Memory size

[Terry]

I have 1GB of DDR RAM installed in my XP machine with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+
.. Is it worth installing more memory ie another Gb?

 

[Zilbandy]

I have 1GB of DDR RAM installed in my XP machine with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+
. Is it worth installing more memory ie another Gb?

If you're a typical user, then no. You don't tell us what kind of
programs you run. Programs that use huge amounts of ram, like
professional video editing, cad applications and such would probably
benefit.

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

I have 1GB of DDR RAM installed in my XP machine with an AMD Athlon 64
3200+ . Is it worth installing more memory ie another Gb?

That will depend entirely on the software YOU use. 1GB is adequate for a typical user (word processing,
email, surfing). If you are working on video editing, high end graphics or CAD likely you can use as much
memory as your system will allow.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have 1GB of DDR RAM installed in my XP machine with an AMD Athlon
64 3200+ . Is it worth installing more memory ie another Gb?

Probably not. In fact, my guess is that you already have more RAM than you
need.

This 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_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.

 

[James Silverton]

Ken wrote on Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:20:16 -0700:

??>> I have 1GB of DDR RAM installed in my XP machine with an
??>> AMD Athlon 64 3200+ . Is it worth installing more memory
??>> ie another Gb?

KBM> If you are currently using the page file significantly,
KBM> more memory will decrease or eliminate that usage, and
KBM> improve your performance. If you are not using the page
KBM> file significantly, more memory will do nothing for you.
KBM> Go to http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/
and download WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip

It's kind of an unresponsive site and I gave up, perhaps
too quickly

KBM> and monitor your
KBM>pagefile usage. That should give you a
KBM> good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how
KBM> much more.

!


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not