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Just curious how much RAM do you really need ?? How much do you guys recommend ??
Me I have 512MB of RAM and I mostly use my computer for web browsing , e-mail , listening to music , some photo editing and whatnot ....
B.T.W. Operating System is Windows XP Home Edition ..
I have 512 also and im not a serious gamer... just for what we do I would say 512 is enough.. I wouldnt dare go below 384 megs of ram these days even for just casual computing but, if you are a serious gamer, to run the games graphics etc i would suggest at least a gig of ram.
Hi As,
I think it depends upon what you need...when I bought this computer it only had 64, and that was more than enough...then, on the advice of others I upgraded to 128...and then to 384...but it seems the more you have the more you use...
I'd bet that if I had stayed at 64, I'd still have more than enough to suit my needs...
Originally at 6.04GB upgraded to 80...and a year+ later I'm still only using 8GB of it...
it all depends on what you need it for.
Eg ;)
I know that the OS's can run on 'minimum' spec, as per the packaging, ie XP 128MB
BUT
I use 512MB as a minimum in all the boxes I run
W2k server
W2kPro
XPPro
Fedora Core 3
Ubuntu
Mandrake
as to the maths
the physical limint is 4GB in the 32 bit system
with 2GB being the top limit for the majority of the 'older' MoBo's
the 64 bit system takes RAM to extreme new heights, ones which I'll never see :p
Hi Agent_Steal ,
512 will be fine for what you are doing...............384 or even 256 for older operating systems. Linux also tends to use less RAM unless you have a very GUI intensive interface.
As mentioned you need heavy duty graphics or some pretty memory intensive apps to need more.
:)
Even 128 is fine for what he does, I do all of that and more with 128, sure a little lag here and there, but nothing too bad.
ya im gonna have to backtrack a little bit... i said i wouldnt dare go below 384 for casual computing but, that is a little excessive.. u could get by on 256 or 128 even... sorry if i mislead you.
You see the reason I am asking the question is well I'm thinking of purchasing Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 4.0 ... Well I do meet the system requirements but I am comtemplating whether or not to purchase more RAM ??? I have this really bad habit of running way too many apps at once ... So I am not to sure ...
B.T.W. this article also made me think about getting more RAM [1]. What do you guys think of the article ??
[1] How Much RAM Do You Really Need?
How much memory? The only problems I have encountered thus far was when I tried 1gb in my box and booted up Win98se. It became unstable. All the other OS's in the same box (XP, SUSE, etc.) weren't adversely affected. When I dropped down to 768 mb, Win98 returned to normal ops. I have about 1.5gb available, but I don't need that much for my current applications and I don't want to have to change the sticks if I want to boot up 98.
cheers
Hi AS,
Tom's is in the business to sell stuff, as well as advertising...so it doesn't surprise me that they would push products out the door...
I'm glad I upgraded because it opened the door to other things that required more Ram...but at the same time I noticed that when I was running at 64 it was sufficient...but as soon as I made the first upgrade it no longer was...even though I changed nothing else at the time...it was as though the ram required ram...
it really depends on your needs...which now seem to be in the 512 range...but...because I use the computer mainly for basic applications I could do with a lot less than that.
Eg ;)
I don't really feel like reading 12 pages about RAM right now :p, but seeing this:
haha, that's a little bit overboard, especially for what you do...Quote:
The Need To Invest In 2 GB Of RAM Is Not Marketing Hype
512mb should be just fine for you, just be sure to manage your running programs...
This website should anwer your question..........
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/...u_really_need/
32 Megs RAM.
OS: Linux Slackware v10.2
WM: fluxbox
This machine will tear you apart. Guaranteed.
There's only one true way to find out if you need more RAM or not.. That is by looking at your pagefile/swap usage.. If your pagefile/swap hardly gets used you do not need more RAM. If your pagefile/swap usage increases adding more RAM will help..
Use a monitor program to monitor it's usage over time and use your computer as you normally would.. Then look at the usage.. Be aware though, even if you stick 10GB in your machine your swap will get used.. That's just the way OSs work these days.. But if you see a steady increase over time, sticking in more RAM will speed things up again..
Well,
I take the view that you should build to your requirements.
A gaming or professional CAD/photoediting rig will benefit from as much RAM as you can throw at it.
A home computer will be perfectly OK with 512Mb, and an office desktop will probably be perfectly OK with 384 or even 256Mb.
This box has a 2.26 P4 and 1024Mb of PC2700 It is currently using 260Mb of RAM, and I very much doubt that it ever uses the second RAM strip. I am running Win2000sp4, which is less demanding than XP or ME (I can sometimes get those up to 360Mb)
I do some charity work, refurbing old kit for old aged pensioners, unemployed etc............I generally use Win98SE or Win2000 as they are far less demanding, and I am starting to run short on PC100, PC133 and PC2100 strips. I normally aim for 256Mb in these situations.
Relyt old chap, there are three ways to solve your problem:
1. Physically remove memory.
2. Install the MS "fix" (which tells the OS to only use 512Mb of address space)
3. Go into control panel, in WIN98, advanced options, and tell it to only use 512Mb of RAM. That is way enough for Win98 and my preferred solution. Your other OSes will still use what they find, and WIN98 will be stable.
When it comes to building SOHO boxes, I would buy an extra HDD and set up a RAID1 array above extra memory.............they don't back up properly no matter how long and loud you shout at them?
:D
Well my thoughts are with all the antivirus, antispyware and firewall software that is also running now a days...
very min 512....
I go 1 gig on workstations now...with XP pro
512 with 2K
really depends what apps you are running....my brother worked for a bank and with all the encryption software...it really chewed resources.
Also depends on the OS...XP runs in memory...the more you give it the better it behaves ;)
my .02 cdn
MLF
Hi.Quote:
Originally posted here by Agent_Steal
Just curious how much RAM do you really need ?? How much do you guys recommend ??
Me I have 512MB of RAM and I mostly use my computer for web browsing , e-mail , listening to music , some photo editing and whatnot ....
B.T.W. Operating System is Windows XP Home Edition ..
I'm using Wins XP.
I'm not a serious gamer.
I use my computers for browsing, email, receiving streaming or real-time data.
Sometimes multimedia editing (audio, photo)...
I have 1GB RAM.
I'm not sure if I'm wasting my RAM or not.
Do you know how to check for RAM usage?
The only info I can see is from the task manager.
Not sure if it is due to Mozilla browser or hibernation function (in WinXP).
My PF usage can go to very high after a few days (eg 1GB).
I need to restart instead of hibernation to make the PF usage down to about 200MB.