# Will 1 Gig of RAM rock my computing world, or just waste money? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388 "2005-01-12T14:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/21 "2005-01-13T01:26:05Z")
[ > [@](#): > > Qoute=Carnac the Magnificent!]My brother recently added more RAM to his 2.3 Ghz (clock speed) Dell machine, bringing it up to 1 Gig of RAM and pronouncing that it gives a notably faster, more pleasant computing experience. Follow my lead, he said. > > My current PC is a 2 gigahertz Dell with 512 RAM. I run mainly MS Word and Excel, though I recently got a digital camera and will be horsing around with Photoshop. I also play with MS Publisher, from time to time and run music by way of Windows Media Player. Unless someone triples my IQ, I doubt I will be doing all of this simultaneously. > > Questions: > > 1. When I have an open Word document and Windows Media Player is playing, the CD drive is constantly revved up to speed. The noise is irritating. Will 1 Gig of RAM change this? (If not, what will?) no > [@](#): > > 1. Running AVG anti-virus while listening to Media Player really slows the machine down. Will 1 Gig of RAM change that much? no > [@](#): > > 1. What changes large or small will I notice? Few if any > [@](#): > > Somewhere on this board, a seemingly knowledgeable poster claimed that the biggest increase is often from more RAM, not a somewhat faster clock speed. Correct? Only if the machine does not have enough baseline memory. 512 megs is more than enough for the vast majority of processes the machine would have to handle. The number of situations where going beyond 512 megs RAM is going to make a substantive difference are relatively few and far between. Some PC tweakers are getting to be like audiophiles re the perceived impact of a change on their setup. ---
**Author:** ![Domokun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Domokun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Domokun)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/22 "2005-01-13T01:34:28Z")
Just noticed I wrote threshing in place of thrashing… twice. Oh dear, the monitor pixies will never let that one lie. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/23 "2005-01-13T01:42:16Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > How do you do this? What OS are you using? I know next to nothing about Winows. A google search shows this: [http://www.cenatek.com/product\_ramdisk.cfm](http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm) I’m not recommending that product at all. That’s the first result I got from the search(“ramdisk”). There may be support for this built into Windows by default. I have no clue how you would check, though. Actually, now that I think of it, I’m not sure how effective this would be for Windows. Faster for sure, but with linux or BSD the entire graphics system/windowing can be contained in RAM, along with the web browser, word program, etc. The hard drive is almost never touched, except VM handling. I know IE is integrated into windows in such a way that it might not be worth having the binary exist in RAM all the time(it’s pre-loaded anyway, IIRC). Not to mention, I don’t know if you can specify the location of your system libraries with windows. Could be that they have to be in one of the WINDOWS subdirectories(SYSTEM?). I don’t know, so I’ll shutup 😉 On linux, with a 850mhz Intel Pentium III, you can expect practically instantaneous responsiveness if you have everything on a RAM disk. I’m guessing it’s between 5 and 10 times faster than a physical drive, from a user’s perspective. If you run linux/BSD, I can tell you how to do this. If you are running windows… then I can’t help you, and you have my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/24 "2005-01-13T02:41:07Z")
The odds of you being able to tell the difference between 512 MB and 1024 MB are slim, based on the app load you describe. To the extent that you are doing audio/visual production work, or scientific computing… I’ll be wrong. Also, given the efficiency of Windows XP’s virtual memory algorithm, unless you have an application that ABSOLUTELY, 100%, MUST LOAD INSTANTLY or else life support systems and weapons control will fail, you’re wasting your time trying to set up a RAM drive. RAM drives are nice toys for geeks, but you’d be AMAZED at how good XP is at having the bytes you really need in RAM when you need them. Ever since 95/98/ME obsoleted, actually, Windows has been very good about that. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/25 "2005-01-13T02:51:55Z")
\*\* Carnac the Magnificent! \*\* Run. Don’t walk. Ok well I guess you can just click [here](http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) and download iTunes. It blows WMP out of the water in terms of playing music. It allows you to import CDs (store them on your hard drive) and automatically catagorizes your music genre-\>artist-\>album. In 10 seconds I can get to any of my thousands of songs on my computer. It runs perfectly in the background on my nearly identical system to yours. The only complaint I have is that it takes a bit long to load up sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/26 "2005-01-13T02:54:03Z")
> [@ninetypercent](#): > > If you are running windows… then I can’t help you, and you have my sympathy. Because you know better than the Windows Memory Mangement team, I suppose? For any number of rebuttals to your (mostly irrelevant) arguments, search the Ars Technica forums for “pagefile” or “virtual memory”. It’s been beaten to death there. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/27 "2005-01-13T03:00:46Z")
> [@treis](#): > > \*\* Carnac the Magnificent! \*\* > > Run. Don’t walk. Ok well I guess you can just click [here](http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) and download iTunes. It blows WMP out of the water in terms of playing music. It allows you to import CDs (store them on your hard drive) and automatically catagorizes your music genre-\>artist-\>album. In 10 seconds I can get to any of my thousands of songs on my computer. It runs perfectly in the background on my nearly identical system to yours. The only complaint I have is that it takes a bit long to load up sometimes. AND it has a crappy UI and uses _even more_ memory than WMP, which can also import CDs, categorize your music and allow access to your songs in under 10 seconds. But I’m glad to see the ABM brigade is still in full swing at the SDMB. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/28 "2005-01-13T03:13:55Z")
> [@Domokun](#): > > Just noticed I wrote threshing in place of thrashing… twice. Oh dear, the monitor pixies will never let that one lie. :smack: Didn’t Itchy Junior look happy playing with his father? And didn’t Scratchy Junior look happy playing with his dad until they got run over by the thresher? /Krusty ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/29 "2005-01-13T04:40:21Z")
> [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > AND it has a crappy UI and uses _even more_ memory than WMP, which can also import CDs, categorize your music and allow access to your songs in under 10 seconds. > > But I’m glad to see the ABM brigade is still in full swing at the SDMB. :rolleyes: ::lifts hand slowly and cautiously:: I’m a Mac user, and love the Mac and could be described as a Mac zealot, but I reallly really detest iTunes. I do not need an application that thinks it knows better than me how to organize my playlists or where to put my music files! I use Audion. It rips nicely, plays whatever you point it at, and is cross-platform (i.e, runs on MacOS 9 and MacOS X, both of the viable platforms 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/30 "2005-01-13T04:44:48Z")
I run XP on a 2.6G P4 and the recent switch from 512 to 1G has increased my speed by a ton. After leaving World of Warcraft, it would take me 40 sec to a minute to reload the desktop. Now it’s more like 5-10 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/31 "2005-01-13T05:09:31Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > For media player, I prefer [Media Player Classic](http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/) which at first look strongly resembles the old media player from W95. It’s GNU open license and can handle just about any format. I wholeheartedly second this recommendation. MPC is great. I know i’ve made the same suggestion in one or two other threads recently, but i’m gonna say it again: i use the following set-up for video, and highly recommend it: [Media Player Classic](http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358) [ffdshow](http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow) [RealAlternative](http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm) [QuicktimeAlternative](http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm) This is a completely open source, free setup. Media Player Classic is, as **Gaspode** says, a great open source player with an interface based on the older Windows Media Player. The ffdshow codec library will let you play just about any video or audio you’re likely to encounter, either from files on your local computer, or from streaming sites; it also means you can avoid downloading some of the rather dodgy codec files that are running around on the internet. The RealAlternative and QuicktimeAlternative programs allow you to view Real and Quicktime files and streams without having the nagging bloated crap that is Real and (to a lesser extent) Quicktime on your computer. Media Player Classic will also play DVDs with no problem at all, allowing you to avoid other crappy DVD players like PowerDVD. I still don’t use MPC for music, though. I prefer the organizational and music management setup of WinAmp. > [@treis](#): > > Ok well I guess you can just click [here](http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/) and download iTunes. It blows WMP out of the water in terms of playing music. Given that this thread is largely about RAM issues, i’m gonna add my voice to those who aren’t especially impressed with iTunes. I don’t like its interface that much anyway, but, more importantly, it uses considerably more memory than WinAmp. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/32 "2005-01-13T11:32:02Z")
> [@Jonathan Woodall](#): > > Also, given the efficiency of Windows XP’s virtual memory algorithm, unless you have an application that ABSOLUTELY, 100%, MUST LOAD INSTANTLY or else life support systems and weapons control will fail, you’re wasting your time trying to set up a RAM drive. RAM drives are nice toys for geeks, but you’d be AMAZED at how good XP is at having the bytes you really need in RAM when you need them. Ever since 95/98/ME obsoleted, actually, Windows has been very good about that. Ha, yeah right. As I sit right now, I have 160MB/512MB free in memory yet windows is using 294MB of my swap file. Switching to another application takes about 5 seconds of thrashing since it was paged out yet the programs I’m currently using should easily be able to fit into physical memory. Windows, for better or for worse, is hyper aggressive at keeping RAM free and dumping whatever it can into the swap, even if that’s not neccesarily what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/33 "2005-01-13T12:03:32Z")
Kill the swap file f you have sufficient memory. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/34 "2005-01-13T15:08:34Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > Kill the swap file f you have sufficient memory. Can this be easily explained? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/35 "2005-01-14T16:43:50Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Ha, yeah right. As I sit right now, I have 160MB/512MB free in memory yet windows is using 294MB of my swap file. Switching to another application takes about 5 seconds of thrashing since it was paged out yet the programs I’m currently using should easily be able to fit into physical memory. > > Windows, for better or for worse, is hyper aggressive at keeping RAM free and dumping whatever it can into the swap, even if that’s not neccesarily what you want. Shalmanese, Out of curiousity, what apps were you running when you wrote that post? I agree that XP does not always do what _YOU_ want. It does, however, have a very, very sophisticated memory management algorithm, and usually when you see it keeping RAM free, it’s to avoid having rapid RAM consumption drive you into a state where you’re sitting there for way more than 5 seconds waiting for it to finish thrashing. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/36 "2005-01-14T17:21:30Z")
The big ones were Mozilla, Trillian and MS Visual Studio but there are also a few smallish ones that I keep hanging around as well. I regularly see thrashing and general sulkiness with windows that lasts a prolonged period of time (at least 30 seconds) even though my memory usage is such that there really should be no thrashing. I think the MM might be fine if you use significantly more memory than you have and is probably fine if you use significantly less but it fails at the point where your working set is only slightly bigger than your physical memory. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388/37 "2005-01-14T18:36:26Z")
I’ve been meaning to upgrade to 1gb of ram myself, but my situation is a little different. Due to some older (but very good) audio gear that doesn’t run on XP, I have a dual boot 98/XP machine. I’ve read the 98 uses only up to 512, and anything above is useless. My main concern is if 1gb of ram would simply be ignored by 98 or cause system instability. I know there’s a way to go in a specify the amount that 98 can see, but to be honest I’d rather plug the mem in and do nothing extra. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-1-gig-of-ram-rock-my-computing-world-or-just-waste-money/284388.md?page=1)