How much ram is enough?

[dummy2001]

Obviously more is better, and I understand winXP can always use more, but I'm using 98se and would just as soon not spend the money if it doesn't make much difference. I'm running a 950mhz Tbird with 128mb 2100 DDR and a brand new Gf3 ti200. The Gf3 may be a bit unbalanced for the system but I wanted the DX8 special effects and I got a great deal (thanks anandtech). I don't see any problems in my ordinary use, but if the ram is a bottleneck for the system or the Gf3 I would like to know. How much is enough to keep the video card humming?

 

[Mitzi]

Obviously the more, the better but I think that another 128Mb or RAM would certainly give you a big enough performance boost.

 

[Zim Hosein]

dummy2001, if you're using Win98x or WinME, I'd go w/ 256MB's of RAM, unless you are going to manage your virtual memory yourself. Just my opinion, hopw this helps.


<< Obviously the more, the better >>


This is not the case w/ Win98x & WinME Mitzi.

 

[Mitzi]

<< This is not the case w/ Win98x & WinME Mitzi. >>



Yes I know that...

Obviously more is better, and I understand winXP can always use more, but I'm using 98se

I seen XP in the first line of his post and missed where he said he he was running 98se I assumed he was running XP, my bad - sorry.

My original advice still stands though - 256Mb would be the optimum amount of RAM.

 

[pamf]

Personally I'd go for 512mb. I generally have about 300mb free, but i sometimes drop below 60 or so. 512mb is a nice number too

If money is a concern, I'd grab a 256mb stick and put it witrh your 128. get another 256 when you can. 384mb is a decent amount.

Course, mines the cheaper pc133 variety (well, it was cheaper..) I doubt anyone really needs more than 512 though, unless you do a lot of rendering or something.

As for xp's memory usage, i find it uses less (around 50mb or less on boot if you take the time to configure your services) ..

 

[Mitzi]

If you want to make the most out of having 512Mb in Win9x/ME you would need to follow the advice in this FAQ.

 

[TheCorm]

256mb would be fine for now (Win98) but thinking ahead to upgrading, maybe to WinXP. you'll wanna have more so maybe pamf's advice on going for the 384mb upgrade is good for investment.

Corm

 

[Theslowone]

It really isn't about the how much the video card needs, your ram is only a bottleneck if the programs you run take more ram then what you have. such that you dip into virtual ram(hard drive). This is where 256 would be good to have, cause a lot of games doesn't dip into that with normal winows stuff running. Now what they say about over 256MB of ram in win9x is true, it actually can hurt performance if you put too much ram into your machine.

But if you plan on upgrading to win2k or winxp then the more the better.
If you plan on playing games like RTCW, or any newer games then I would upgrade OS and Ram. But if you don't plan on getting a newer os soon then I wouldn't sink the money in more then another 128 megs. If and when you do upgrade the os theres a chance that ram might of dipped back down by then.

 

[helpmeout]

I have been told previously on forums that 98SE can't use more than 128 m ram. I pretty much disagree, and think anything over 256 might be a waste.

 

[Ryukumu]

Win9x is notorious for poor memory management, but I've had no problems having 256mb. I've talked to some people with WinXP and 512mb of RAM who say they almost never use it. I'm gonna move to WinXP over the summer and I don't think I'll be adding more RAM... maybe an extra 128mb if prices are good, but I've got no use for having a total of 512mb.

 

[hoihtah]

i used to think 128 was enough about 3 years ago.
and about a year ago... i thought 256 was enough.
but when ram prices were dirt cheap... i said what the heck. and purchased more.
and now i think 512 is good.

i think amount of ram has to do with what you do with your machine.

if you're going to use a pc for terminal server's purpose then why put more than say 64?
but if you do lots of graphics, audio video editing then you might even say 512 is not enough.

but personally.. i haven't seem much difference bewteen 1gig of ram to 512...
so i'm sticking with 512 for now.... who know when that'll not be enough?

any one remember commodore 64? 64k?

 

[Theslowone]

any one remember commodore 64? 64k?
ti99 4a only had 256B of ram, you know them things where fun to work on.

 

[dummy2001]

Thanks for all the good responses. What I'm hearing is that 128 is probably enough but 256 or more would be a better investment for the future (XP). That makes sense but I'll probably go with 128. I've always tried to have a safety cushion of ram but I feel burned because I always seem to buy it at the peak of its price, good thing I don't play the stock market. Here's a trivia question: How much total memory did the onboard computer on the Apollo space capsules that went to the moon have?


32k

 

[jfunk]

640K is more than anyone will ever need.


j