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Thread: Something Trivial

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    Something Trivial

    Have installed more Ram on my computer..... Went from 96Mb to 544Mb I have pentium III 650 mhz processor. The new memory is recognized both in the bios and by windows. Everything runs great. I've even seen improvements with running multiple programs. But I can't seem to understand why my system resourses seem to be exactly the same. I thought I would have more by not over loading my Ram. Still run between 60% free and 72% free. Guess this probably shows my ignorance but I'd like to learn more and understand. Any help? brad

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    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    Perhaps this article will help clear up the mystery for you... As it stands, you should'nt feel disappointed ,60 -72% free is pretty good and the added performance boost from the extra ram is a good investment for any pc.

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    Member Rhino302's Avatar
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    Just curious, but what windows operating system are you using with that 544 mb?

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    Rhino......I'm running Windows 98se
    Rocketmech......Thank you for your wisdom. Going to your link, now. brad

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    Member Rhino302's Avatar
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    You may want to keep your RAM at 512 mb with Win9x.

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    Rhino, Ok.....How do I go about setting my ram to 512 from 544Mb? If I remove a stick then I lose 256Mb. Is ther a way to limit or set the Mb's?

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    Member Rhino302's Avatar
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    To get 544, you should have 256+256+32, right? Removing the 32 gets you to 512.

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    Rhino....My fault. I didn't give you my computer specs. This is a laptop. Gateway 9300cx. Pentium III 544Mb. Ram 14gig HD
    32Mb. Ram is non-removable I have two other slots. It came with another 64Mb. stick in one slot and the other was open. Running Windows 98se.
    I've got an application called SI-Soft Sandra.....It suggests that I use a Fixed-size swap file rather than a variable one to speed things up... Any thoughts on that and how to do it?

    Also on Drive info it suggests enabling DMA..and to increase my max Disc cache to 25% of my total Disc size......Ant thoughts on this?

  9. #9
    Member Rhino302's Avatar
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    If your HDD supports DMA, it should be enabled--it makes a day and night difference.

    Also, for the swap file size, I used to mess with it, don't anymore, but if you want to try it

    Right click My Computer
    Properties
    Performance
    Virtual Memory
    Then click let me specify my own settings.

    You can tell it how much you want it to use. I wouldnt know wiht thta much memory. I would probably try about the same as teh RAM you have. I wouldnt know what would work better. Play around with it and see what seems the fastest. Might even do better with only a 256 mb swap file.

    Anyways, under File System of the Performance tab, select your computer is a "File Server" too. That should speed things up (so goes the myth).

  10. #10
    Member bigparsnip's Avatar
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    Your system resourses are not realy linked to how much RAM you have, they are mainly controled by how your version of windows was coded, if you want to get rid of the problem of low system resources (although at 60 - 70% free I would not be woried) you will have to upgrade to either windows 2000 or XP (or NT if you can stand it being so out of touch now) to increase the resourses, as they are handeled differently in these versions.

    Othere than that there is no other way to free them up (without closing background programs) tha I am aware of).
    Bigparsnip.

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    Thanks Rhino and Bigparsnip!
    Do appreciate all the help.....Going back to the DMA...Where do I enable it?

  12. #12
    Gone Forever....... gibsinep's Avatar
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    I dont see the problem with him runing over 512 ram. I know that somtimes it causes problems. That windoes 98 doesnt really use all of it. But i have been unning 640MB ram fir months with no problems at all.
    Nothing in life is as certain as death, but death is not a wall but a doorway to a new adventure

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    Rhino.......Tried to set up as "File server" but only options are:
    Desktop Computer
    Network Server
    Mobile or Docking System
    I'm currently set at "Network Server"
    And, Ironically, as I'm asking these questions tonite, my computer has started giving me the "system low on memory, close on or more programs and try again". Only have Aol, Win Explorer, Raap, and Systry running and it says 68% free.
    Can't help but think something is amiss........ brad

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    Its normal, don't worry about it. Remember also that you still have the same percent free, but thats a lot more actual. 70% of the original 96Mb is 67Mb free. 70% of 544M is 380M free.

    Since Windows now has more total memory available it may decide to swap to disk less, keep bigger caches etc. Now its using say 160M instead of 30M. Don't feel like its a waste though, thats a big part of why more memory = more speed.

    Also, that calculation may take other things into account (don't know if it does or not). Maybe it lumps things like free file handles in there too, which memory wouldn't affect.

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    I would think that when the price of RAM was cheap (going up everyday now) that many people may have bought lots of RAM. So we may see this question popup more and more (do we need a RAM questions forum??) because Win9X including Me doesn't utilise RAM over 512MB. There have been a few reported problems with win9X and lots of RAM (see eg http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...%2F56s12%2Easp)

    I'm not saying that the problems experienced by dsredfox are caused by too much RAM, but they could be... its a bit sad that the Dell people have fixed the RAM and made it unswappable, isn't it? Maybe Linux or win2Kor winXp are the only real soultions here...



    edit: I wish I could type as fast I I could talk without errors!
    Last edited by mickwish; 01-15-2002 at 11:21 PM.

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