I'm running a p3-700 @ 945. I play games ocassionally, mostly watch movies, surf net, programming, and maybe video capturing soon. Will the extra ram really help me? I usually have about 25mb of ram left over at the end of the day that is unused based on the win2k task manager. Oh yea, i'm running win2k.
128 vs 256mb ram performance
- Thread starter max105
- Start date
It's been my experience that you'll do a lot less disk swapping, even if you stay under your 128 MB physical RAM.
i find that, especially if you use Win98, with 256mb you have a great deal more performance, because, like ddiccico, you do less disk swapping. i have 384mb and a ram defrag program(frees up ram which has been clogged by windows) called MemTurbo. as soon as i get some money, i'm buying a lisence for the full version. this box will stay up forever so long as i defrag the ram every so often 
it makes that much of a difference for you guys? what do you guys do with your computer tho? like some hardcore graphics or anything?
for win2k, 256Mb should be your ideal minimum!
with ram prices so low, no reason not to get the extra 128Mb!
with ram prices so low, no reason not to get the extra 128Mb!
My experience is as follows:
Forget about anything less than 64MB
Going from 64MB to 128MB made a huge difference in the system startup time and overall, the system seemed hugely "snappier"
Going from 128MB to 256MB was a noticeable improvement but not a huge improvement. This applies to things that do NOT require huge amounts of memory.
Going from 256MB to 512MB of main memory resulted in very little, if any, gerneral use improvement. However, using application that can make use of large memory, such as sound editing programs (to edit .wav files, etc.) and video editing, the improvement going to 512MB can be significant and even more memory may be worthwhile.
As inexpensive as memory is now, go for the bigger memory. If you decide you don't need it, you can always give it away to someone for a birthday present (Sept. 9 for me)
Paul
Forget about anything less than 64MB
Going from 64MB to 128MB made a huge difference in the system startup time and overall, the system seemed hugely "snappier"
Going from 128MB to 256MB was a noticeable improvement but not a huge improvement. This applies to things that do NOT require huge amounts of memory.
Going from 256MB to 512MB of main memory resulted in very little, if any, gerneral use improvement. However, using application that can make use of large memory, such as sound editing programs (to edit .wav files, etc.) and video editing, the improvement going to 512MB can be significant and even more memory may be worthwhile.
As inexpensive as memory is now, go for the bigger memory. If you decide you don't need it, you can always give it away to someone for a birthday present (Sept. 9 for me)
Paul
128mb is pretty weak for win2k. I find my win2k pro eats up over 90megs just on a clean boot, on my 256mb system. That would leave about 40 megs for programs + disk cache = not much. 192mb is much better, but i would just consider 256mb standard fare these days with memory so cheap.
cool prog toph but does it do anything? I dunno if im doing something right but whenever i check the system resources in system properties, im never under 70%. Even while running an mp3 and quake3 at the same time. Oh yeah i have 128 meg of ram.
Well i an using a computer that is 150Mhz and has 46 megs of 60ns ram
It works great for surfing the web and checking E mail, but thats it.
I too have a ram program called Ram Idle, works great!!
But for games, I have a computer with 600+ megs of ram :0
I dont even need half that but, cheap prices nowdays.
It works great for surfing the web and checking E mail, but thats it.
I too have a ram program called Ram Idle, works great!!
But for games, I have a computer with 600+ megs of ram :0
I dont even need half that but, cheap prices nowdays.
Yeah..RAM is needed..but 256 is plenty. I have 512 and its not much better over 256. GET GOOD RAM. DONT BUY CHEAP CRAP!! EDGE MICRO.com STILL HASNT REIMBURSED ME FOR THE GENERIC STUFF THAT WAS DOA>
Max,
I would definately say the extra RAM will help you. I noticed a vast improvement when going from a Win2k system at work with 128MB to one with 256MB. I usually have several programs open at once including Word, Outlook, and Explorer, with Norton running in the background. If you like to open several web pages at once the RAM will help also. Compiling should go faster as well. Less page file swapping is the big thing here.
Like everyone else said... RAM is cheap now. Take advantage of it.
I would definately say the extra RAM will help you. I noticed a vast improvement when going from a Win2k system at work with 128MB to one with 256MB. I usually have several programs open at once including Word, Outlook, and Explorer, with Norton running in the background. If you like to open several web pages at once the RAM will help also. Compiling should go faster as well. Less page file swapping is the big thing here.
Like everyone else said... RAM is cheap now. Take advantage of it.
160 or so is the sweet spot for win98, at most 192. win2k , i've used with both 256mb and 512mb extensively and there isnt much of a difference, in my use. Memory managment is pretty good in win2k, so i usually have at least 128 mb free, even with a couple IE windows open, rc5, aim, icq, ati utils, powerstrip, and palm hotsync running. So you can still run most apps with that leftover 128mb.
160 or so is the sweet spot for win98, at most 192. win2k , i've used with both 256mb and 512mb extensively and there isnt much of a difference, in my use. Memory managment is pretty good in win2k, so i usually have at least 128 mb free, even with a couple IE windows open, rc5, aim, icq, ati utils, powerstrip, and palm hotsync running. So you can still run most apps with that leftover 128mb.
Assuming you have 128MB now, going to 256MB would not make a noticable difference doing the things you mentioned. However, if you plan on doing video editing, 512MB is the way to go. You will get up to a 20% performance increase going from 256MB to 512MB when you start working with video and large graphic files. Maximum PC did an in depth article about 'How much RAM is enough?' several months ago (Maximum PC website)
My personal experience using 2 or 3 applications at once (Photoshop, CorelDraw, Premiere) my ram utilization (as shown in the task manager) will sometimes exceed 400MB and is frequently above 300MB. If I had any less than 512MB of ram, my only options would be to either run fewer applications at once (reducing my efficiency) or letting the system cache ram to the hard drive (reducing my efficiency).
I bought generic PC133 RAM and have had no problems with it at all. I have dual intel 733MHz overclocked to 810MHz and the 512MB SDram (also being overclocked) runs fine.
My personal experience using 2 or 3 applications at once (Photoshop, CorelDraw, Premiere) my ram utilization (as shown in the task manager) will sometimes exceed 400MB and is frequently above 300MB. If I had any less than 512MB of ram, my only options would be to either run fewer applications at once (reducing my efficiency) or letting the system cache ram to the hard drive (reducing my efficiency).
I bought generic PC133 RAM and have had no problems with it at all. I have dual intel 733MHz overclocked to 810MHz and the 512MB SDram (also being overclocked) runs fine.
In Win2k 256 is nearly a must, 384 is probably a sweet spot, and 512 is heading for overkill. For everything you seem to be wanting to do.
Verygreedy
No need to YELL all the time.
kami
Nice quote in your sig dude!
Thorin
Verygreedy
No need to YELL all the time.
kami
Nice quote in your sig dude!
Thorin
hmm...it makes that much of a difference? I used to have 192mb when i was running windows98 and didn't really see any performance increase when I had all of that. It might have been because i was also running a 66fsb. I guess maybe I should upgrade soon...but I was also kind of holding back on getting another stick so that I could put that into some DDR ram, but I'm just not sure when motherboards will be availible publicly that will support DDR.
"but I was also kind of holding back on getting another stick so that I could put that into some DDR ram, but I'm just not sure when motherboards will be availible publicly that will support DDR."
If you are planning to build a DDR system sometime then save your money for that because Asus is already shipping DDR boards (CUV266).
Thorin
If you are planning to build a DDR system sometime then save your money for that because Asus is already shipping DDR boards (CUV266).
Thorin
is this gonna be teh only ddr board being released as of right now? i'd rather wait for other boards to hit the market so that i know which ones are good. it's hard to know if a board is good or not if you can't compare it to any other boards
Of course the more RAM the faster the system perform. Under Win2000, the more program you install, the more RAM it take to boot. I dunno why, but I remember back to the day when I just clean install Win2k, I was taking around 65MB RAM to boot, but now it takes more than 80MB to boot already since I install all those application.
So 256 is a better solution in Win2k as when you open several browser, ICQ, mp3, those 128MB will quickly become unsufficient and a noticeable performence drop can be observe on the computer.
So 256 is a better solution in Win2k as when you open several browser, ICQ, mp3, those 128MB will quickly become unsufficient and a noticeable performence drop can be observe on the computer.
Running Win2k, and just last week I went from 128 to 256. An incredible difference. UT loads in about a third of the time it used to, and all I've got is a little P2 400 CPU. 128 just isn't enough for Win2k, you'll be glad you went to 256. And plus, it is sooooo inexpensive right now.
Just my $.02.
Cheers,
Desciple
Just my $.02.
Cheers,
Desciple
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 20K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter