RAM questions

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Yes in ways it will speed up the computer. RAM acts like a go-between for the
operating system and hard drive. When you turn your computer on and click on,
say solitaire, it may take a second for it to come up. But if you close it
and open it again, it comes up faster because it's now stored in RAM, and the
OS doesn't have to go all the way back to the hard drive to get that
information. Does that make sense? So yes it will make things faster but you
should make sure your processor can handle the amount of RAM you install.



"Ryan" wrote:

> My laptop has 256 mb ram, and i want to upgrade it. Will upgradeing it
> enhance speed like turn onn, programs, web browsing? Thanks!

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

In news:443005D7-1C78-4220-AC7A-B05359146EBB@microsoft.com,
Ryan <Ryan@discussions.microsoft.com> typed:

> My laptop has 256 mb ram, and i want to upgrade it. Will
> upgradeing
> it enhance speed like turn onn, programs, web browsing?
> Thanks!


Maybe. How much RAM you need for good performance is that amount
that keeps you from using the page file, and that depends on what
apps you run. Most people running a typical range of business
applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works well,
others need 512MB. Some people, particularly those doing things
like editing large photographic images, can see a performance
boost by adding even more--sometimes much more.

More RAM probably won't help with the time it takes to start up
and it won't help with the speed of web browsing. But it may help
with the speed at which your programs run. If you are currently
using the page file significantly, more memory will decrease or
eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. If you are
not using the page file significantly, more memory will do
nothing for you.
Go to http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and
download WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage.
That should give you a good idea of whether more memory can help,
and if so, how much more


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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