how much ram do you need/want?

[andyo]

ok - time for my first poll - how much ram do you think a computer now needs? I have 384 - which last year seemed like more than i would ever need - now i am thinking of upgrading -
i have a p-4 1.5 g

 

[spycatcher34]

128 is the bear nessecity, 256 is pretty good/enough for most people 512 if you want a fast sytem.

 

[Lucky]

There are 2 things that you cannot have enough of in a computer, especially when running Windoze.

1. HD capacity
2. RAM

All other just play a minor role, but you will most likely be always low on these 2.

Myself, I have 256MB RAM right now, but the really funny thing is that after booting Windoze, only between 110 and 150 are actually available!!!
Same on any other system I worked with.
And I´ve got ONLY 13GB HD, also definitely not enough, although I think that a new 100GB HD would take a while to fill up.

 

[starlifter]

If people don't mind disk-swapping (RAM being farmed out to your disk drive), 64 or 128 MB might do. This can be quite slow, esp. if you run a lot of programs in teh background, like firewalls, ad blockers, machine monitors, Powerstrip, etc.

I run "only"256, on a slow machine (400 o/c to 450). Open browsers, office apps, a game or two, network sniffers, imiage editing, etc. and you are out of RAM quick. Sometimes lack of resources can be the limiting factor, not RAM.

 

[TedG]

I recently upgraded from 128 MB to 384 MB and noticed a MAJOR improvement in overall system performance. All my programs load and close really quickly with minimal HD activity. Obviously when I had 128 it wasn't enough so it had to use the swapfile a lot. I'd say 384 is plenty for most ppl, but if you run lots of applications at once or do stuff like video editing or 3D graphics, you should have at least 512 MB.

 

[Zwelgje]

I've got 64 on my home-system, I'd like to upgrade someday because sometimes I notice it's quite slow but I can still live with it. At work I have 16.

 

[andyo]

16? what do you have at work - an abbacus?

 

[IceBlaZe]

I have 384, I wouldn't mind 512 but I'm not going to spend money on it any time soon.

My Vid card has enough without using the ram (128), and my processor doesn't require more than that to run heavy apps (athlon 1.33ghz).

 

[Neomega]

"Myself, I have 256MB RAM right now, but the really funny thing is that after booting Windoze, only between 110 and 150 are actually available!!! "

How do you check this? I have 256 + 64 partitioned to video.... but I am curious how much RAM XP is using.

 

[Black Fluffy Lion]

64 MB

 

[kmad]

my new computer im getting has 512meg DDR ram

 

[kmad]

as of now i have 128 with 16 meg integrated video = 112

 

[Zwelgje]

Originally posted by andyo
16? what do you have at work - an abbacus?

It's a 7 year old machine (piece of junk is more appropriate actually.....) and my boss thinks it doesn't need to be replaced just yet. A coworker will get a new computer in september and then I will get his old one, I'm so happy.

 

[andyo]

don't stress it - i take it you an in a field when computing power isn't that important? what do you do?

 

[damunzy]

Got 512 PC133....want 1024 PC2100
Need? probably just 512....but why not go for a full Gig!

 

[Zwelgje]

Originally posted by andyo
don't stress it - i take it you an in a field when computing power isn't that important? what do you do?

I'm in biomedical sciences, I use the computer for word-processing and internet-searches mainly. The computer is really too slow for internet searches, but I can live with it.
I also have to process pictures and give presentations with those pictures in it but I do this at home because I can't do it at work. It's stupid that I have to do it at home because I think you should be able to do your work with the computers provided by your boss.

 

[Lostman]

Originally posted by Lucky
Myself, I have 256MB RAM right now, but the really funny thing is that after booting Windoze, only between 110 and 150 are actually available!!!

Bad memory my friend. I just went through this. I had a 256 meg chip of PC2100 DDR that the bios and windows showed as 128 meg. It really killed my system performance. I had to **** can it.

Picked up 384 meg of regular PC100 SDRAM to hold me over for a bit till my next upgrade. Runs real quick though. UT2k3 never looked so good!

 

[october]

My computer was sold to me 2 years ago with a 4 gig hard drive and 64 megs of ram.

That was fine until I got into gaming.

I got a 30 gig hard drive to replace my 4. It failed, but got replaced. It failed again, and got replaced. So far so good now. Also I got a 128 memory chip for a total of 192. This system is doing just fine for me. Also my processor is a celeron 500 mghz.

-october-

 

[chiefpaco]

Originally posted by Neomega
"Myself, I have 256MB RAM right now, but the really funny thing is that after booting Windoze, only between 110 and 150 are actually available!!! "

How do you check this? I have 256 + 64 partitioned to video.... but I am curious how much RAM XP is using.

In Windows XP, 2000 and NT, you can check your memory usage using the ctrl-alt-delete system screen. The performance screen shows your overall statistics and the processes screen will show individual applications.

In the 95/98/ME family, you gotta get some tool to see this. I used to use TaskInfo to watch my memory usage while using these OSs.

Myself, I have a 1GHz Athlon, 40GB HD, and 256 MB PC133. I know while I had ME my PC would often get into swap space and become unstable. Since I upgraded to XP, I'm not sure how much my swap file is used because I experience no instability issues, so I haven't checked.

A question about memory. Is there such thing as having too much? Isn't there an ideal amount depending on your system and OS? I kinda think 256MB would be a minimum for recent and new PCs and and often surprised that some people have 128 MB.

 

[muppet]

In today's computers and OS's, IMO:

1) 128 SDR is insufficient for an ejoyable experience.
2) 256 SDR is pretty much on the bubble.
3) 512 SDR is too much for most people (most of it just sits there most of the time).
4) 128 DDR is 'livable' for XP
5) 256 DDR is pretty good for most people on XP
6) 512 DDR is way too much for me. About 200 of it is ALWAYS available.