Author Topic: How Much Memory Can I really use? (Read 872 times)

Scot · « **on:** November 16, 2001, 09:46:00 AM »

Hail All,

My system:

Dell 800mhz, 512megs of ram < 2 Slots >, W98SE, GeForce II Pro 64megs Vram.

I was just checking RAM prices and see Kingston memory 512meg 133 for less than $90.00 US.

My questions:

Can I use more than 512 on my system? I read/heard somewhere that I might be limited to 512megs for my setup.

If I can go to a Gig of RAM, will the investment give me a notable performance gain? ( If there is no significant gain I am thinking of investing in a Ti500 )

Thanks,
Scot
3./JG2

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #1 on:** November 16, 2001, 10:10:00 AM »

I seem to remember hearing that most of the Intel Chipset SDRAM MBs could not support more than 512 Meg of memory. Dunno if its true for RDRAM too.. and don't know for sure if it only appies to a limited number of chipsets.

I do know that the VIA boards don't have the same limitation.

AKDejaVu

AKSWulfe · « **Reply #2 on:** November 16, 2001, 10:18:00 AM »

Windows95/98 won't use more than 512MB of RAM.
-SW

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #3 on:** November 16, 2001, 10:28:00 AM »

Quote

Windows95/98 won't use more than 512MB of RAM.

Hmmm.. thought Windows95 didn't see anything above 128MB. I hadn't heard that Win98 was anything but motherboard limit sensitive to amount of RAM.

AKDejaVu

AKSWulfe · « **Reply #4 on:** November 16, 2001, 10:33:00 AM »

That might be true DJ.

Some hardware definitely limits the amount of RAM that is readable/accessible. But anything above 512 Windows98 won't use- unless of course you are running WWIIOl, in which case I'm sure it'll use all 1GB of memory if you have that much installed. :-)
-SW

Furious · « **Reply #5 on:** November 16, 2001, 10:59:00 AM »

I believe your Dell has 2 memory slots and those slots will take 256M max each.

F.

Scot · « **Reply #6 on:** November 16, 2001, 11:07:00 AM »

Thanks All ,

I'll stick with the 512 Megs and invest in a Ti500 for Xmas

.

<S>
Scot
3./JG2

P.S. SWulfie I think WWIIOL now has a 2 Gig requirement

.

LePaul · « **Reply #7 on:** November 16, 2001, 11:10:00 AM »

According to my research in Microsoft's Developer Network and other reading, Windows 98/98SE will *use* a maximum of 192mb of RAM. After that (or more than that), it isn't used effectively, if at all.

However, the NT/2000/XP OS's use memory entirely different. Very efficient.

I just upgraded from Window 98 to Windows 2000 Professional. My computer is older, but I have the fastest CPU and most RAM it will take (P3 550 and 384mb). Win2k Pro runs *very* fast whereas Windows 98 was zippy, but not nearly this quick.

However, frames wise, I haven't seen a big jump as I'd hoped going from 98 to Win2k Pro. I seem to have gained 5 to 10 frames per second, that's it.

Wanna hear odd?

I have a Pentium 2 350 with 384mb of ram. I thought I'd try the same experiment...upgrading it to Win2k Pro. Wow, real kick in the pants, much faster now. This computer has a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP (16mb) and for some dang reason, its pulling more FPS (like 29~35) than the P3 550 with a Voodoo 5500 (64mb). Dang weird....

But anyways, I'd consider upgrading to Win2k Pro to see that RAM get used effectively. I wouldn't suggest going to XP until they have a Service Pack or two out for it. I've just never seen any rewards in being the first to jump into a new Microsoft OS

That's me, your mileage may vary

Raubvogel · « **Reply #8 on:** November 16, 2001, 11:45:00 AM »

XP has surprised the hell out of me LePaul. It's been very stable and I've gotten a real nice increase in performance. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Kieran · « **Reply #9 on:** November 16, 2001, 01:55:00 PM »

I noticed a huge difference going from 512MB to 768MB on a PIII 733. I set the virtual memory to 1528MB and entire programs ran from RAM- the HD basically went into sleep mode. This was a requirement for this particular game (WWIIO) as HD thrashing normally would cause you to auger.

Would you see a big difference here? Probably not. 512MB should be more than enough, save the money for a better video card.

Win98se, Win2K, WinXP- good, better, and best. I am currently on Win98se because I have peripherals (which I need) that don't operate properly under the other OS's. Win2K is more stable than Win98se, if a bit slower in AH. WinXP blows them both away. I saw a 10-20% increase in performance while on XP. Once my peripheral support has caught up I will be migrating.

Camel · « **Reply #10 on:** November 16, 2001, 03:20:00 PM »

Most likely the Dell mainboard is an Intel 815 chipset, you are limited to 512mb with this chipset reguardless of windows.

Rendar · « **Reply #11 on:** November 16, 2001, 06:13:00 PM »

Umm, you can easily modify Win98 to see even 4GB of RAM. It can normally see up to 512MB, and yes, 256 > 512 makes a huge difference.