Question for you Computer Guru's out there

[mosesbotbol]

If all you can upgrade to is 2 GB RAM, I would go for a new board/processor with at least 4 GB RAM.

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

If all you can upgrade to is 2 GB RAM, I would go for a new board/processor with at least 4 GB RAM.

As an FYI, the computers I own range in memory from 48 MB to 4 GB. Most are maxed out, but even in my good desktop (that can handle 16), I only have 4 because I'm running a 32 bit OS. XP32 will only see and use 2-3GB for your apps.

In my opinion, there is no need for more than 1 GB memory running XP32 unless you typically have a bunch of programs open at once or do things like video/music editing or rendering animation (or perhaps hard core gaming).

Certainly, the difference between 2 and 4 GB is very small since you only can only use 2 GB of the memory with 32bit XP, unless you use the /3GB switch in the boot.ini, and even then you can only use 3GB virtual address space.

I noticed no speed increase when I upgraded the memory from 2-4GB in 2 laptops and 2 desktops (using the /3GB switch). When I look to see how much memory is being used, it is rare that I even break 512MB. Then again, I don't game or do video editing.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

In my opinion, there is no need for more than 1 GB memory running XP32 unless you typically have a bunch of programs open at once or do things like video/music editing or rendering animation (or perhaps hard core gaming).

x86 XP is 3 OS's old at this point. It's about making a hardware configuration they'll get some forward years out vs. what is good on an outdated OS as of today.