Windows XP and RAM

Win XP and RAM

Considering upgrading to Win XP Professional. IS 256MB PC133 RAM ok for XP?

 

XP and RAM

I,ve been using XP for about a year now and love it but there are times that it (my Dell) gets a little slow and I wish that I had 512 of RAM vice 256. The ram fer my Dell is a tad expensive so I just put up with the slow and keep XP.

I dont think XP is the problem, it is all the okther stuff one installs on their computers. Just keep ya house cleaning up to date and all should be ok. still......512 is the way to go in my opinion.

 

Best Buy and Staples put a rebate on their RAM quite often. About a month ago, I picked up a 256MB PC133 chip for about $13 after rebate. Just wait for the reabtes to buy.

Mike

 

Hi AceH

Just bumped my ram from 256 to 512 this past weekend.... 2x reasons, it's cheap and I do a fair amount of Photshop. I re-allocated available memory to 80% in Photoshop. In all honestly, I really did not see a "noticable" change. But I have been fortunate to have a stable, fast box. The only problem I had was I dislodge some wires feeding the CD drives during the ram install. Got them fixed today.
Side Bar....
Quizzed my local builder / supplier again about the wisdom of going past 512 MB. He still feels XP is just not efficient in managing above 512. I ask him what he was running... a GB. But he says it's mostly for bragging rights.. and the chips are cheap.

 

Thanks for the feedback on this issue.

How many installs is one allowed with the XP disc? This is an issue I haven't been able to get a straight forward answer to. It's also one of the reasons I haven't upgraded to XP yet.

 

Hello Ace,

"How many installs is one allowed with the XP disc? "

On the same computer - as many times as you want.


After WPA, microsoft's XP activation which must be done within 30 days of install: on another computer: can't, have to purchase another copy.

Regards - Charles

 

Pardon what might be a stupid queston, but what does "WPA" stand for?

 

Windows Product Activation.
My local builder ask the same question when I called him this past week-end. Believe it or not, activation screen popped-up booting into new ram chip install. To many 3 letter acronym's out there.

 

Ram

I sure wish I could get RDRAM for the 13 bux that Mike gets the PC133 for. The cheapest I can find is a little over 50.00 each and it takes two 128 in a RIMM set... sheeeesh. My bride is gonna kill me if I keep putting money in this toy, hahaha. Well, not really, but for what I do (play) I really cant justify it.

I LOVE READING WINDOWSBBS!!!

 

I put 1GB of memory into my homespun AMD Athlon based box and XP Pro really flies. Superb for general use and excellent for gaming too. XP Pro knows exactly what to do when it finds more than 512MB of RAM installed

I have a second machine which is an older Compaq PII-266 with 256MB RAM in it and XP Pro runs acceptably on that though it's a bit clunky compared to the main machine...

 

I can't believe people are complaining about having 256Mb of RAM. I have a mere 128Mb running Windows XP Professional. True - it is extremely slow, very noticeable after upgrading from Windows ME.

I went out and bought 512Mb at a very cheap price of £40 (don't know the dollar conversion) but unfortunately my system didn't recognise it. I don't know whether it was my motherboard couldn't hold that amount or the speed (PC133). I can't even gather any useful information about it, because whenever I run any software to find out the brand, serial etc. I get an 'Unknown' message.

I haven't tried PC100 so I can't confirm whether it was that. But I'll try it in the next couple of weeks to see.

 

CraigF - post specifics in the hardware section of this forum and someone will get you sorted.

 

1. I found that 500Meg of RAM was required with XP if there are a number of users who stay logged on. Otherwise, things can get slow.

2. Following on about reactivation of XP. It seems that XP can be reloaded as often as required on the same computer. So what if I buy a new computer with no OS and throw the old one away. Can I still use my old XP? What if I change by hard drive, motherboard, CPU. What does XP actually identify with?

 

I've had the same problem increasing RAM. Purchased 133, but then found it only accepted 100 - also only a specific type. I suggest you have a look at the RAM already installed. With any luck, the speed will be written on it. Also check the specs on the mother board. It may have a maximum that you will exceed.

I ended up with 256 + 128 + 64 =448. speed 100. This was upgraded from 128+64+64. Works ok.

 

Generally speaking I agree that the more RAM the better, but you should need no more than 512mb. The trick is to keep it humming along by keeping it clean. I find FreeRAM XP Pro 1.31 useful. It automatically frees RAM as you work. It costs nothing to download and install, but YourWare Solutions does ask for a donation. You can get it here: http://www.yourwaresolutions.com


H.

 

I think the most "Bang for the Buck" can be achieved by scrapping any PC 133 RAM and replacing it with PC 2700 DDR RAM.

I have only 512 Mg and this would appear to be sufficient, but I would like to hear from someone who is more knowledgable than I, and there are an incredible number of these persons on this BBS, as to whether it would be better to install 1 Gb and scrap the Paging File.