how much ram is enough ram?

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Jul 20th, 2001, 03:55 PM
markman

how much ram is enough ram?

I have a Gateway e5 series, 233mhz pentium 2, winME. I currently have 96megs of ram and everything seems to be working fine. I have the option of buying 128megs of ram for only $19.99, which seems like a great deal. My system can handle it, since I already bought it with the option of returning it. How much ram should I have for this computer? Also,is it worth it to keep the extra ram? Remember I am only 15, so that entitles a limited income and I dont have billions to freely spend. You probably dont care the slightest about my system and this question, but it would be of great help. Thanks!

P.s. If you are interested in this deal, goto your nearest BestBuy. Its a PNY 128mb Ram, 29.95 with a 10 rebate.offer ends sunday, i think.
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:11 PM
Wynd

I don't know any reason not to buy RAM, but it really depends on what you do with your computer. I only have 64 MB, but I don't play graphics-intensive games, mostly just surf the web and write programs, so it's fine. If you did play graphics-intensive games or stuff like that, you'd want more RAM.
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:12 PM
filburt1

I have 512 MB on a Dell Dimension 4100 P3-933 that originally came with 256. I noticed that Q3A was starting to use the paging file on Windows 2000, and I also do video editing. Video editing can use tons of RAM, and 512 MB of RAM is almost overkill for gaming.
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:20 PM
markman

I am not obsessed ith gaming, mostly just programming. With it in now, I dont notice a huge difference looking at the resource meter, but there is a difference. Is 19.95 worth it? Maybe I should just shutup and decide for myself, but still feel free to answer my question.
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:26 PM
eer3

markman,

I recently upgraded two 200mghz systems to 128megs of ram, one from 64mb ram, the other from 32mb ram. The 32mb showed a huge difference, while the 64 wasn't really that impressive. The biggest difference was how quickly they access the hard drive.

On the other hand, 20 bucks sounds pretty good, even if it only gives you slightly better performance.
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:33 PM
markman

I am a little more than doubling my current ram (96 to 224 [actually by 2.333333333]), so your 64 upgrade would probably be similar to mine. I think ill keep it
Jul 20th, 2001, 04:56 PM
parksie

You can never have too much memory. It's only $20! (About £15 which is a piddling amount).

I'm now on 256 and a lot happier than when I had 128, although I'm on Win98 so I don't get the full benefit. BTW: don't say upgrade 2000 or I'll take the CD and shove it somewhere anatomically improbable :mad:
Jul 20th, 2001, 05:50 PM
kedaman

win98 will eat all your memory, whether you have 64 or 512

I have 256 and running XP, and memory usage is usually somewhere between 100 and 150, some games may raise it to 200 so 256 suits my needs.
Jul 20th, 2001, 06:51 PM

try win2k if you really want to feel your RAM :)

I used to have win98 on my 256Mb machine at work, I would get lots of out of memory errors, now im on NT4, i get none... and its much faster :)
Jul 20th, 2001, 07:19 PM

Do it. More memory is always a good thing. Extra memory is also good if you're the kind of person who runs lots of different programs at once (like me).
Jul 20th, 2001, 07:22 PM
parksie

Although on 98 you don't get the benefits because you run out of resources long before you get to the memory limits.
Jul 20th, 2001, 09:56 PM
JungleMan

you measly fools...

EVERYONE knows you need at least 456,238 MB of RAM to do ANYTHING...:D :D :D
Jul 20th, 2001, 11:23 PM
kovan

i dont know about you people using win98 and more than 128
i remember running 256 mb ram on 98
it was slower than 128
i dont think win98 was ever optimized for more than 128

running win2k server(128mb ram, HOLY ****, i just realized that i can update my server's ram, tomorrow am gonna make a trip to the store and get 512mb more ($100CAD)

and running win2k pro (386 mb ram, looks like i am gonna get another 512 for that,)
ram is WAY too cheap here
Jul 21st, 2001, 05:19 AM
Kzin

Re: how much ram is enough ram?

Quote:

Originally posted by markman
I have a Gateway e5 series, 233mhz pentium 2, winME. I currently have 96megs of ram and everything seems to be working fine. I have the option of buying 128megs of ram for only $19.99, which seems like a great deal. My system can handle it, since I already bought it with the option of returning it. How much ram should I have for this computer?

I've got 512MB in my deskdop and AV computers. With Windows 2000 this does seem to give a big advantage running multiple tasks and writing multiple CDs. On my Windows 98 boot-up on the same machine I've been able to turned off virtual memory (so that it doesn't even think about faffing about with the HDD) - so the machine seems vastly faster. I was wondering whether to upgrade to 1024MB yesterday (great offer at http://www.scan.co.uk/today.htm then) but the thing about waiting with memory is that its only going to get cheaper so if you don't upgrade now in three months time you will probably see *256megs of ram for only $19.99*:)