How much memory are you using in WinXP?

[Texun]

I am curious to know if anyone in here has seen an increase in overall performance or smoothness with more than 512 megs of DDR in Win Xp Pro? I realize it could help for those who do intensive graphics but what about overall ease of use while gaming or surfing? I have 512 now but would be interested to know where the sweet spot is.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DeschutesCore]

I'm using 1024 (4 X 256 DDR 2700 Micron), but only because I use VMWare, 3DStudio MAX, and several compilers. My kids and server use 384 MB's on WinXP Pro and Win2k Server. The sweet spot seems to be 384~512. You won't see a performance gain between 512~1024 unless your apps need it.

DC

 

[nord1899]

175 MB of memory used out of 512

 

[SteelCityFan]

I answered 512.

I have 512 in my desktop and 256 in my laptop... both XP Pro.

I would say I noticed the bigger difference going from 128 to 256. 128 dogs in XP Pro. I would not even consider it an option.

I kick myself for not buying two 256MB sticks for my laptop back when they were $45. I ordered the laptop with 2x64MB sticks then replaced both of those with a CL2 Crucual 256MB stick.

As for more than 512, I really don't think you would notice it. You would have to have a whole lot of memory hogging apps open to need it.

 

[HalfCrazy]

I got 768mb ram installed in my main system. The reason I have that much is I do make and compile maps for the mod SvenCoop. Only using 136mb out of 768mb.

 

[Valhalla1]

512

 

[Starfox]

256 gere, wish i had more, but afraid it'll fubar my overclock.

 

[amdskip]

512 is all you need unless your are rendering with 3d studio max or photochop all the time

 

[Utterman]

I had 256 megs and it was getting full and caused XP to use the Page File. I got a really great deal on 512 megs of RAM, so I added that to my system. It is now running great, but I guess I could do without the 256

 

[tdawg]

I just upgraded from 256 to 512 (thanks to $19.99 office depot deal). So far, I don't notice a whole lot of difference. I do notice less sluggishness when running multiple programs and switching between them (photoshop, flash, homesite, windows media player, ftp).

I'm of the old addage: "the more the better".

tdawg

 

[Lars]

512MB, never tried more or less with Win XP Pro.

 

[PH0ENIX]

768 here...

I got a good deal on 3x 256mb modules, but for the initial install I only used 1 of them - so later on I could test overclocked stability with all 3 slots populated.

The noticeable difference was between 256 and 512 - just for general use... the jump to 768 *felt* a bit smoother, but that was probably just over-thinking.

I'm not a believer in the 'memory usage' side of Windows, and I think programs like freemem are a useless crock.
But for those who DO put stock in it, my memory usage has never been over 400mb when i've checked it.
Swap file never changes from the initial size - which is set to 30mb (do I REALLY need it to dump 768mb of memory to disk - if it ever bluescreens? I think not).

If I had a 4th slot, i'd have 1024mb - but I dont want to mix sizes and I really can't afford 3x 512mb ATM...

Ph0.

 

[Amused]

1 gig of RDRAM here. If it were up to me, I'd have 512, but this was a gift from my brother. Who am I to complain?

 

[Demonicon]

When I got Windows XP I only had 256MB RAM and all of my games loaded super slow and in RtCW the levels would load if I was lucky.

Then I added another 256 for 512MB RAM and the difference was monumental, and that's an understatement.

 

[Zim Hosein]

384 here under XP Pro

 

[Reliant]

256 caused my comp to be sluggish and it would occasionally use the page file so I got another 256 and it is a lot smoother in many aspects.

 

[xpr8]

256 megs and wanting more!

 

[Hender]

512 MB on my Athlon XP 1800+ desktop, 256 MB on my 800 Mhz laptop.

 

[ams30gts]

512

 

[powerMarkymark]

512 here............Will add more when prices drop.

 

[RalfHutter]

What DeschutesCore said.

II've got 1GB of RAM and could get away with 512MB if I wasn't using Photshop and 3d Studio. Using them puts my RAM usage up over 512MB pretty often. Not counting those 2 memory hogs I can't tell any difference between 512MB and 1GB.

 

[bacillus]

1 gig