Thanks to Utilizer for the heads-up, sorry this ping is a little late in arriving!
Posted on 04/11/2015 11:25:09 AM PDT by Utilizer
Typically, today’s budget PCs come with 4GB of RAM. A mid-range configuration may offer double that, and high-end gaming systems and workstations go as high as 16GB or more.
There’s no doubt which way the wind’s blowing, either: Windows 8 supports up to 128GB of physical memory (assuming you’re running the 64-bit edition), while Windows 8 Pro can go up to 512GB.
Does anyone really need this much RAM? Memory isn’t as expensive as it used to be, but there’s obviously no point paying for gigabytes of RAM from which you’ll receive no material gain.
Does more equal faster?
Many people assume that adding memory makes a PC significantly faster, and in some cases it does. Sticking an extra pair of DIMMs into a motherboard won’t change the speed at which the processor executes code, but it can help in other ways, especially on older systems with 2GB of RAM or less, since adding RAM reduces the need for Windows to rely on “virtual memory”.
Simply put, virtual memory is a file on your hard disk that serves as temporary storage when your PC’s “real” memory is full. Virtual memory makes it possible, for example, to have several heavyweight applications running at once, even if they won’t fit simultaneously in RAM. When you switch from one to another, Windows quickly swaps the relevant data from the disk into real memory, which explains why the virtual memory file is sometimes called a swap file. If you’ve set Windows Explorer to show hidden files, you can see the swap file in the root directory of your system disk; depending on which version of Windows you’re using, it will be called pagefile.sys or swapfile.sys.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcauthority.com.au ...
Thanks to Utilizer for the heads-up, sorry this ping is a little late in arriving!
SSD’s are really dropping in price. I bought 2 256GB Crucial drives off Amazon for about $100 each. I put one in my laptop and I use the other for the boot drive on my desktop (with a 1TB D drive for data). It is the way to go.
Your comment about graphics memory is so true. I do lighting design using Relux - if you’re familiar with it. It’s a pig for graphics memory. I finally got a 4GB Nvidia card and it’s a world of difference - especially for 3D rendering.
Install an SSD to see a real speed bump. Depending on which Mac you have this may be a difficult upgrade. iMacs are particularly difficult for the average user and Mac Mini's are no walk in the park either, macsales.com has installation videos that will scare all but the geeks among us.
I have not tried the Hybrid drives but am considering one, a 4 terabyte (3.5 inch) can be had for a couple hundred. A 1 terabyte hybrid laptop drive will run less than $80.00, so no reason not to try one.
I think it was Steve Jobs that said 128 k was all you would ever need when there were insufficient 256 k chips available for his Mac thus was born the 128k Mac.
Correct. It depends on how many “bits” your operating system is.
I know on the mainframe, it has been 32 bit for a while, then it went 64 bit.
At 32 bit, the highest number it can address is:
2,147,483,648
This is 2**31
The first bit in the mainframe world is 0 or one standing for positive or negative.
I am unsure if in the PC world, there is a difference between designating negativity with 0 or one, so cannot say for sure.
Glad you could make it. You really need to read all the comments, however, -despite the DODGE fanatics posting of pickup-trucks herein- since a lot of users have chimed in with their own experiences.
I have found a lot of information provided that is really quite helpful in possibly determining what I should do next for these machines, as well as providing a good basis for recommending to customers what they might think about concerning their ‘doze machines.
Memory is a constant consideration it seems, and exactly how much is needed for one’s usage is increasingly a concern for many.
An SSD speeds boot up and program loads. It is not a substitute for RAM. They serve different purposes entirely. Paging memory in and out of mass storage is the main source of slowdowns. An SSD can help a lot but RAM is the real solution.
That’s pretty spot on. With the advent of fast SSD hard drives with their disk accesss and I/O the need more ram isn’t as high as it was 10 years ago.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
8gb ram for windoze 7 and 8 is a must for me. I restart Firefox once per day
I forgot to mention; Kanotix Linux is good as well, jut not as configurable as Mepis Linux for the things I need it to do. As far as stability and widespread usage, however, it is a solid distro also, just not as widely known.
Zorin Linux and Pear Linux are also quite good, if not as stable or configurable as Mepis, and you might wish to take a look at them as well.
Have fun! :)
Ehrmmm... “jut” should read as “just”. Sorry. Need to work on the proofreading skills, as well as more awake-edness in posts here.
My old Mac Pro has 32 gigs but the SSD makes the Computer way more fun. Since Yosemite my Mac takes longer to boot and open apps and I run everything from striped arrays with Raid 5 backups. If it were easy I would downgrade the OS to Mavericks.
I have a G4 Mac Mini running Classic with 1 gig of Ram, it pops open window and apps so fast that Apple should be ashamed of the new machines that always require more speed memory or disk space.
128 meg upgrade for my old pro are only about $1,600.00 :)
What I’m pissed about is Yosemite killing trim on SSD’s. I’m still on Mavericks because of that.
Most home desktops max out at 8 Gig. To move up requires a more expensive computer.
“Vista works well with 2MB”
In your dreams maybe. Vista is a major RAM hog
“Minimum is 8GB these days. It’s cheap, $200. “
Only if you want to spend $150 more for it. My 8 gig set was only $50
1995. 20 years ago. 16 meg was considered optimum RAM. We bought a 3 gig hard drive to back up 70 PC’s and it cost us $3,000.
Except for video, there really isn’t an advantage to spending more. I’m using a cheap A10 AMD APU 8G RAM desktop and my bottleneck in gaming is my 6770 video. My i7 16G work machine isn’t much faster.
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