[k_at]

Hi I am a bit confused, had a previous problem that has been solved but the question I have got is.

previously said was have 512mb of ram and should think about going to 1g for xp to run best but on the microsoft site it says;


Windows XP provides excellent overall performance—this includes dramatically faster boot and resume times, along with highly responsive applications. For most computers that meet Microsoft's minimum recommended hardware requirements, Windows XP is the best-performing Windows operating system ever created. Microsoft strongly recommends that computers running Windows XP have at least 128 MB of RAM installed.

so surely 512mb would be enough???

I am confused

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I understand your confusion but in GTG experience the OS will use the majority of that 128 if not more.
This allows nothing for other programs to use and thus causing them to use the virtual memory and page file.
This in turn will cause slowdown of the system if not a crash or BSOD to appear.
With users today wanting more graphic intensive games and programs along with programs needing more memory to run correctly we have always advised 1 gig of memory for the so called Sweet Spot
This will also depend on what you use your system for the majority of the time.
Gamers and Video watchers will usually want more memory for buffering and to help stop the Lag that can occur.

The other issue is most users have a real time Anti virus, malware and spyware program running which will eat away at memory also.
Anything Autorunning at startup will also take bits and pieces of memory.
Hopefully this explains how even with 512 megs of memory a system can run out of free memory quickly.

[rshaffer61]

I understand your confusion but in GTG experience the OS will use the majority of that 128 if not more.
This allows nothing for other programs to use and thus causing them to use the virtual memory and page file.
This in turn will cause slowdown of the system if not a crash or BSOD to appear.
With users today wanting more graphic intensive games and programs along with programs needing more memory to run correctly we have always advised 1 gig of memory for the so called Sweet Spot
This will also depend on what you use your system for the majority of the time.
Gamers and Video watchers will usually want more memory for buffering and to help stop the Lag that can occur.

The other issue is most users have a real time Anti virus, malware and spyware program running which will eat away at memory also.
Anything Autorunning at startup will also take bits and pieces of memory.
Hopefully this explains how even with 512 megs of memory a system can run out of free memory quickly.

[Ferrari]

Microsoft strongly recommends that computers running Windows XP have at least 128 MB of RAM installed.

The key phrase there is "at least". That is a statement of the minimum amount they recommend, you will be much happier with 1GB. A good way to notice this is look on the box of certain games or programs, they always say the requirement to run is like, 100MB for example, when in fact you need, just an example remember, 512MB to play that game or run that program with speed and efficiency. See?

[k_at]

cool I get it, Had'nt thought about the fact thay are saying for their bits alone this is needed and not all the other stuff we add on, on top of that!!!!

[rshaffer61]

You are very welcome. I'm glad we could help and please let us know how everything works out for you.
If there is anything else we can do to help please feel free to ask. I appreciate that you allowed me to assist you with your issue and for your patience. Thank you for choosing GeeksToGo for help.
This issue now appears to be resolved.

[123Runner]

A little story to share regarding ram and the need to have more as you add programs.

My brother is a very stubborn person. I actually regretted "looking" at his 5 year old Dell. It was running slow and he had no idea why. It also intermittently gave "virtual memory errors".
I ran it through every test I could find. This means memory, stress tests, hard disk tests, and every malware and virus scanner I could throw at it.
I verified by our Malware forum it was clean.
I knew in the beginning that the 256mb installed was not sufficient. In fact it was less than that because the onboard video "stole" some. He could not understand why "it was really fast when I first got it". "It can't be memory"!
It took me about a week to convince him that the computer was clean and had no problems other than needed memory.
We took the memory to 1gb and it flew.

Moral of the story is as per what Rshaffer61 already stated. As time goes on, we ask the computer to do more. we run more intense programs.