Adding more RAM to Windows XP?
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From: Toni on 30 Jan 2010 12:51 "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote... > On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:23:28 -0500, "Toni" wrote: > >> Laptop with Windows XP Pro, 1.66GHz/Duo with 2G of RAM. >> >> If I upgrade to 4G RAM - is it always good to upgrade WinXP from 2G to 4G RAM? > : > If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory > will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. > If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do > nothing for you. I'm running a page file monitor as part of SystemSuite 7. With 2G RAM and my pagefile set to 2G, after the past two days my pagefile usage has been 42% max, 35% typical. During a typical work day, I run Firefox with 15 or more open tabs. FF starts up using 150M, but after a few hours it sucks 500M+ of RAM and my system noticeably slows - I need to close FF then reopen to reclaim the RAM. From reading the responses on this thread, there seems to be no downside to upgrading RAM from 2G to 4G other than cost. As far as battery draw, I guess I'll have to get the specs on the RAM modules and run the current draw numbers myself. Thanks to everyone that replied!
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 30 Jan 2010 13:28
On Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:51:03 -0500, "Toni" <Toni24(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote... > > On Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:23:28 -0500, "Toni" wrote: > > > >> Laptop with Windows XP Pro, 1.66GHz/Duo with 2G of RAM. > >> > >> If I upgrade to 4G RAM - is it always good to upgrade WinXP from 2G to 4G RAM? > > > : > > If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory > > will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. > > If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do > > nothing for you. > > I'm running a page file monitor as part of SystemSuite 7. With 2G RAM and my pagefile > set to 2G, after the past two days my pagefile usage has been 42% max, 35% typical. Where are you seeing that number? Be careful not to mix up page file allocation with page file use. > During a typical work day, I run Firefox with 15 or more open tabs. FF starts up using > 150M, but after a few hours it sucks 500M+ of RAM and my system noticeably slows - I > need to close FF then reopen to reclaim the RAM. > > From reading the responses on this thread, there seems to be no downside to upgrading > RAM from 2G to 4G other than cost. Right. It's a waste of money for most people (even 2GB is more than most people running XP can make effective use of), but it doesn't hurt you in any way. > As far as battery draw, I guess I'll have to get the > specs on the RAM modules and run the current draw numbers myself. > > Thanks to everyone that replied! > > -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |