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Should i add more RAM?

Should i add more RAM?

Postby stupidwhelen » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:51 am

As you can see, I only have 256 megs of RAM. I think I am only running one stick of it. I know I probly should, but i usually dont use this computer. I am noticing i am starting to run programs wwwaaaayyyy slower, but I dont wanna waste RAM when I dont use this computer alot.
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Re: Should i add more RAM?

Postby dlt » Fri Apr 09, 2004 11:43 am

stupidwhelen wrote:As you can see, I only have 256 megs of RAM. I think I am only running one stick of it. I know I probly should, but i usually dont use this computer. I am noticing i am starting to run programs wwwaaaayyyy slower, but I dont wanna waste RAM when I dont use this computer alot.


If you don't want to add RAM right now, make sure you are doing all the maintence that should be done on a regular basis to keep it running well. I would also double check the start up programs to make sure nothing unnecessary is running in the background all the time.
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Re: Should i add more RAM?

Postby SCgone » Fri Apr 09, 2004 11:50 am

stupidwhelen wrote:As you can see, I only have 256 megs of RAM. I think I am only running one stick of it. I know I probly should, but i usually dont use this computer. I am noticing i am starting to run programs wwwaaaayyyy slower, but I dont wanna waste RAM when I dont use this computer alot.


What operating system are you using on that computer? If it's Windows 98 or older, then 256MB will be OK, not a speed burner, but OK, since older versions of Windows would really only use so much physical ram.
If it's XP, then that's another story, since XP will take all the ram you can throw at it. And 256MB isn't really enough for XP.
In any event, as dlt said, do the maintainence on it. With that much ram, you're probably using the swap file a lot. Make sure you defrag the harddrive regularly and if you have a defrag program that defrags the swap file, so much the better.
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Re: Should i add more RAM?

Postby ZeroByte » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:31 pm

stupidwhelen wrote:As you can see, I only have 256 megs of RAM. I think I am only running one stick of it. I know I probly should, but i usually dont use this computer. I am noticing i am starting to run programs wwwaaaayyyy slower, but I dont wanna waste RAM when I dont use this computer alot.


Hard Drives slow down over time because data gets fragmented. Try to defragment the drive and see if it helps.

I think 256 is kind of low for Windows, and with the price of ram these days your going to enjoy the results and the cost.
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Postby OsirisX » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:11 pm

Exactly another stick of ram 256 or 512 will make a big difference no matter what. And they are real cheap these days. I'm gonna see if I can find one for you.
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Postby imnuts » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:27 pm

i don't think more ram is ever a bad thing, unless your over 3.5 GB, then you are just wasting money because that is the current max that anything can control, but at the speed things change it could be at 4. been a little since i read about it so anythings possible
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Postby SCgone » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:55 pm

It will depend on the processor also. Doubling the ram on a low-end PIII won't make enough difference to tell on XP.
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Postby Dalsim » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:22 pm

If you want to free some resources then have a look at this http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewt ... highlight=

They are alternate shells to use other then the XP one and they free up resources as well. I am using Aston on my server now and I am impressed with it, windows as a whole is operating mush faster with it. I am about to try the others now.
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Postby SCgone » Fri Apr 09, 2004 6:13 pm

dalsim wrote:If you want to free some resources then have a look at this http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewt ... highlight=

They are alternate shells to use other then the XP one and they free up resources as well. I am using Aston on my server now and I am impressed with it, windows as a whole is operating mush faster with it. I am about to try the others now.


What big differences do you see other than it freeing resources. Any side effects?
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Postby Dalsim » Sat Apr 10, 2004 3:24 am

No side effect that I can find. I am installing Apache, MySQL and PHP at the moment and it seems to be going strong. Just don't install multiple shell replacements at once... That was fun to fix.
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