Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?

I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize the full
4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.

Thanks,

K2NNJ wrote:
> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?
>
> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize
> the full 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.

It will not slow down your system...
If you weren't even close to using whatever amount of memory you had
originally, it's not going to speed it up either. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I think it only came with 1GB.

"Shenan Stanley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> K2NNJ wrote:
>> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?
>>
>> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize
>> the full 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.
>
> It will not slow down your system...
> If you weren't even close to using whatever amount of memory you had
> originally, it's not going to speed it up either. ;-)
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>

K2NNJ wrote:
> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?
>
> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize
> the full 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.

Shenan Stanley wrote:
> It will not slow down your system...
> If you weren't even close to using whatever amount of memory you had
> originally, it's not going to speed it up either. ;-)

K2NNJ wrote:
> I think it only came with 1GB.

As I said - your system will not run any slower if you have 4GB of memory
and a 32bit Windows Consumer-based OS. It just won't *show* that you have
4GB nor will the OS use it all.

Do you do a lot of video editing? Heavy duty databases? Massive graphics
editing?

If no - then the 4GB is likely not going to help you anyway... as you likely
do not even fully use the 1GB it came with.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:31:43 -0400, "K2NNJ"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?


No. It certainly won't slow down anything. There's no such thing as
"too much RAM" and having more than you need won't hurt you in any
way.

However it's also unlikely that it will make it run any faster. How
much RAM you need for good performance 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%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ 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.



> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize the full
> 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.
>
> Thanks,
>

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Okay thanks.

"Ken Blake, MVP" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:31:43 -0400, "K2NNJ"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?
>
>
> No. It certainly won't slow down anything. There's no such thing as
> "too much RAM" and having more than you need won't hurt you in any
> way.
>
> However it's also unlikely that it will make it run any faster. How
> much RAM you need for good performance 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%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ 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.
>
>
>
>> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize the full
>> 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 21:37:55 -0400, "K2NNJ"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Okay thanks.


You're welcome. Glad to help.



> "Ken Blake, MVP" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > On Sun, 1 Jun 2008 01:31:43 -0400, "K2NNJ"
> > <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> >> Will having this much ram slow my system, than having it run faster?
> >
> >
> > No. It certainly won't slow down anything. There's no such thing as
> > "too much RAM" and having more than you need won't hurt you in any
> > way.
> >
> > However it's also unlikely that it will make it run any faster. How
> > much RAM you need for good performance 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%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ 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.
> >
> >
> >
> >> I ask because I know I would have to have an x64 OS to recognize the full
> >> 4GB. I have a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP MCE x32.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup