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Main Area and Open Discussion => Living Room => Topic started by: MerleOne on November 18, 2009, 03:13 AM

Title: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: MerleOne on November 18, 2009, 03:13 AM

Hi,

I am about to get a new PC at work.  I currently have a rather old machine running XP Pro with 512KB.  I have asked to get a 2GB machine (running also XP Pro) but the IT team insists on saying that 1GB is enough.

I would like to provide them some usage data showing that 2GB will be better, but using only my current config.  I am not sure what I could send them, something such as

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

I intend to load all apps I use at the same time (office 2003 + some specific apps + utilities such as ... FARR)

Could someone recommend and tool and the parameters that would demonstrate my point (is it's the case).

Thanks.

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: f0dder on November 18, 2009, 07:36 AM

Considering how inexpensive RAM is, wtf is your IT team thinking? :o

1GB might be enough for you, though - I ran that pretty comfortable with WinXP for quite a while, without paging file, but still running relatively heavy applications such as Visual Studio, and even games.

You might have to do with 1GB to start with, but then run performance tests and see what your pagefile usage is under heavy load, and use that as an argument to get the machine upgraded later on.

PS: seems like ebooster is really dragging down your system :)

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: mouser on November 18, 2009, 08:47 AM

it's incomprehensible to buy a new pc with only 1gb -- it might run ok most of the time, but the fact that you want to keep some big applications running at the same time suggested you could really benefit from the memory.  hard to imagine a cheaper way to improve your pc's performance and keep it usable in the future than getting 2gb instead of 1gb.  this is a no-brainer.

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: MerleOne on November 18, 2009, 10:11 AM

Sure, but actually they don't buy new machines any longer, or very few.  They recycle within the company...  Recent machines were bought with 2GB, but older ones only came with 1GB, or even less.

Also, I don't use heavy applications, but a lot of "medium" ones.  And when our admins decide(at least once a day) it's time for a windows update or mcafee update, I can go get a coffee without hesitation...

Regarding eBoostr, I probably made the window capture just at the wrong moment, since I feel it improves a bit the overall usage of my current machine, especially by reducing virtual memory access and HDD trashing.  But I may be wrong on that.

Thanks !

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: rgdot on November 18, 2009, 10:24 AM

Start watching ustream streams using Firefox  :P on 2 different XPs it tops 3D CAD software if I watch a stream for more than half hour or so and it keeps rising

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: mouser on November 18, 2009, 10:28 AM

Sure, but actually they don't buy new machines any longer, or very few.  They recycle within the company...

ok that makes more sense -- so your IT people are not completely insane.

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: MerleOne on November 18, 2009, 10:46 AM

Start watching ustream streams using Firefox  :P on 2 different XPs it tops 3D CAD software if I watch a stream for more than half hour or so and it keeps rising

-rgdot (November 18, 2009, 10:24 AM)

A codec memory loss ?

Title: Re: Tricky memory size tuning question
Post by: rgdot on November 18, 2009, 11:22 AM

Start watching ustream streams using Firefox  :P on 2 different XPs it tops 3D CAD software if I watch a stream for more than half hour or so and it keeps rising

-rgdot (November 18, 2009, 10:24 AM)

A codec memory loss ?

-MerleOne (November 18, 2009, 10:46 AM)

I have seen posts and comments, both anecdotal and somewhat more precise, regarding flash and Firefox