how big a ram chip?

"rb" wrote
> }}} Have you run that utility to see how much the page file is actually
> being
> used? {{{
>
> No. How do I do that?


The link info is in the first post I sent. Look at this article on Virtual
Memory by the late Alex Nichol, MVP.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Look in the section titled: ""How big should
the page file be".

Running that utility you can get an idea how much the page file is used. If
it's not used much then more RAM won't help.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

rb wrote:
>
> Running WinXP and tons of other stuff.
>
> Our church pc has slowed to a crawl. Although I'm going through my "clean
> it up" routine with it, I'm reasonably convinced it's inadequate RAM. The
> pc was crisp and fast several years ago. Since, they've added a fair amount
> of memory hog stuff.
>
> The pc has 512mb RAM. BELARC tells me we have one memory slot open. What
> size RAM chip should I get to stuff in the open slot? I have no idea how to
> size a RAM chip.

512 is way too little for Xp with lots of background apps set to run
when windows loads up.

http://www.bootdisk.com/ram.htm

--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

On 16 Jun 2007 02:31:17 -0500, Plato <|@|.|> wrote:

>rb wrote:
>>
>> Running WinXP and tons of other stuff.
>>
>> Our church pc has slowed to a crawl. Although I'm going through my "clean
>> it up" routine with it, I'm reasonably convinced it's inadequate RAM. The
>> pc was crisp and fast several years ago. Since, they've added a fair amount
>> of memory hog stuff.
>>
>> The pc has 512mb RAM. BELARC tells me we have one memory slot open. What
>> size RAM chip should I get to stuff in the open slot? I have no idea how to
>> size a RAM chip.
>
>512 is way too little for Xp with lots of background apps set to run
>when windows loads up.


That depends on the background apps and it depends on what else he
runs. 512MB is more than enough for most users of Windows XP.

rb, if you want to consider getting more RAM, read the following:

You get good performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from
using the page file, and that depends on what apps you run. Most
people running a typical range of business applications find that
somewhere around 256-384MB works well, others need 512MB. Almost
anyone will see poor performance with less than 256MB. Some people,
particularly those doing things like editing large photographic
images, can see a performance boost by adding even more than
512MB--sometimes much more.

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. Go to
http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should
give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how
much more.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

In article <eO2HgGhrHHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl>, rbig@bellsouth.net
says...
> Running WinXP and tons of other stuff.
>
> Our church pc has slowed to a crawl. Although I'm going through my "clean
> it up" routine with it, I'm reasonably convinced it's inadequate RAM. The
> pc was crisp and fast several years ago. Since, they've added a fair amount
> of memory hog stuff.
>
> The pc has 512mb RAM. BELARC tells me we have one memory slot open. What
> size RAM chip should I get to stuff in the open slot? I have no idea how to
> size a RAM chip.
>
>
>


If your computer is 'several years' old its probably time to bite the
bullet and buy a new system. Upgrading components old a system that old
is really useless. Its the weakest link principle...