Will 2 Gigs of RAM improve my P4C800 Deluxe & WinXP Pro?

[M. B.]

I am currently running Windows XP Pro SP2 with all of the latest patches &
updates. My hardware is ASUS P4C800 Deluxe MB running P4 3.2Mhz Prescott
and 1 Gig (2x512MB) of Crucial PC3200 DDR 400 (Dual Mode) RAM. My Graphics
card is an nVidia 6800 GT OC with 256 megs of RAM and I am running it in
1600x1200 mode on my LCD monitor. My PC is *not* overclocked in any way.

As I mostly use my computer for Stock Trading or Gaming, I often nowadays
have anywhere from 8 to 12 Windows open at the same time. At least 3 of
them are running Java applications with real-time market data streaming thru
them.

I am wondering if my machine's performance will improve at all if I upgrade
to 2 Gigs of RAM? I would buy 2x1MB of the same Crucial memory type (model
number : CT2KIT12864Z40B) and remove the already installed modules.

Although I am regularly scanning for viruses & spyware, running disk
defragger and everything else I can think of, my system seems to "slow down"
the more Windows I have open. In addition, I am hearing from folks that
newer games like Call of Duty 2, FEAR, Quake 4 are behaving better with 2
Gigs of RAM rather then just one.

Would love to hear fom the experts...

 

[Pete Gray]

I am currently running Windows XP Pro SP2 with all of the latest patches &
updates. My hardware is ASUS P4C800 Deluxe MB running P4 3.2Mhz Prescott
and 1 Gig (2x512MB) of Crucial PC3200 DDR 400 (Dual Mode) RAM. My Graphics
card is an nVidia 6800 GT OC with 256 megs of RAM and I am running it in
1600x1200 mode on my LCD monitor. My PC is *not* overclocked in any way.

As I mostly use my computer for Stock Trading or Gaming, I often nowadays
have anywhere from 8 to 12 Windows open at the same time. At least 3 of
them are running Java applications with real-time market data streaming thru
them.

I am wondering if my machine's performance will improve at all if I upgrade
to 2 Gigs of RAM? I would buy 2x1MB of the same Crucial memory type (model
number : CT2KIT12864Z40B) and remove the already installed modules.

Although I am regularly scanning for viruses & spyware, running disk
defragger and everything else I can think of, my system seems to "slow down"
the more Windows I have open. In addition, I am hearing from folks that
newer games like Call of Duty 2, FEAR, Quake 4 are behaving better with 2
Gigs of RAM rather then just one.

Would love to hear fom the experts...

Yes, you will see some improvement, but whether it's worth the cost is
up to you. I have essentially the same motherboard and video. I do
notice faster loads in HL2, FEAR, Quake 4 and COD2. I removed two
512MB sticks of Corsair (TWINX1024-3200C2) and replaced them with two
1024MB sticks of Corsair (TWINX2048-3200C2).

 

[stargazer257]

Right click the taskbar and open up Task Manager. Click th
Performance tab and see how much physical memory is available. Yo
can keep this running to pop it up when things start slowing down.
Also check to see how large your pagefile (swap file for memory) i
getting. This should give you a clue if your slow down is due t
limited memory

For example, I was running NASA's WorldWind program (NASA's version o
Google Earth) and after using it for awhile on my 1 Gig Ram equippe
machine, it started to slow down (it can use a lot of memory cachin
views). I pulled up task manager and found that most of my Gig wa
being used AND I had a 2 Gig swapfile going. Closed the program an
within a few seconds the machine became snappier again

 

[M. B.]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Here is some furthe info about my Task
Manager stats on no load and full load:

NO LOAD (after starting up the PC)
=========================
Handles: 10595
Threads: 388
Processes: 38

Commit Charge (K)
Total: 325492
Limit: 2520988
Peak: 973068

Physical Memory (K)
Total: 1047268
Available: 702772
System Cache: 461476

Kernel Memory (K)
Total: 110524
Paged: 64744
Nonpaged: 45780

FULL LOAD (with most Windows/Programs running)
=========================
Handles: 16612
Threads: 620
Processes: 44

Commit Charge (K)
Total: 729320
Limit: 2520988
Peak: 763316

Physical Memory (K)
Total: 1047268
Available: 175272
System Cache: 332420

Kernel Memory (K)
Total: 105348
Paged: 62052
Nonpaged: 443296

*********************************************************************

So, looking at these numbers, should I still think about going from 1 Gig to
2 Gigs of RAM?

THANKS AGAIN everyone!

 

[John Wilson]

So, looking at these numbers, should I still think about going from 1 Gig to
2 Gigs of RAM?>>


No. Your physical memory left available is just fine.

 

[stargazer257]

M. B.wrote:
FULL LOAD (with most Windows/Programs running)

=========================
Handles: 16612
Threads: 620
Processes: 44

Commit Charge (K)
Total: 729320
Limit: 2520988
[b:dcbe9d9733][color=red:dcbe9d9733]Peak: 763316[/color:dcbe9d9733][/b:dcbe9d9733]

Physical Memory (K)
[b:dcbe9d9733][color=red:dcbe9d9733]Total: 1047268
Available: 175272[/color:dcbe9d9733][/b:dcbe9d9733]
System Cache: 332420

Kernel Memory (K)
Total: 105348
Paged: 62052
Nonpaged: 443296

*********************************************************************

So, looking at these numbers, should I still think about going from 1 Gig to
2 Gigs of RAM?

THANKS AGAIN everyone!

From these numbers you are using about 1.6 GB of memory (system and

virtual combined) The "Commit Charge" is your swapfile/pagefile,
your memory swapped to that (relatively) slow hard drive. The amount
of your (1GB) physical memory being used is the difference between the
Total and Available (1047268-175272 = 871,966 KB). Add this to the
~750,000 KB in the swap file to get the 1.6 GB.

Adding another gig appears to be able to help, but I wouldn't expect
to see a black-and-white difference. But you will gain some more
headroom and will be ready for more memory intensive apps in the
future as well.

Anyone else agree with this?

PS, others may suffer from RAM envy too