Vista RAM Requirements

[D. Spencer Hines]

My understanding is that Vista Ultimate wants 2 GIGS of RAM to run smoothly
and reasonably fast.

Is that incorrect?

How much VRAM for Good Performance?

DSH

 

[Kerry Brown]

It depends on what you are doing. For most people Vista runs just fine with
1 GB RAM.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

That's fully incorrect, but it's a popular statement.

Depending on what you're doing Vista runs quite well on 512mb of memory.
For light-use home users who do email, Internet, a little light word
processing and such AND who have a graphic adapter that has dedicated
memory, 512mb is perfectly useable.

I would recommend that most folks use 1gb as a starting point, especially if
they have shared memory between video and system use, then evaluate
performance and watch to see if they're getting a lot of pagefile use going
on. If not, then 2gb would be a waste.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Bobby]

I found it sluggish under 1Gb and fine anything above that. After 1½Gb I
didn't notice a great deal of difference.

Bobby

 

[Richard]

I use Ultimate for office apps, CD/DVD burning etc & no games & I had to
upgrade from 512 - 1024mb RAM.
512 was way too slow, but 1024 is fine.

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

More detail please.

What can one do and not do with 1 GB of RAM.

The "Most People" Argument is not helpful.

Video RAM?

DSH

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

That's fully incorrect, but it's a popular statement.

Depending on what you're doing Vista runs quite well on 512mb of memory.
For light-use home users who do email, Internet, a little light word
processing and such AND who have a graphic adapter that has dedicated
memory, 512mb is perfectly useable.

What's "light word processing"? How much VRAM? So those are the MS defined
"Light Users".

I would recommend that most folks use 1gb as a starting point, especially
if they have shared memory between video and system use, then evaluate
performance and watch to see if they're getting a lot of pagefile use
going on. If not, then 2gb would be a waste.

ADDING 1 GB of RAM to a laptop that already has both slots filled with 512
MB sticks is no easy or inexpensive task.

Why do you make it sound as if it's an Easy Option "Later"?

You've only discussed "Light Users".

NOT "Medium Users" [or whatever moniker you choose to tag them with] and
"Heavy Users" -- or your chosen tag.

Of course "Light Users" can easily gravitate to "Medium" and "Heavy" -- so
you want them to buy all NEW hardware and software when they do that?

DSH

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

My understanding is that Vista Ultimate wants 2 GIGS of RAM to run
smoothly and reasonably fast.

Is that incorrect?

How much VRAM for Good Performance?

DSH

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

My understanding is that Vista Ultimate wants 2 GIGS of RAM to run
smoothly and reasonably fast.

Is that incorrect?

It runs fine for me with 1 GB and I'm sure it would run fine for most people
with 512 MB. The ones that would want more are probably those who play a
lot of games or do a lot of multimedia.

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Bingo!

Now THAT is a useful answer -- FREE of Bafflegab and Lightspeak.

Thank You.

What do you do with that box?

DSH

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Thanks.

No Games Noted.

How about movies and YouTube?

DSH

 

[Dr.NeyNey]

I am currently using buisness, so I do not know how much extra
Ultimate requires.
But, I can easily have all my office apps open along with lotsa tab's
in the browser, and a movie running, and then I use like 50-60% of my
1Gig RAM.
Furthermore I have had no difficulties playing a resource hogging game
like Oblivion.

So unless you planning on doing heavy operations like video-editing,
or 3D-drawing/rendering I'd say 1Gig is perfectly fine.

 

[pete]

I run 2gb
Games........great
Decode video............great
copy DVD/Rip CD/etc..........great
YouTube......waste of my time but it works smoothly with a good fast
Internet connection.

I used to run it with 1gb and it was just fine..but anyone will definitly
see an improvement with 2gb.And I am still running an Evaluation copy RC2
build 5744..64bit
peter

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

It runs fine for me with 1 GB and I'm sure it would run fine for most

people with 512 MB. The ones that would want more are probably those who
play a lot of games or do a lot of multimedia.

You don't specify "IT"...

Vista Ultimate?
-----------------------------------------

The ones that would want more are probably those who play a lot of games or
do a lot of multimedia.

Such as watching an HD film on the laptop or letting the grandson play his
favorite game on it?

Or watching YouTube?

"A lot of games" -- How about ONE state of the art TODAY game -- fast and
reliably -- no hangups -- no pauses with frozen screen -- and so forth?

How much Video RAM to run Vista Ultimate FAST & RELIABLY.

It's like pulling teeth -- one just keeps trying...

DSH

 

[Squibbly]

My understanding is that Vista Ultimate wants 2 GIGS of RAM to run
smoothly and reasonably fast.

Is that incorrect?

How much VRAM for Good Performance?

DSH

i got 2gb of ram, and vista run far from fine for me, its very sluggish
sometimes it still crashes

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Thanks.

Useful Answer.

ALL those running at the SAME time -- RIGHT?

What if you then tried to download the latest Vista Update at the same
time -- or install the daily AV update?

What if you want to walk through the Louvre in 3D at the same time?

Or send an English email and then one in French and then one in Japanese?

Would you have to stop the movie? <g>

I see you are a doctor -- or say you are.

Let's say you are a physician rather than a Ph.D.

Let's say you want to view a video of some physician describing how to take
out your own appendix in an emergency, because you think you might need to
know that some day.

The movie is stopped but can you keep it open and also stop the stroll
through the Louve -- but keep that open and waiting too -- and then pick up
on both later -- at the exact point you left without losing the entire
shebang?

DSH

I am currently using buisness, so I do not know how much extra
Ultimate requires.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I answered a post asking about Vista Ultimate,, so that's what 'It' referred
to.

You don't specify "IT"...

Vista Ultimate?
-----------------------------------------


Such as watching an HD film on the laptop or letting the grandson play his
favorite game on it?

Or watching YouTube?

Never been there

"A lot of games" -- How about ONE state of the art TODAY game -- fast and
reliably -- no hangups -- no pauses with frozen screen -- and so forth?

How much Video RAM to run Vista Ultimate FAST & RELIABLY.

My Vista is fast and reliable. No games beyond Solitair and Mine Sweeper.
Almost no video. When I have run video it runs fine. But it was almost
always a waste of my time to watch it.

It's like pulling teeth -- one just keeps trying...

Well, maybe if You told US what YOU want to use it for we could be more
specific.

 

[Rick Rogers]

But are you running the same apps and such as him? Ram usage and is
dependent on user habits. If all you do is surf and email, then 1GB, even
512MB, is sufficient. Office apps and light gaming? Playing with family
photos? 2GB might be more your style. Hard core gamer? Autocad? Heavy photo
and video work? Move to 4GB (or more if you are running x64).

What you do is watch to see if the system is paging heavily. If so, then
more ram will be of benefit. If not, then you'd be wasting money.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

Thank You!

It sounds as if 2 GB of RAM IS the correct answer -- except for "The Light
Users" -- whoever they are -- the "Most People" Crowd -- who often turn out
NOT to be REAL PEOPLE -- just Marketing Cutouts & Categories.

But other opinions are Most Welcome.

How about your Video RAM and card?

DSH

 

[D. Spencer Hines]

INTERESTING!

What are you doing when it crashes?

Or, are you just a cunniculan-pygan troll?

DSH

 

[Travis King]

RAM is a very touchy subject and can vary greatly depending on what you do
with your computer. My system has 1.5GB of RAM and I never see the usage go
above 50% even when I have Windows Media Player running, Internet Explorer,
five or six instances of paint open, and Microsoft Digital Image or Adobe
Photoshop all running at the same time. So for me, 1.5GB runs Vista without
a hitch. You could probably do all that well with 1GB also, but probably
not much below a gig. If you're the kind that just reads e-mail, surfs the
web, plays solitaire, and the like, 512MB probably would work fine. Now if
you're a heavy gamer, I'd say that 2GB would be a good place to be. And
you're also asking how much video RAM for good performance... Do you want
to know how much video RAM for running Aero Glass well or gaming? For Aero
Glass, if you're running at a resolution around 1280x1024 or lower, then
128MB should be fine. If you're running at 1024x768 or lower, you might
even do fine with the bare minimum of 64MB. If you're going to run higher
resolutions than 1280x1024, I'd get 256MB of video RAM. If you do light
gaming - in other words, occasional gaming where you're not playing games
every day and play older games such as Quake III, 128MB should not be a
problem. If you're doing "newer" games starting with Doom 3 on Vista, 256MB
should be fine.