How much RAM

[skhips]

How much RAM will improve your system.

I am under the impression that trying to speed up your machine by adding extra RAM will work upto a certain amount of RAM and then you will not notice any difference, and that having to much RAM can cause you to tie more system resources and even have the opposite effect.

Can you work out the maximum amount of RAM to put in a machine, is it as simple as e.g CPU / 2 (e.g I have a 600 mhz cpu which would then give me a max of 300 RAM)

Many thanks
http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[mjc]

It used to be that 128MB was considered the point of diminishing returns, but with prices being low I think that 256 or even 512MB (which is considered to be the maximumm for the Win9x series) could be worth it. You will see dramatic increase in performance going from low amounts (32MB) to 128MB, less going from 128 to 256MB or 512MB. When prices were higher getting that extra couple of percentage points just didn't make sense. Also you have to take into consideration whether the chipset can cache the higher amounts of RAM, if it can then there will be no problem running with the maximum the OS allows.

And no, there is no formula that I know of to figure it out.

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mjc
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Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[AwARe]

As far as win9x goes,

Win95 (not that anyone uses it anymore, or maybe they do heh)
Anyways Win95 you will "notice" Speed Increases up to 64MB

And Win98/ME you will "notice" Speed Increases up to 128MB

After reaching those values the "Improvements" will be primarily in other areas "other" then Speed..............

These values have nothing to do with what CPU you have installed.........

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What I meant by what I said is hopefully less confusing then the contemplation of the question that led to the confusion in the 1st place.......

[This message has been edited by AwARe (edited 06-23-2001).]

[Reid]

3D gameplay on my WIN98SE system was choppy with 128M RAM, but was fine with 256M. Not much improvement was noted when running other applications.

This Kingston Memory Assessor (http://www.kingston.com/tools/assess/default.asp) offers suggestions based on the OS and applications being run.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[This message has been edited by Reid (edited 06-24-2001).]

[kenja]

More memory advice: Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/library/howmuch.asp).

The only negatives I can think of with large amounts of system memory: Large page file size (taking up room on the hard drive), and increased 3.3 volt power consumption (a potential concern if using a cheap 140 watt microATX power supply). Oh, and as mjc mentioned: some of the older "value" chipsets would only cache 64MB (like in my 1997 Dell Dimension); adding more memory would decrease performance.

The maximum possible memory size depends on the chipset (specifically the north bridge) and the motherboard design. PCGuide (http://www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/size.htm).

[This message has been edited by kenja (edited 06-24-2001).]

[hiredgoonz]

With Windows 2000, I noticed a performance increase going from 256 to 512...haven't gone up from there, so I don't know if it gets better after that...

98 gets MUCH better going from 64 to 128 and ME could probably use more than that with System Restore running in the backgound...

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When all else fails, read the instructions.