RAM Issues.

Being that I know nothing much about XP ( I run 98SE & Linux), my brother has an HP Pavillion with XP (bought new 1 year ago). IIRC he has 128 megs of DDR ram and when checking on the amount available it shows about 17 megs available of actual RAM. I can't really work my way around XP like 9X and I am not sure where to go to make improvements in RAM availability. Like system resouces in 9X. IMHO it is more annoying navigating in XP than 9X.

Pepse.

 

Microsoft recommends 128mb (or more) for WinXP. WinXP has almost consumed all of the ram on your brother's computer. You will see a MAJOR difference in performance by adding more ram. Total 256mb - Good, 512mb - much better. HTH

B

 

Pepse,
When you get more experience with XP, you will be amazed at how simple it is to get around. XP does things more efficiently than the older systems. Mr. B is right- your brother needs more memory. He doesn't have a windows problem, just hardware- he needs to upgrade the memory. Aida will tell you all you need to know about his comp, and more...

Johanna

 

Well he did the right thing and had me get him a 512 megs stick, so that and the 128 that came with it definately gives him a boost. He is very happy . I will download AIDA the next time I go visit. It definately looks very useful. And I thank you all very much for the help.

Later. Pepse.

 

RAM

As Arie suggested-adding 512 or 256 to
128 ...........I was under the impression that ram had to be added in matching
modules, i.e. 128 + 128 or 256 + 256.
I have 256 and would like to add 512,
so I guess it's OK
Joe R

 

There are better hardware people than me, but as far as I know, memory needs to match. Joeskys, you should post this question on the Hardware forum. I'd like to hear the definitive word on that, too. I have even been told that the equal sticks should be the same brand and batch, and how to check. A 128 and a 512 shouldn't work together???

Johanna

 

I'm not a hardware tech (yet), but I can tell you that mixing RAM sticks to increase works. Maybe not as effectively/efficiently as matched sticks, but it does work and it is recognized as an increase. I picked up an old PC last week with only 32MB and could only afford one 128MB stick. It's faster with both than just one of either.

 

The way I heard it...

I'm not a hardware 'expert' either, I thought it was dependent on the motherboard whether you should (or could) mix ram sizes. I've seen instances where the mismatched 2nd stick was just ignored by the system, I've also seen systems that wouldn't boot with mismatched ram. It always seemed like a good idea to match the size and manufacturer, so that's what I try to do. I'm sure somebody has the 'definitive' answer.

B

 

Well I ain't no Guru either (just an old Hippie ) and ever since SDRam came to be I have mixed ram alot, brand name and size and it is always recognized and performs good. I have mainly used Tyan mobo's since the Trinity S147xS, sckt 7, and with those old 72 pin ram boards I usually had something like 2 16 meggers and 2 8 meggers and so on. But with SDRam I usually put the bigger stick in bank 0 and the smaller one(s) in B1 and B2. And so far for what I did with my bro's mobo XP is accepting the odd set and running good. I even did a mix on a couple diff FIC boards and had no ill effects. Of course now that I mainly run Linux, ram isn't much of an issue. Yes, of course I need it but it is diff than windows.

Pepse.

 

RAM

Somewhere, not here, someone's post
mentioned memory modules with a
suffix ".4T ". I inquired a found the following which might shed some light on the subject.

Hi Joe,

The .4T indicates that the module is built with 4 memory chips. This shows the progression of RAM technology; the 32MB PC2100 module was originally made with 16 chips, then 8, and now 4 chips. Each generation of RAM doubles the density of the components, thus halving the number of chips required to make a module with a specific capacity. Thanks for thinking of Crucial.

Joe R.