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WIn XP. Memory size recommendation?

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    WIn XP. Memory size recommendation?

    Hi Guys,

    Upgrade to Win XP a few months ago. A lot more reliable.

    however, it's slower and certainly some of my games (I relax playing CounterStrike and Day of Defeat in the evenings) really seem to struggle now.

    I'm running 128k memory. I'm told you really ought to have 256, so I'm going to upgrade. I've a couple of slots so I thought of dropping in an extra 128k. However, memory seems so cheap these days, I though why not really ramp it up!..Is XP efficient with memory? I'd hate to by loads of memory to just find it can only use 256 at a time anyway!

    Advice very welcome.

    Cheers,

    Mike

    #2
    You will notice an improvement with more memory. I don't think there are any issues - as there are with ME and below - XP is based on NT technology, which is somewhat different in the way it handles memory.

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      #3
      320MB and glad of it.

      If you use a cache scavenger it can be useful as well.

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        #4
        Memory is ridiculously cheap these days - even cheapo new machines ship with 512Mb

        Possibly a lot of it is just hype but the cost is so low I'd say just do it. Don't buy from a retail outlet though or you will pay through the nose.

        Crucial are as good as anybody and lots of the well known e-stores sell theirs too. You might save a few coppers by shopping around. Make sure you get the right memory type for your machine.

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          #5
          Thx.

          I suppose I have to take the back of my machine to see what memory type I need?

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            #6
            I got 768Mb of RAM on my new PC. I've no idea if I needed that much, but I can vouch for it steaming along nicely with XP.

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              #7
              > I suppose I have to take the back of my machine to see what memory type I need?

              Mostly depends on what your motherboard supports. If you have the motherboard manual it will tell you.

              If you have a "brand name" machine I think the crucial link above has a selector. If not you need the motherboard type then see if their selector covers that - if not use google or guess to find the manufacturer website.

              Some older boxes need memory chips in pairs but if your machine is that old the chances are XP won't run on it.

              Later boards support several memory types - probably better not to mix types or it may not boot. Look at the existing chip(s) and try some of the numbers in google to see if you can identify exactly what they are - once again some software tools will tell you (but I can't remember which ones).

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                #8
                Amazing that many people are generally reluctant to have government spying on them through identity cards etc, but are happy to be WinXP registered wth such a predatory company as MS?

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                  #9
                  Thanks all for help and advice. Have been to Crucial's webite and bought another 256k.

                  I'll let you know how it goes!

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                    #10
                    I would recommend at least 4Gb with XP.

                    Of course you can switch to linux and all the worlds problems are solved and in only 16K.

                    Marvelous

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