RAM Question...

alneenyo · May 29th, 2003, 04:36 PM

Does anyone know what the maximum amount of RAM Windows XP Pro will regognize?

I have 1GB of DDR RAM (PC2700). Windows says it sees the full amount, but when I upgraded from 512 MB it didn't seem to make any noticeable difference in speed or loading of programs.

Any input greatly appriciated!!!

osprey4 · May 29th, 2003, 04:46 PM

XP Pro will recognize gigs and gis of RAM. Your motherboard is more likely to be the limiting factor than your OS. You'll also find the loading time of an application is more dependent on hard drive and controller speed than RAM.

There seems to be a consensus that XP likes 512 MB, will improve only marginally with 1 GB, and you'll see very little improvement after that except in RAM-intensive apps, like high-end graphics programs.

JPMiller · May 29th, 2003, 04:46 PM

I think the amount of recognized Ram is actually dtermined by the Motherboard limitations...not generally the OS.
Going from 512 (wich is a goodly amount in first place) to 1 gig is not usually going to have a huge impact on typical performance and speed...only higher end programs and games will benefit.
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Doh!...beat me to the punch...nice answer Osprey!

Peter M · May 29th, 2003, 07:14 PM

It'd make a difference if your programs were actually using more than the 512 MB you previously had. Obviously they don't, so all that's being improved is the file system buffering in RAM. If you don't have much file traffic going on either (you hardly do, it's not a server), then that's not going to do anything for you either.

Fanzoo · May 30th, 2003, 04:39 AM

From what i've heard XP can support 4 GB Native...with the other flavour of windows only supporting < 1 GB however there is a workaround to get the lower windows to support > 1 GB in the system.ini settings. I forget how it's done now but I remember wondering why XP was not crashing with 1 GB and 98 was

than I found out XP could support 4 GB and 98 < 1 GB.

alneenyo · May 30th, 2003, 05:57 AM

Right on, guys. Good info. I understand the hard drive being one barrier (from experimenting with other systems), but right now my main system is the Gigabyte GA7VRXP RAID with two relatively fast 80GB HDD's, an XP2200 and 2 sticks of Micron PC2700.

I learned on a site today that the problem with my system IS the motherboard - this board does NOT work well with (2) 512K RAM modules. Tests say it performs best with three 256 DDR over any combo with a 512 plugging the holes. No real reason was given, but with some of the other issues with this board, I guess it stands...

Thanks again!!!

Al

cruiserlck · May 30th, 2003, 05:59 AM

Alneenyo , sorry to cut in on your post but I hated to start another thread on sorta the same subject. So my question is this : Is there any real need for more than 521mb of memory right now? I'm asking cause I' m gonna build a new system when I get home and I didn't want to spend $ on more than 512 if I wouldn't need it.This is going to be a gaming system and basicly thats all it will be used for.I know there are alot of demanding games out there and more coming out soon.But if I do go 512mb should it be adequate for a good while?

alneenyo · May 30th, 2003, 06:06 AM

From what I have seen here and other places I go, 512 should do almost anything you need for gaming. High end video editing and such may be a different issue, but other factors (video card, HDD speed, etc) need to be considered. Hopefully some of the gurus that hit this site can help as well!!!

BTW: are you using SDRAM or ????

cruiserlck · May 30th, 2003, 08:06 AM

2 sticks of Corsair 256mb DDR pc3200 is what I'm planning on getting so I can use the dual channel capability on the Asus A7N8X Delux. It will be almost entirely a gaming rig , I was Just wondering if anybody thought it would be neccesary for more memory.