Effect of RAM

[cobrabase]

I've been playing Pro with Windows XP and 2 x 512 MB DDR4 184 pin RAM. Do you gurus think I would see an appreciable increase in framerate if I upgraded to 1.5 Gig?

[general billy]

You might notice a slight increase in frame rate, and a faster loading times. But a better graphics should increase your frame rate.

[msconfig]

Stuttering is usually the sign of a lack of system ram, however I would still recommend more memory anyway...

[MatsW]

Does anybody know if there is some sort of test or program where you can either test your computer or type in your hardware data and then get some sort of report that tells you what is the bottleneck of your computer?

[Zipuli]

At least with win XP there is one quite handy:
-go to control panel
-there you have one option... (in finnish windows "valvontatyökalut") - i don't know what it is in english, but the icon has a yellow folder in background, in front there's a shelf and some tools.. heh
-there is a program called "performance" (or similar) there that lets you track almost everything while you run SB for example... you can easily spot bottle-necks

Hope you can find it :D

Zip

[general billy]

Does anybody know if there is some sort of test or program where you can either test your computer or type in your hardware data and then get some sort of report that tells you what is the bottleneck of your computer?

Theres a number of downloadable programs which can give u a bench mark on you system and score . Have a look on www.download.com.

[cobrabase]

There has to be a way to decide what's crap and what's essential when I pull up control-alt-delete. XP has so much shit that hogs resources! I always HATED this about microsoft operating systems. I don't even want to think about Vista. No chance I'm buying that until 3 or 4 years have passed.

[general billy]

Theres a program that is called end it all 2, very good at shutting down unwanted stuff running in the back ground.

[sabot_ready]

There has to be a way to decide what's crap and what's essential when I pull up control-alt-delete. XP has so much shit that hogs resources!


There is a few places that can help you weed thru all those processes and make you machine more stream lined for gaming, speed up boot times and such.

for starters

http://www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx

and

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,5155,00.asp

this is a good one

http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm

I would recommend that you have a basic understanding what services do in your computer before trying these.

[j2222]

Here is a quick (and dirty test) ...

While running the app, is the disk light on alot? If yes, more RAM would help - it would reduce paging and increase cache size. If only flashes on once in a while .... then you won't see much improvement. But adding RAM ALWAYS helps in Windows!

Hope this helps,
James

[Homer]

I've been playing Pro with Windows XP and 2 x 512 MB DDR4 184 pin RAM. Do you gurus think I would see an appreciable increase in framerate if I upgraded to 1.5 Gig?

No. 1 gig is probably more than enough for anything that you on the computer. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to RAM. You would see an improvement if you were upgrading from 256mb but you will get little if any benefit going from 1 to 1.5gb. If you want a noticable improvement, get a new computer (IRC, you have a relatively older compuiter). If you were running Vista then it would be necessary to add more RAM (even 1.5gb would be on the low side for Vista).

There has to be a way to decide what's crap and what's essential when I pull up control-alt-delete. XP has so much shit that hogs resources! I always HATED this about microsoft operating systems. I don't even want to think about Vista. No chance I'm buying that until 3 or 4 years have passed.

There is.... Check out this SITE (http://www.answersthatwork.com/)

A better way than looking at your HD LED is to use the task manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL). Goto performance tab and look at the peak value under Commit Charge (K). This is highest memory usage that you have used since you last booted. If its not even close to 1 gig, then you would be wasting your money. To see what it takes to go over 1 gig, start running every program/game you got....