal for XP and more would actually
slow it down"

This is news to me and may actually change my mind in adding more RAM.
Click to expand...


Do not let that statement change your mind. It is false.

I
have 1GB and was going to add an extra 2GB. Why does having more than 2GB
actually slow the system down?
Click to expand...


It does not.

Would I really be better off with just an
extra 1GB?
Click to expand...


No.

However, before you add *any* extra RAM, be aware that the 1GB you
already have is sufficient (or more than sufficient) for the great
majority of XP users. Only if you run particularly memory-hungry
applications will adding more RAM provide you any improvement at all.
Whether 1GB more or 2GB more, it certainly won't hurt you, but it may
not help at all. What applications do you run that make you think you
need more RAM?
 
C.Joseph S. Drayton said:
2) WindowsXP is a 32bit OS the usable RAM limit is caused by it being
32b. Service Pack 3 will NOT make the OS a 64b OS and therefore will
not be able to affect the amount of 'user' accessible RAM.
Click to expand...

It might be unthinkable, but they could put a power user switch into
there some where, and allow us to break that 4G-barrier
 
thank you Colin.

Colin Barnhorst said:
There is no reason to stick to 2GB with an version of XP that I know of
unless your mobo has an issue with it. SP3 does not change how ram is
handled. With XP SP3 the amount of ram reported on the system properties
page remains the amount available to user programs rather than the total
installed. There is no change.
Click to expand...
 
Dear Uncle Grumpy,
The major players enable you to choose your OS. I'm going with XP.
kindly,
Sue
 
Ah! OK. Thank you Phil. So then having 4 GB would basically was 1 GB with
the 32 bit OS.
That's what I needed to know.
Thank you very much.
Sue
 
Dear Ken,
Thanks for the clarification. The editors of a well known Windows
Newsletter actually published this statement regarding RAM usage under XP and
they reported that was their results from testing. It may be that as that
was several years ago, giving them the benefit of the doubt, system
architectures, and other impacting factors have morphed to the point where it
is no longer true. That's great news for me as I would rather buy a loaded
multimedia laptop and be able to fully benefit from its capabilities than be
negatively impacted in any way by having it fully configured.
kind regards,
Sue
 
Thank you Tim. I am immensely grateful for the clear information shared here
related to this issue.
Sue
 
Thanks very much for this. I had read actually in a yahoo user group for
"The Journal" that one of the users ran into exactly this same problem when
he built himself a new computer and installed XP. I am a user of the Vaio
laptops and as I understand it, they are equipping them with XP 32 bit, so
anticipate that wahtever I get from them will be equipped with the
appropriate drivers. I will also check out the site you referenced as I
haven't heard of it before.
with gratitude,
Sue

C.Joseph S. Drayton said:
Sue said:
Hi,
I am getting to the point where I will need to buy a new laptop and
want to have it configured to make optimal use of the XP SP3 OS.
When XP came out, those in the know reported that 2 GB of RAM was
ideal for XP and more would actually slow it down. I am wondering if
the new SP makes optimal use of additional RAM or it remains best to
stick to 2 GB. Thanks!
Sue
Click to expand...

Hi Sue,

1) Before you decide on a laptop, make sure that there are device
drivers for ALL of your components that will run under WindowsXP. Some
component manufacturers are not making WindowsXP drivers for some of
their 'new' components.
2) WindowsXP is a 32bit OS the usable RAM limit is caused by it being
32b. Service Pack 3 will NOT make the OS a 64b OS and therefore will
not be able to affect the amount of 'user' accessible RAM.
3) If you decide to go with WindowsXPpe 64b, realize that not every
manufacturer of components make drivers for WindowsXPpe[64b]. Those
manufacturers that do have not necessarily made them as stable as they
could be. My machine is 64b and I installed the trial of
WindowsXPpe[64b] the ATI graphics card drivers were VERY unstable, and
I ended up uninstalling WindowsXPpe[64b]. That was a year ago, and the
drivers may be better now.

Because you cannot swap out components after the purchase, I would go
to somewhere like comp.sys.laptops and ask there to see if the drivers
you will need for a specific model are actually available.

--

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...
 
Colin said:
How would that work? What switch do you envision?
Click to expand...

A switch to load another PAE kernel, which doesn't have the same
limitation as the default one, something like that
 
Dear Ken,
Thanks for the clarification. The editors of a well known Windows
Newsletter actually published this statement regarding RAM usage under XP and
they reported that was their results from testing. It may be that as that
was several years ago, giving them the benefit of the doubt, system
architectures, and other impacting factors have morphed to the point where it
is no longer true. That's great news for me as I would rather buy a loaded
multimedia laptop and be able to fully benefit from its capabilities than be
negatively impacted in any way by having it fully configured.
kind regards,
Click to expand...


You're welcome, but nothing has really changed in this regard. It was
never true.
 
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