Ok, so i have a PIII with 256 meg DRAM and after opening the internet and say run MusicMatch Jukebox I'm left with 40 or so meg to work with. Now I know I'm not working on a powerhouse system, but is this normal? How much ram does the OS need to use in the background (b.t.w. I'm still using 98)

~ 4 rubBeR

 

At this very moment.... 417megs free

I have 640 total

 

Switch O/S's to something more efficent.

 

I'd recommend running windows 2000. It's been VERY stable for me, I actually downgraded from XP because I like 2000 better. I had a PIII 650 before I got a new PC, and it ran it like a champ.

Musicmatch, BTW, is a huge memory-*****. And anything else running in your system tray (Bottom right of your taskbar) is eating up memory.

Upgrade to 2000. At one point I've gone over 5 weeks without a restart, and that's because I was going away for the weekend.

I usually have about 160M used when I'm idle in w2k, but I have quite a bit of stuff running in the background. i.e. virus software, aim, motherboard monitoring software, and some other junk. That leaves 300 some meg free (I have 512M)

 

ok, so you're using +/- 223 meg...so to compare: I have 256 meg minus 233 you are using( and I assume you are on line , that leaves 23 meg to play with...hmmmmmm

160M idle...that's a fair bit better that I'm doing. (I generally close all unnecessary background applications i.e. game commander, interact joy stick etc.) So I'm not too off the mark with everyone...it appears I should invest in either going to Windows 2K or just dump in an extra 256 meg or so...

b.t.w, is it possible that I don't have any slots available on my board? (I'm at work, so pls don't say..."take a look, fool! "

If I only have the 2 slots wich have 128 meg each, can I take one of the 128 meg cards out and drop in one 256 or so the cards have to have the same meg size?

~4 rubBeR

 

Ever since SIMM memory was trashed, you didn't have to worry about this. SIMM stands for Single Inline Memory Module. DIMM stands for Dual Incline Memory Module. You had to put two SIMMs in at a time, because you needed a pair.

DIMMs you do not because it it already a pair (hence the Dual). So no on both counts, you don't need to same size either. The only thing you have to worry about is the max memory size recognized by your motherboard. I'm willing to be it can take 512M DIMMs in each slot since it's a PIII, but you never know. 256M should be more than fine.

If I were you, I'd look into *ahem* borrowing a copy of W2k from a friend to see how you like it. Then spend about $60 on another 256M, and you'll be more than fine for running W2k. I was running (and still am) W2k off of my PIII 650 with 192M RAM (Right now I have it set up for a Tivo-like box). It could have used more, but still ran fine. Way faster than 98 ever did. Hope this helps

 

You've been a big help! Have a cold one on me...

~4 rubBeR

 

I´ve got 256mb installed.

I have 76mb free, while running:

Windows 2000
Outlook 2000
Word 2000
Entrust
Internet Explorer 6 (two instances)
MSN Messenger
AOL Messenger
Norton Antivirus Corporate
Palm Hotsync software
SAP /3

 

1410mb free out of 1500mb (1.5 gig baby)

Power Mac G4: Yeaaa BABY

 

eh, do you actually ever use more than 50% of your 1.5GB RAM???

it should come really handy in video editing

 

you got it.... i dont use much of it usually.... but when video editing..... its VERY NICE! definately improves the performance. also hell, i paid 150 for 3 512mb sticks..... at that price i couldnt hold out and not stuff it to the gills.

and its just fun saying i have 1.5gb of ram, even though i use like 100mb of it on a regular day.

 

Wow...you're only using 90 meg for yor o/s?

That's just sick...1500mb...I'd never believed anybody would have that much...


care to lend me some?

 

try one of the IBM mainframe servers, it is powerful enough to control our lives

 

pictures say a thousand words

 

Wow, they really DO say a thousand words.

This is with 7 mozilla windows open, 2-3 aim conversations open, gimp open, and gnome2 running on top of the plethora of daemons in the background. How nifty.

P.S. As I've suggested numerous times, you might wanna run Ad-Aware to get rid of all spamware that you have installed. Also look into msconfig and disable all the **** that you don't REALLY need (Real Craplayer, KrapZaa, bonzo buddy, WeatherBug, etc etc etc.)