RAM use

Faster operation.

Lots of programs around these days rely on loads of memory being available - if they don't have enough (fast-access) RAM, the OS will swap chunks of data to/from disk, as required. This can be very slow, especially for memory-intensive apps (graphics stuff and anything MicroSquidge or HP (to name a couple) produce).

3GB?

What are your goal on earth using your laptop? you may either a game player in school or a richer man.

probably for Vista (designed by Ms to make intel happy)

I am conteplating to install linux on my laptop.

3Gb will probably be barely enough on the next version

Press <Ctrl-Alt-Del> and select "Task Manager" or right click the program bar and select "Task Manager"

Now, have a look at your "Page File history" if its up close to the known amount of memory (RAM) your running into swapping problems, as said above, all programs use loads of memory, and Windows is designed to suck the maximum amount of memory that is available at the time of its release, if you have less, then your going to have problems with that "Bloat-ware" installed.

If you install 3G, you get full 3G available, if you install 4G (or more) then you will have 3.something usable (if your running a 32-bit OS) and the full amount on a 64-bit OS (but not all drivers/software will run in 64-bit... much like not everything will run under Vista)

Its strange tho, that Win-32 will say its using the PAE (Physical Address Extension) but has the 3.something G limit but running 32bit linux, and PAE, I have the full 4G available.

Hello Guest,

take note of 'Snaketails', who gave a very good answer to your question.

Imagine swinging a cat (hypothetically of course) in a minivan that is built for caravaning. You will be hitting cupboards, and cookers, pots and pans etc.

Now, try the same thing in a removals van, which is a huge enclosed space with nothing in the way. You could swing any number of cats and still not hit anything!.

That is what more RAM gives you..........ROOM.

I have only IGB of physical RAM, and no more room to fit any more. Consequently the 'man' running about with the 'notes' has to run like the wind to retrieve and and return all those millions of bits of info on the library shelves.

If I had room for more RAM, the HDD would not need to keep shuffling pieces of info on the HDD etc. It would be able to store it or, memorise it in the RAM and use it if and when it has to.

stay safe

babybear

Something in the back of my mind tells me that unless you need the extra RAM, adding more can slow the computer down because it has more processing to do in maintaining that unused RAM

Tony Aston

You must be cheated by somebody. dont believe them at all.

the more ram the fast computer can get. so taht you neednt too much virtual ram.

most of laptop and desktop can extend more extra ram, depend on cpu address bus numbers and extendable construction on board.

Hello Tony Aston:

right, lets see.........................if a computer is working at what is a usual speed now of near or over 3 Mbps, it will not take long to check the extra memory out.

If the memory has nothing in it because not enough work is being done, or it only has a small amount of memory in use, the computer will only ever check out what it knows is there in the RAM, I mean. Ram is volatile so it may not have much in it for perhaps half the time. Only coming into its own when gaming or if a lot of apps are up and running. And it is a lot quicker to check the RAM, which is physically much closer, (a matter of a couple of Cm's) to the main processor, than sending a message through a metre of cable to ask the HDD to search for 'so and so' and, then getting the answer back...........even if it takes just a few milliseconds, that happens millions of times a minute if there is not enough RAM. It like leave the lawn edge cutters at the end of your road and going to collect them and taking them back again, rather than leaving them in your garden...........!.

What would you sooner do. I know this sounds ridiculous, but, it is all about speed. Chips in computers are smaller and thinner not because it is possible. It is because they need to be like that so the signals have less distance to go. Even if those distances are measured in microns and mm...........No offence to anyone, OK?

stay safe

babybear

In addition to the above, loading AMAP (as much as possible) rather than file swapping tends to lengthen life of hard disk by lessening read-write wear and tear. 3 gigs dynamic ram is fast becoming a standard. 1 gig is now minimum. Generally, within constraints of the system (and pocketbook), more RAM is always better. One problem with laptops/notebooks, they don't have as much flexibility for increasing RAM...without forfeiting RAM you already have. So you might want to consider when your laptop will eventually be replaced and up the memory on your new one. For the time being, 1 gig will serve most users fairly well. If you do upgrade, ascertain your available slot count and see if one is open. It probably won't be and your 1 gig will consist of 2x 1/2 gigs (the cost of upgrade will include both the new module and your investement in the old module, less whatever you might get for it). If you are fortunate enough to have an open slot (you have one 1G module) then you have better options for increasing system memory. If the upgrade module is larger, be sure to put it in the currently occupied slot and move over the existing, smaller-gig module.

But generally most people (and more manufacturers) I think would recommend against delving into a laptop other than for manufacturer approved owner installations such as batteries, reader cards, express card (PCMCIA), and HDD, etc. Desktops are better if you like to tinker.

UG

Hi Guest,

why do you not join? sounds like you know your stuff!

I would agree with most of what said. I built my own machine which in 2003 was £3000 plus. Now you can six times the spec' for less than one sixth the cost!, It's crazy.

Laptops are very restricted and the cheaper ones may not be upgradeable to larger RAM? But it sounds to me that it is a good one as, there would be no reason to increase the RAM by a factor of perhaps three if the machine was a cheap one the motherboard would not have the slots to upgrade.

You made some sensible remarks.

stay safe

babybear

Hello Guest,

you made some good observation there! I had three laptops and two desktops and, it is pretty easy to update the desktops, depending on the Motherboard. But, about all you can do with a laptop is add a small amount of memory, if anything at all?

stay safe

babybear

Its interesting to note here, that as RAM prices are dropping, there isn't any rising in the availability of usable RAM on the mobo with certain OS's, yet HD capacities are extending upwards.

grab a cheap small HD, and chuck it in and try to configure it as your swap disk (only)

It used to be a easy thing to do in Windows, but I think that functionality has been removed in later versions of Windows.

Linux swap disk creation couldn't be simpler, also you can add in extra partitions as you see fit, giving each a priority

And the current price of DDR's that I find here in Oz, from 1 online place (no doubt can get cheaper) also get cheaper than from the US with the USD the way it is.

Kingston 1GB 800MHz (PC6400) DDR2 RAM KVR800D2N5/1G <$30 each

Hello Snaketails:

I built my computer in 2001/2 , it is XP and was able to fit an extra HDD to use as you suggest. It is 300GB though. Not really small. I have not kept to plan when I built it. Where I planned to use the larger £300GB.......two virtual 150GB, one which I intended to use for apps while using the smaller 100GB as the mail MS OS HDD.

As long as you fit it as you build I would have thought you could do that with any new system. Don't you think so?

stay safe

babybear

ram is an aid to your pc's processer. an assistant to the journeyman is a good analogy. it is memory for short term use to make you computer run faster. even a slow processer is quicker with more ram. ram increase will be more beneficial when you are asking the pc to do many things at once[ gaming or audio/video are good examples] when on the internet and downloading or uploading with a fast connection 3 gigs of ram is great. processer speeds of 1.66 gigahertz[dual core pentium proceeser] is outstanding for the average joe. then the only slow down is connection speed.

if you are on win xp operating system you have plenty of speed to do almost anything the average joe could want. if you are useing windows vista 3 gigs is the most ram it will recognize.[32 bit operating system] there is also a 64 bit sytem available in vista that can utilize more ram , but it is not as esay to purchase software for as most all software is built on a 32 bit platform. if you have any other questions please email me direct at thegmguru@yahoo.com

Hello thegmguru:

good advice and information you gave.................Just one point, you should not publish your email. It is likely to attract spam! You can alway send details to a private email box by clicking on the name you want to email. Then only the receiver will see it.

Just some sensible advice..............

stay safe

babybear

the alternative would be to click on the username the person uses on here, select "Send a message to this user (upper right of the 2nd screen) and on the posting page you will have "Note: Mail Messages are sent using your CR4 identity (Snaketails); your personal email address will not be passed along to the recipient."

So, there are no E-mail addresses shown to the greater community ;o)

also kept out of reach of scanning robots that are used to look for your publically displayed e-mail address, like yours.

Be prepared for quite a bit of Viagra, Cialis and porn.

Hello Snaketails:

I aggree entirely..........

stay safe

babybear