Memory

I want to add IGB of ram memory. Currently I have 256MB. System Information says I have 2GB of Virtual Memory and 1.96GB of Available Virtual Memory, can I add the 1GB memory modual to my system? (I don't know what virtual memory is).

Thank you.

jamesfg















G

 

I can tell you from my own experience that the brains in here are going to want your system specs. The amount of RAM, and I believe what type, you can have is directly linked to your system. Virtual memory is not relevant to the amount of RAM in your system, it is just a way that XP stores and moves items in your RAM.

Post your system stats and someone will be able to get more detailed for you.

Welcome to MajorGeeks!!

 

... And whoever deals with your question once we have your specs is probably going to go the website maintained by the manufacturer of your motherboard and download the manual. You could do that yourself and save yourself a bit of time.

The amount of memory you can install in a given machine depends very much on the motherboard and on the chipset on that motherboard. There are no generic answers.

Virtual memory actually refers to hard drive space that is reserved by the operating system as a substitute for physical memory. The more physical memory you have, the less you need to use virtual memory. Accessing the hard drive is much slower than accessing memory, which is why adding memory improves the performance of your system -- up to a point.

 

I would check first to see if your motherboard supports Dual-Channel Memory.

If it does, you would be better off buying a matched pair of 512 MB sticks to enable it, otherwise you can just top up the existing 256 MB's.


BTW, why do you have so much virtual memory?

 

I thank each of you for your response. I don't know why I have so much virtual memory, but I will try to find the answer. Also, I will get my system specs and post them.

 

Its also best to adjust the amount of virtual memory to about 2.5 times your RAM. Example: you have 512mb of RAM, adjust the virtual memory to be 1.28gb.
Also, set the same amount for minimum and maximum, so the system isn't working to constantly adjust the virtual memory (you'll see what I mean when you go to the Virtual memory page ( for XP:right click My Computer /properties/ advanced/ performance/ settings/ advanced/ change).

DCO

 

So if I am running 1Gb of RAM I should change my virtual memory to 2.5 Gb for both min and max? Are there any downsides to this?

 

It's not best to adjust Virtual Memory to 2.5 times.

There are many ways that are reported to be the best solution, anything from leaving the default setting to using commit charge.

Micro$$oft suggest a minimum of 1.5 to a maximum of 3 times your system RAM.

With XP, and I've tried them all, I've found it manages virtual memory good on the default setting, and I can't see any benefit using the other methods.

 

How times change.

When memory was expensive and Windows was young, Microsoft's recommendation for virtual memory was a swapfile that was 4-10 times the amount of installed memory. The default was 4x. In those days (Windows 3.x), the swapfile size was fixed and could be made permanent so that it didn't get fragmented as other stuff was added to the hard drive.

 

Its been proven best to set minimum and maximum the same, otherwise Windows spends alot of time and effort adjusting the swap file size. So instead of 1.5x minimum and 3x maximum, just use 2.5x min and max.

DCO

 

Show me where it's been proven?

 

All I know is that I've seen it mentioned dozens of times over the years. First it removes the burden of constantly resizing the swap file (Windows Virtual Machine Manager -VMM, takes pages out of RAM and send them to the HDD, then visa-versa...Paging in-Paging Out. When set to automatic, the VMM has to take dozens of things into account, which ties up resources monitoring many different things)., second the 2.5 formula has been determined by either years of trail and error or perhaps a programmer somewhere calculated it based on the average sive of Page ins and outs.

 

I understand the theory behind it, and as I've said, I've tried them all with no improvement.

I'm more than happy to change my view, but I need proof, not hear-say.


Just because something has been mentioned dozens of times doesn't make it true.

For example, deleting the Prefetch Folder. I can link you dozens of sites where they say it's beneficial, and the same amount where they say it's not.

 

Insomniac,
I understand your point. I also try to weed out the tech rumors and personal opinions that may or may not be true. PCs can be hard to get absolute facts concerning configurations (both hardware and software). There are so many variables that its hard to determine what technique will work for every PC.
Regarding virtual memory, the optimum size to set the swap file might be effected by the OS and what patches it has, the HDD config,the MOBO (chip-sets memory controller),etc. So over the years an average size may be determined, but its definately possible for a PC to be an exception due to a unique combination of devices and configs.
Its just another complication to the life of a PC tech.