Is there such a thing as too much RAM?

[Boricuamed]

Hey everybody...I just acquired 1.25 Gb RAM...is there such a thing as too much RAM for an OS to handle? I was thinking of upgrading to Win2k Pro.
Here are my specs:

Asus a7v133 w Duron 800@ 933MHz
1.25Gb RAM
Win ME installed (will upgrade to Win2k if necesary)
Maxtor 20Gb ATA66 HD
Elsa Gladiac GF2 MX
Phillips CDRW
Affrey DVD
NIC card

I would appreciate any input in this subject...

Thanks in advance... <IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/cool.gif" border="0">

[condor]

as strange as it might sound yes and no <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

let me explain a few things on how windows work with memory and Swap file

I'm going to try and keep it simple..

memory is mapped - to areas with different address..

every 32bit application that's written for windows plattform can "see" and use memory addresses upto 2GB of RAM.

of course not many computers have 2GB of RAM.. Windows uses a memory manger to create virtual addresses in your physical memory to "emulate" up to 2GB of RAM..
when an application requires memory the "Virtual Memory Manager" tries to create this range in physical memory and sometimes due to lack of physical space it moves (swaps) the LRU (least recently used) application to the swap file..

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okay so basically up to 2GB of RAM is good..
more is not needed for regular applications.

As for Operating Systems the memory manager is designed in certain ways so basically if you have over 512MB RAM using Windows NT or Windows 2000 is highly recommended..

[Boricuamed]

ok...thanks for the advice...but should I expect a sizeable increase of performace with so much ram? I use my computer primarily for games and graphics applications...
<IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0">

[Fubarian]

256 is more than enough for the average gamer, 128 for the ave user....512 is more then enough....I'd say that'd be your break point of "won't help ya after the fact"

[KCHowler]

After 512 you reach the law of diminishing returns.

[http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum1/noncgi]

I'd recommend a minimum of 256M for 2000 Pro and 512M for 2000 Server, unless you do a lot of work with ultra memory intensive stuff like Photoshop.

The best thing to do is to work with the system for a while, doing your typical work with it, then open the Task Manager, click the Performance tab, and check the Peak Commit Charge. Add 128M to that, and that's about how much RAM you should have on your system. (For instance, my Peak Commit Charge is 356M. Add 128M, and that's 484M. I have 512M.)

[Fubarian]

I'll be running a daul p3 ghz machine here soon with 768m of ram and 2k...I'll tell ya how it runs <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

(mobo is a supermicro 370DDE)

[Captain_Kirk]

Don't forget that a 9x operating system can't address anything over 512meg of ram. You need to do a reg hack to that you don't kill the os.

[Evan5599]

If you have 1gb of ram in 98 you can just turn off virtual memory and it will work fine.

[Warp_Core]

If you're going to use that much memory you definitely want to use 2000 as 9x will have a psychotic episode. It is true, though, that you'll only really need it if you're using something like, say, 3D Studio to make your own movies.

[Fubarian]

Originally posted by Captain Kirk:
<STRONG>Don't forget that a 9x operating system can't address anything over 512meg of ram. You need to do a reg hack to that you don't kill the os.</STRONG>

yea it does. there's a win.ini string you can put to limit the ram from 4m to something like 960m...besides, memory capacity is truly limited to the processor you put in it. On p2's I think its like 32gb (someone check me on that please)

Does 9x use it? heck no, but other progs will.

[RH0RT]

I think ye olde release 1 of 95 flakes out above 256Mb. Later releases and SPs fix it up to 512Mb, and 98 is good beyond that, to at least 768Mb.

[Captain_Kirk]

This is my last post in this Forum.
Thge amount of ram you can use is dependant on alot of things:
Cpu
Main board (Chipset)
OS
The limit you can use, is the lowest amount of ram supported by any one of the above devices. The CPU might be able to handle 32 gigs of ram, but there isn't a mainboard that can address that much on the planet. Most systems will support 512 megs on the mainboard (Again chipset dependant eg: 815 chip will support up to 512meg of ram).
There are some boards that will support up to 4 gigs, but generally, it's 1 gig per processor. Win NT, 2000, and XP will handle large amounts of ram (In excess of 512meg) well. However, Win 9x tends to have registry issues after 512 megs. In fact, in most cases will not boot unless you tell it not to use/register above 512 megs of ram. But then there is no point in adding more...