i should know this by now.....(3)

[wb]

how can you tell how much memory the pc you are using has? how much ram etc.

[mathare]

You on XP yeah?

Go to the control panel and look for the System thingy. It'll tell you somewhere in there. At the bottom of the General tab I think.

Else you can tell from the BIOS on startup

[presto]

ctrl+alt+del

[GlosRFC]

Or...CTRL-ALT-DEL to call up Task Manager and hit the Performance tab...that will show you how much Physical Memory you have, how much has been allocated to the system cache, and how much remains.The system cache is simply the amount of physical memory allocated to map pages of open files.

The Commit Charge shows how much memory (physical and paged or swap file) is currently allocated to programs and the operating system, the limit or maximum potential memory available, and also the peak memory that has been allocated. The limit is usually the free space left on your hard disk + physical memory - nonpaged kernel memory.

Kernel Memory is that used by the operating system kernel and device drivers. Paged is memory that can be copied to the paging (or swap) file, thereby freeing the physical memory. The physical memory can then be used by the operating system. Nonpaged is memory that remains resident in physical memory and will not be copied out to the paging (or swap) file.

That page also shows if you have more than one processor fitted - select View, CPU History and then All CPU's or One per CPU. If you select the first option, and have more than one CPU, the graph will be split.

Hope that's useful to someone.

[wb]

thaks. helpful as always.

is 224mb of ram good or crap?

[mathare]

thaks. helpful as always.

is 224mb of ram good or crap?Not great. Also sounds like you actually have 256MB with the graphics card using 32MB of that.

Mind you it may be plenty of RAM depending on what you are doing on your PC

[wb]

Not great. Also sounds like you actually have 256MB with the graphics card using 32MB of that.

Mind you it may be plenty of RAM depending on what you are doing on your PC

not a lot really. mainly use it for gambling, typing essays, mp3 player etc. nothing too extravagant

[GlosRFC]

thaks. helpful as always.

is 224mb of ram good or crap?

For XP? Your second choice of word is probably the most appropriate. The amount of RAM you have is strange - I would've expected it to be 256Mb so you're missing 32Mb somewhere. That suggests you've added extra memory in the past - or else the dealer was trying to offer a higher-spec PC at a lower-spec price. As Matt points out it could also be that you have an onboard graphics controller that requires 32Mb of memory.

Microsoft claims that XP requires a minimum of 128Mb to work effectively. While it's true that XP is more efficient at using memory, bear in mind that immediately more than half of your existing memory is allocated to the operating system alone. If you use Office XP, that also requires 128Mb to work plus an additional 8Mb for each individual office program you have open. So just running a single Excel session requires 264Mb of memory! Every extra program you try to run will also require its own memory allocation.

When you have insufficient physical memory, XP will slave memory "pages" to a swap file on your hard disk. Again, if your hard disk isn't big enough then the programs won't run but, even if they are, they will run slower because of all the reading/writing to the hard disk, and you run a far greater risk of excessive wear and tear on this crucial device.

So:

Microsoft recommendation is 128Mb minimum.
Microsoft recommendation running Office is at least 256Mb.
My recommendation is that you aim for at least 1Gb. Not only will this allow you run most programs with ease and cuts down on HD usage, it's probably the single most effective upgrade you can undertake and also the cheapest.

Of course, if you're not using XP then things are a little easier:

Office on Win 98 = 24Mb + 8Mb per prog + 24Mb for OS
Office on ME = 32Mb + 8Mb per prog + 32Mb for OS
Office on 2000 = 64Mb + 8Mb per prog + 64Mb for OS

[wb]

thanks glos, yep, im using XP. seems strange alright. It just says 2800+ 2.00 Ghz 224 MB of RAM.
I never added my own memory. I got the PC from a reputable company, the ESB (state owned electricity board) on hire purchase (BAD idea) still paying for it a year later, and it was probrally well marked up. Just needed a PC at the time, and had not got the money upfront so it was a handy option.

Well, so far, it does what I want so thats the main thing i suppose :)

[GlosRFC]

not a lot really. mainly use it for gambling, typing essays, mp3 player etc. nothing too extravagant

Not too extravagant? So you record your gambling profit/losses on Excel? That's 136Mb of memory required. Essays in Word? That's another 8Mb. Software to run your MP3 Player? That's at least another 8Mb although most will want 32Mb. And do you use Window's MediaPlayer to play songs or copy them to your MP3 Player? That actually requires 256 Mb. All that before you even add XP.

So while you're tapping away at your essay, listening to The Corrs, and having the odd flutter every half hour, you're already committed to....wait for it....560Mb of RAM

[MarcusMel]

Ha :hoho: and the origional 8086 could only handel 640Kb of RAM and the dang processor is still compatible with that :geek:

[wb]

yep glos, I use all of the above! I should think of getting more memory.

Media player is a bit slow sometimes. How do you upgrade? is it expensive? do you have to physically add something.

(sorry for the dumb ass questions, but I this is my first pc, and I have never altered it before)

[GlosRFC]

Ha :hoho: and the origional 8086 could only handel 640Kb of RAM and the dang processor is still compatible with that :geek:

Original 8086's were shipped with 576Kb of RAM - should know as I signed the £3,000 cheque for the 64Kb upgrade!! But those were the days when you could get the entire OS plus Wordstar plus Supercalc plus a dozen documents on a single-sided, single density 320Kb floppy disk.


How do you upgrade? is it expensive? do you have to physically add something

Upgrading is simple. A search of this forum will reveal lots of tips just in the past couple of weeks, along with sites to visit for cheap memory modules. http://www.win2win.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=35513
In essence, it's simply a case of ensuring you buy compatible memory, undoing the case, removing the current memory modules if you don't have sufficient slots available, and RAMming it home.