Memory

[Johnny]

When installing more memory in windows XP home do you need to do a repair
install Or will windows just see it? With memory so cheap I have 2G. But
with memory so cheap I was thinking about putting in 2G more.
I have a Asus A8V-XE with a AMD Athlon 64 4000 and Asus EN7600GS video card.
Use DSL for internet.
Thanks Johnny

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

When installing more memory in windows XP home do you need to do a repair
install

No.


Or will windows just see it?

If your motherboard accepts it and you put the right type in, and you
do it correctly, yes.

With memory so cheap I have 2G. But
with memory so cheap I was thinking about putting in 2G more.

Why? Regardless of how cheap it is, unless you run particularly
memory-hungry applications it will do *nothing* for you. In fact, for
the great majority of people, even the 2GB you already have is much
more than necessary. My guess is that if you reduced it to 1GB (or
maybe even 512MB) you couldn't tell the difference.

You often hear people saying that more memory is better, but that's
true only up to a point.Beyond that point (and you're probably already
way beyond it), more memory doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help either.
More memory helps only when what you are running causes you to use the
page file instead of RAM. If you're in that situation, adding RAM
reduces (or eliminates) page file use, and speeds up performance.
If you're not in that situation, the RAM does next to nothing for you.

 

[Johnny]

Thank you.
Johnny McCown

If your motherboard accepts it and you put the right type in, and you
do it correctly, yes.




Why? Regardless of how cheap it is, unless you run particularly
memory-hungry applications it will do *nothing* for you. In fact, for
the great majority of people, even the 2GB you already have is much
more than necessary. My guess is that if you reduced it to 1GB (or
maybe even 512MB) you couldn't tell the difference.

You often hear people saying that more memory is better, but that's
true only up to a point.Beyond that point (and you're probably already
way beyond it), more memory doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help either.
More memory helps only when what you are running causes you to use the
page file instead of RAM. If you're in that situation, adding RAM
reduces (or eliminates) page file use, and speeds up performance.
If you're not in that situation, the RAM does next to nothing for you.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[Rock]

When installing more memory in windows XP home do you need to do a repair
install Or will windows just see it? With memory so cheap I have 2G. But
with memory so cheap I was thinking about putting in 2G more.
I have a Asus A8V-XE with a AMD Athlon 64 4000 and Asus EN7600GS video
card. Use DSL for internet.

In addition to Ken's reply, though a 32bit OS can address up to 4GB or RAM
some of that address space is used by hardware, so the OS will see less than
4GB, somewhere in the range of 2.7-3.5GB, so there is little point in
installing more than 3GB or RAM.

http://members.cox.net/slatteryt/RAM.html

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In addition to Ken's reply, though a 32bit OS can address up to 4GB or RAM
some of that address space is used by hardware, so the OS will see less than
4GB, somewhere in the range of 2.7-3.5GB, so there is little point in
installing more than 3GB or RAM.

Thanks for the addition. I had meant to mention that myself, but
forgot.

 

[Plato]

When installing more memory in windows XP home do you need to do a repair
install Or will windows just see it? With memory so cheap I have 2G. But
with memory so cheap I was thinking about putting in 2G more.
I have a Asus A8V-XE with a AMD Athlon 64 4000 and Asus EN7600GS video card.
Use DSL for internet.

Generally do you NOT have to to a repair install if you add more RAM.