How much RAM do I need

[Lorne]

Is there a simple way to determine if adding RAM will make a material change
in performance?

I have 512Mb and do not do anything particularly unusual though I do edit
pictures (4Mb in JPEG format - obviously bigger when open in a picture
editor).

Task manager says 450Mb page file used at a typical usage of programs open.

Task manager also says under physical memory:
Total 523760
Available 146000 (but goes up/down)
Cache 248000 (but goes up/down)

Kernel memory says:
Total 56740
paged 44056
nonpaged 12684

By opening some more programs and 6 jpegs in paintshop pro I got the page
file used up to 580Mb.

Is it possible from this to say what optimum RAM would be?

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Working with graphics requires memory.. to what degree you work with
graphics will determine memory required..

So, if you find the computer intransigent on a day to day basis, upgrade
memory to 1gb or higher..

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Is there a simple way to determine if adding RAM will make a material
change in performance?

Yes. You get good performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from
using the page file significantly, 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. Some people,
particularly those doing things like editing large photographic images can
see a performance boost by adding even more--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_public/winxp_tweaks/ 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.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Mark Minasi's rule for adding memory:

"If you turn on the computer and the lights don't dim, add more memory."

 

[Bob]

Is there a way to monitor graphics memory usage?

Thanks
Bob

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

If you have a graphics card it is irrelevant to the system ram. If you have
shared ram between an onboard controller and the system ram, the amount of
shared ram is predetermined (probably 32mb).

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Bob

Performance, while rated in numbers, is determined to a large degree by what
you can withstand.. if you are happy 'chugging along' while editing pics and
trying to sustain six open apps, then so be it.. if you are not, buy more
memory.. it is that simple..


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user

 

[Ron Martell]

Is there a simple way to determine if adding RAM will make a material change
in performance?

I agree with Ken Blake. Here is my standard response to this type of
question:

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.

Good luck


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."

 

[Lorne]

Thanks to all who responded.

The page file monitoring script shows I use 20Mb after boot and up to 200Mb
when editing several pictures with several programs open so I will get some
more memory.

I am surprised I use 20Mb after boot however, given I have 512Mb installed
and the boot only loads standard windows processes plus
virus/spyware/spamware bits and pieces.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Some pagefile is used no matter what.

 

[Alex Nichol]

Is there a simple way to determine if adding RAM will make a material change
in performance?

I have 512Mb and do not do anything particularly unusual though I do edit
pictures (4Mb in JPEG format - obviously bigger when open in a picture
editor).

Task manager says 450Mb page file used at a typical usage of programs open.

Task manager also says under physical memory:
Total 523760
Available 146000 (but goes up/down)
Cache 248000 (but goes up/down)

Those are misleading figures, but suggest you have plenty of RAM (there
is 146 MB the system can find no use for). Read up at
www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm