upgrade to SP3 with small RAM

[Jud McCranie]

My father's computer was maxed out at 512MB of RAM when I upgraded to
SP3 a couple of months ago. After I did that, clicking on things took
about 2 minutes of hard disk activity before they would start. This
made the computer so hard to use that I bought him a new computer. Now
someone with a computer with only 384MB of RAM wants me to upgrade
them to SP3. I'm afraid that the same problem will happen with them.
Is there likely to be a problem upgrading it to SP3? (I know
Microsoft vastly understates the CPU and RAM needed to run operating
systems.)

 

[JS]

Never heard of that problem being associated with SP3.
But in general after upgrading there is some cleanup work
you should do. See: XP SP3: Post Installation Cleanup:
http://www.aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=33827

Also after a major upgrade you should defragment the hard drive.

Some users can run XP with 348MB of ram just fine,
but I would think 512MB would help at least a little.
My every day general purpose PC is only a 933Mhz
processor with 512MB of ram.

 

[smlunatick]

My father's computer was maxed out at 512MB of RAM when I upgraded to
SP3 a couple of months ago.  After I did that, clicking on things took
about 2 minutes of hard disk activity before they would start.  This
made the computer so hard to use that I bought him a new computer. Now
someone with a computer with only 384MB of RAM wants me to upgrade
them to SP3.  I'm afraid that the same problem will happen with them.
Is there likely to be a problem upgrading it to SP3?  (I know
Microsoft vastly understates the CPU and RAM needed to run operating
systems.)

Ihave done such an update and find there is no problem updating to SP3
with 384MB of RAM. The only this is that running 384MB of RAM will
make XP generally slow no matter which version of SP install (XP, SP1,
SP2 and SP3.)

You might want to suggest a memory upgrade, which usually should be
affordable.

 

[Jud McCranie]

You might want to suggest a memory upgrade, which usually should be
affordable.

I think I have a 256MB module that will get it up to 512MB.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

My father's computer was maxed out at 512MB of RAM when I upgraded to

SP3 a couple of months ago. After I did that, clicking on things took
about 2 minutes of hard disk activity before they would start. This
made the computer so hard to use that I bought him a new computer. Now
someone with a computer with only 384MB of RAM wants me to upgrade
them to SP3. I'm afraid that the same problem will happen with them.
Is there likely to be a problem upgrading it to SP3? (I know
Microsoft vastly understates the CPU and RAM needed to run operating
systems.)

My hunch is that the system has not had a good defrag run on it. Go
and grab JKDefrag (Free) and run a defrag on the slow system. I have
upgraded my next door neighbor's old 1Ghz Celeron and 512MB system to
SP3 and it runs like a little champ.

A 384MB system will run better on SP3 but again you should run a
defrag on it afterwards. 384MB would be enough if it's just light
Internet use and basic productivity use.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

The only this is that running 384MB of RAM will
make XP generally slow no matter which version of SP install (XP, SP1,
SP2 and SP3.)

I don't agree with this at all. 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 between
256MB and 512MB works well, others need more. 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.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My father's computer was maxed out at 512MB of RAM when I upgraded to
SP3 a couple of months ago. After I did that, clicking on things took
about 2 minutes of hard disk activity before they would start. This
made the computer so hard to use that I bought him a new computer. Now
someone with a computer with only 384MB of RAM wants me to upgrade
them to SP3. I'm afraid that the same problem will happen with them.
Is there likely to be a problem upgrading it to SP3? (I know
Microsoft vastly understates the CPU and RAM needed to run operating
systems.)

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 between 256MB and 512MB works
well, others need more. 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 page file usage. That should
give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how
much more.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Option 1: Add more RAM.

Option 2: See http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm before
installing SP3, then see http://www.aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=33827
after installing SP3.

WinXP SP3 - Read all prerequisites for a successful installation
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldro...requisites-for-a-successful-installation.aspx

Free unlimited installation and compatibility support is available for
Windows XP, but only for Service Pack 3 (SP3) and *only until* 14 Apr-09.
Go to http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=1173 | select
"Windows XP" then select "Windows XP Service Pack 3"

 

[Jud McCranie]

On Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:12:36 -0500, Jud McCranie

Thanks for the replies. I think I have an extra RAM module that will
get it from 384MB to 512MB.

 

[JS]

You're welcome.

 

[RMD]

My father's computer was maxed out at 512MB of RAM when I upgraded to
SP3 a couple of months ago. After I did that, clicking on things took
about 2 minutes of hard disk activity before they would start. This
made the computer so hard to use that I bought him a new computer. Now
someone with a computer with only 384MB of RAM wants me to upgrade
them to SP3. I'm afraid that the same problem will happen with them.
Is there likely to be a problem upgrading it to SP3? (I know
Microsoft vastly understates the CPU and RAM needed to run operating
systems.)

I upgraded a laptop with 256Mbyte RAM to SP3 and it works as well as
it ever has, which for me is quite good. (Btw I have extra RAM for
this laptop but I've never installed it because there is nothing bad
enough wrong to actually prompt me to install it.)

I certainly don't have minutes to start anything on this laptop.

Everything starts about the same time as on my desktop with 1G of RAM.
Btw this desktop only has 1G of RAM because I had a faulty 512 M RAM
and I had to buy 1G RAM. I couldn't actually tell the difference
between the 512M and 1G RAM with my applications.

One of our local PC magazines here did some tests of boot-up time and
program operation time with various benchmark programs with Windows
Vista and Windows XP. Extra memory made about 5% maximum difference in
any of these times. Obviously benchmark programs are designed to push
a computer hard.

So, in short, extra memory won't fix anything much.

But, believe what you want. I don't care.

Ross