How much memory do I need?

[slicksilver]

My HDD is getting bashed continuosly and I'm not sure on how much memory I need. Here is a screenshot of the task manager. What would you guys recommend? I'm hope to see that this upgrade lasts for a couple of years.

Thanks

Raj

 

[suklee]

It looks like you have 256MB of RAM, correct? To alleviate your HD bashing problem I'd get at least another 256MB. Do you play a lot of games or work with large pictures and / or video files? If so you might want to think about 1 Gig so that your upgrade will last a 'couple of years'. (=an eternity in the PC world!)

 

[slicksilver]

This is a family computer and yes we do play lots of games and videos. So you think 1 GB is best for us?

Thanks

 

[OverVolt]

yea for that i would say 512mb is a minimum, looks like you hit 545mb total there 1Gb would be future proof but 512 will do the job nicely

 

[Jeff7]

Task Manager info
According to that page, if the peak Commit Charge approaches the limit, get more RAM.

From the screenshot you posted, that shows 128MB of RAM free. I'm guessing that this is not under your peak usage.

Pop a 256MB or 512MB stick in there, and your PC shouldn't have any low-memory problems for awhile.

Wow, just checked my Task Manager.
1GB total RAM
626 free

374MB of RAM taken up, with only 3 IE windows open - the rest is all my background apps I've got running. This is why I say that 256MB is the minimum nowadays; and I still see some systems shipping with WinXP and only 128MB of RAM. A fresh-installation will take up most of that by itself.:Q

 

[fluxquantum]

i've recently upgraded to 1 GB of RAM from 512 MB and there is definitely a noticeable improvement in performance overall.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i think 512 is fine for now, a gig is nice if you have the funds but by no means necessary

 

[CryHavoc]

you only have 256 megs of ram, and sadly in this day and age, thats just not enough in a winxp based system.

Definitely add another 256 megs of ram at a minimum. Your system won't use the pagefile swapisk anymore and you will see a nice improvement in response.

 

[fslove]

Originally posted by: CryHavoc
you only have 256 megs of ram, and sadly in this day and age, thats just not enough in a winxp based system.

Definitely add another 256 megs of ram at a minimum. Your system won't use the pagefile swapisk anymore and you will see a nice improvement in response.

With WindowsXP/Windows2003 it doesn't matter how much RAM you have it will still use the swap file on the HD. Obviosly the more RAM the less use of the swap file to a point but when you reach 512-1GB the OS will still use the swap file to sone extent.

 

[Redviffer]

I've heard that if you have 1GB or more, you can pretty much get away with disabling the swap file alltogether, myself, I don't recommend it though. 512MB should do you just fine. How many slots you have free?

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: rajkanneganti
This is a family computer and yes we do play lots of games and videos. So you think 1 GB is best for us?

Thanks

Not going to make much of a difference right now, but eventually it will, and with 1gb of ram you get bragging rights.

 

[Technocrat]

I always max out my board when RAM is cheap. My laptop has 1GB my desktop has 2GB.

 

[railer]

If you're bragging about spending foolishly on your pc...go right ahead.
Get what you need. I never noticed a difference going from 256 to 512. You might. Going over 512 is a waste IMO.

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: OverVolt
yea for that i would say 512mb is a minimum, looks like you hit 545mb total there 1Gb would be future proof but 512 will do the job nicely