How much RAM do you really need ?

[The Duck]

I don't really feel like reading 12 pages about RAM right now , but seeing this:

The Need To Invest In 2 GB Of RAM Is Not Marketing Hype

haha, that's a little bit overboard, especially for what you do...

512mb should be just fine for you, just be sure to manage your running programs...

[mavro6000]

This website should anwer your question..........
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/...u_really_need/

[[WebCarnage]]

32 Megs RAM.

OS: Linux Slackware v10.2
WM: fluxbox

This machine will tear you apart. Guaranteed.

[SirDice]

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..

[nihil]

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?

[morganlefay]

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

[Wai_Wai]

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 ..

Hi.
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.