More Memory - worth it ?

[hudd09]

Hi ,

Helping a friend out here who has an Intel E5700 in a Asus P5G41T-M LX Socket 775 Motherboard with just one stick of 2gb ddr3 133 memory.

Its using XP Home which I know can only use 3 gb max, so will he see any real benefit in adding another stick of either 1gb or 2gb in the second slot ?

The manual says it can operate as single or dual channel memory but not sure how much of a difference that makes typical home use ?

He's not a gamer, but does do some video editing and cad type work.

He seems to think its going to make a big difference but I'm not so sure - any comments welcome.

 

[dave.m]

The limit for 32bit XP is 4GB:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

He will notice a slight improvement to his computer but not the doubling of speed just because the RAM has been doubled in size.

To find out what the best memory stick would be use the Crucial Memory Scanner

Have a look at at what he has got starting at boot up and kick a lot of unnecessary stuff off the list. That will help with speed.
Then clear out all his temp files and internet temp files using something like Ccleaner

dave

 

[gblades]

You can look at the task manager while the machine is being used. Looking at how much of the page file is being used is the best way of checking is memory is a limiting factor.
32bit os can use a maximum of 4gb but quite a bit will be used by devices which have stuff mapped into memory. You will probably only see between 3gb and 3.5gb.

 

[skotl]

If he's running out of physical memory, then adding more memory will make a big difference. If he's not running out of memory, then there won't be a noticable improvement in performance.

The key to finding out if you are running out of memory is, as gblades suggests, through Task Manager. Just a couple of extra pointers, though.

First, get him to run all the programs that he typically would have running at any time (to get an understanding of peak memory consumption).
Then start task manager, by pressing CTRL ALT DEL and select the option to start Task Manager.

The final stage is to compare your physical memory to the amount that Windows is using. In both Windows XP and Windows 7, make sure you are on the "Performance Tab", then check the Memory stats.
In Windows XP, you will compare physical memory with committed memory. If committed memory is larger than physical memory, then you need to up the memory.
In Windows 7, it's easier; check the "Free" counter; it needs to be geater than around 256.

Regards
Scott

 

[ajrobb]

I short answer is 'not for XP'.

http://ark.intel.com/products/42801 suggests a FSB of 800 MHz.

http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5G41TM_LX/ states RAM is supported to 1333 MHz (over clocking) or 1033 or 800 MHz normal.

Have a look at the RAM again - it should not be 133 MHz; it should be at least 800 MHz.

I agree when you say Windows XP supports 3GB with PAE (otherwise 2GB) and the rest is wasted. Each application is limited to 2GB, leaving 1GB for other applications, Windows and file cache.

If he is tempted with upcoming Windows 8, he could go to 2 x240-pin DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR3.