How Much RAM is Too Much?

[Keebler Elf]

I have an Intel, Pentium 4, 2.6 MHz computer with 448 DIMM RAM. My motherboard is an ASUS P4R800-VM.

My question is this: is there any added benefit to getting more RAM? Is there a point (for this computer) that I've maxed out the usefulness of more RAM?

 

[xarir]

Depends on what you do. I run my work machines with 1GB of RAM but we use large spreadsheets and databases.

At home I run my Mac with 2GB but that's only because that's the max RAM I can add. My new Mac (which I'll buy in a few months) will be config'd with at least 8GB if not more. My home machine is used for video editing so I find it useful to keep large amounts of data in RAM instead of accessing the hard drive so much.

If all you do is surfing and light word processing, less than 1GB is probably adequate these days.

 

[sweetdaddyc]

I think ramming anymore than 8 inches is bad

you have to consider the lady's feelings
8 inches is plenty large enough to have fun
we were talking about SP s and ramming them were we not

 

[ham2004]

Ram

Windows is a memory hog... it chews up memory because of all kinds of leaks, the more you have the more you can do...

 

[DareU2]

I run with 2gig on my desktop and 1gig on my laptop....seems sufficient...

 

[danmand]

You can never be too thin, too rich, or have too much RAM.

That is the truth.

 

[ruck]

There can never be too much ram. In future applicatioins, more ram will be needed anyways. So it's not detrimental to have "too much" ram. Better yet, go for dual synch ram, with heat synchs. I'm drooling. OCZ's should do the trick.

 

[canucklehead]

1.5 Megs of RAM on my Powerbook and 4 gigs on G5 and i never install a server with less then 2 gigs and my own xServes have 8 gigs each.

 

[69suds]

In your C directory, check your pagefile. This shows the largest amount your ram was ever used.

 

[tboy]

More ram will only help you if you run multiple applications at the same time or apps that require a large amount of ram (ie: video games, video editing, large databases or spreadsheets etc).

Photo editors and graphic programs that have lots of images also require a large amount of ram but they also require a video card with lots or ram and a fast video processor as well.

If you're just surfing the web and not doing anything too ram heavy, you can do just fine with 448 (or 500 mb).

If you are buying ram there are lots of parameters to consider:
parity
speed
buffering

Make sure your mobo (motherboard) can support fast ram. Stay away from Factory Direct 2700 ram or the crap they sell at futureshop. That stuff is for consumers.

Check your bios or the manual for your mobo and see what your system bus speed is and what ram it supports. Then go to a place like Canada Computes and they will hook you up.

If your system bus speed is only 400 mhz (which it probably is considering you are only running a PIV 2.6 it is probably a northbridge) and it probably only has a L1 cache of 512 k and is probably a 478 pin. You can go to www.intel.com and download the processor identity utility.

If you are looking for a speed increase and your mobo supports a faster processor with a L2 1 mb cache and a faster system bus (800 mhz) you would do well to spend the money on a processor instead of memory. Just remember: everything is dependant on each other. Any link in the chain that is slow, will slow everything down as everything can really only run as fast as the fastest component.

not to complicate the matter further but your system speed is also dependant on your hard drive speed. The faster the spin (MOR ones are 7200 rpm now) and the higher the hard drive cache, the faster the data will be written and read from the HD.

Here's a bit of lore for you:

My first computer in the early 90's was a 486 running windows 3.1 4 mb ram and a 20 mb hard drive. I upgraded the ram to a whopping 20 mb for $900.00.

I am running a ATI vid card with 256 mb video memory. I can effectively load my first OS, all my original apps, everything into my video memory and still have 200 mb left over. Crazy Huh?

 

[stang]

Nerds !!

 

[benn]

Should only have ram based on the type of work you do with your computer.

 

[Keebler Elf]

The reason I ask about RAM is b/c it's relatively cheap to buy. There's no pressing need for it and I definitely don't want to be upgrading other things (like my CPU or mobo). It's more a question of whether upgrading my RAM would make a noticeable difference or not.

I don't do video editing or anything like that. Just surfing the web and general utility stuff. However, I often have a lot of windows open and multiple programs running at once...

 

[tboy]

Well Keeb: If you have lots of windows open at once, upgrade your video card. You will notice a big difference especially when playing videos (which are often included on many websites like enwhore.com).

If you are running multiple apps you can benefit by increasing your ram. You are right, for the money ram is probably the easiest and most cost effective way of increasing your speed.

Again I warn you, check the specs on the mobo to see what kind of ram you can install, and even go so far as to remove your existing ram and take it with you when you buy more. That way you will know it is compatible. If it isn't compatible, your pc probably won't boot.

When you do get your ram, just remember you will have to change your bios to tell your pc that you've installed more ram. Unless of course you have your bios set up to auto configure everytime you boot.....

Winston:

"I thought I would never fill a 80 meg drive."

That reminds me of Bill Gates when he said "no one will ever need more than 640K of ram" lol. Look at us now: 100 GB hard drives and still climbing. 1.2GB apps, Now they're coming out with hard drives in Terabytes....

 

[Goober Mcfly]

When buying a new computer, find out the maximum amount of RAM that your motherboard will handle. Then find out the amount of slots for RAM available (usually it's 4). If you aren't going to order the max amount of RAM at time of purchase, make sure you get only two sticks of RAM, so you can upgrade later by buying two more sticks.

Some computer places will sell you 4-512's if you order 2GB. Get them to put 2-1GB's instead. Then, later, you can order two more 1GB's and you don't have to replace your initial sticks.

 

[JoyfulC]

Before you decide, you should know that chicks love all the RAM they can get -- and really big hard drives. We love that rapid input and fat bandwidth!



..c..

 

[xarir]

The old days ...

My first computer - 1K of RAM which I expanded to 16K using an external RAM pack. (Sinclair ZX81)

Second computer - 128K of RAM which was later expanded to 1MB using a 3rd party expansion kit (Apple //c)

Third computer - 1MB of RAM which was later expanded to a then mind-boggling 8MB by using 2MB SIMMs (Mac IIsi)

Fourth computer - 8MB of RAM later expanded to 32MB (PowerMac 6500)

Fifth (and current) computer - 512MB of RAM expanded a little bit at a time to 2GB.

 

[baci2004]

Fourth computer - 8MB of RAM later expanded to 32MB (PowerMac 6500).

This is the time in his life that he discovered chicks.

Fifth (and current) computer - 512MB of RAM expanded a little bit at a time to 2GB

 

[baci2004]

My first had (I think) 2k of ram and then I got another 8k expansion card woohoo there was no stoping me! (Commedore Vic20) Gotta love the datasette!

Then I discovered chicks.

My 2nd 486dx laptop and it was colour weeee!

My 3rd PII350 zzzzzzzzzzzz

Current P4 3.2GH, 1 Gig ram, 1 Terabyte of storage on 8 HD's including two separate raid arrays and an external back-up. One of the drives is dedicated to porn.

 

[baci2004]

My first computer - 1K of RAM which I expanded to 16K using an external RAM pack. (Sinclair ZX81)

Did you build it yourself?