RAM question

[#1]

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@daveplus wrote:
32bit or 64bit?

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The VM is running W10 as 64 bit.

The Host is a Quad core AMD FX-4300, 3.8GHz with 8GB RAM.

[#2]

@VileReynard Thanks. Same ballpark as mine

[#3]

@daveplusThanks for your time/input, and the linky.... unfortunately, apart from what you tell me... that spec lists means absolutely nothing to me ! ...

[#4]

@shutter This was the bit that seems pertinent: "Memory Specifications Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 2 GB Memory Types DDR2 667 Max # of Memory Channels 1" So it sppears that 2GB is the limit. Did Mr Memory get back to you?

[#5]

@daveplus yes .... here is the reply..

Thank you for your enquiry. I couldn’t find any information that would suggest 4Gb would work. If the maximum is 2Gb, then installing a 4Gb module just wouldn’t work unfortunately.

Which doesn`t really answer the question "why".... like.... Can I fit square wheels to my bike?answer  Yes.... but it wouldn`t work.... ! ! ! ... no explanation why it wouldn`t work ! ! ...  ( ok.. a bit silly, but you get my drift) ..

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@daveplus wrote:
@shutter This was the bit that seems pertinent: "Memory Specifications Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 2 GB Memory Types DDR2 667 Max # of Memory Channels 1" So it sppears that 2GB is the limit. Did Mr Memory get back to you?

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[#6]

@shutter It is actually more like what is the maximum volume of liquid that can go into a 2 litre container. The answer is always 2. http://www.buildcomputers.net/max-ram.html explains how the RAM limit depends on the other hardware.

[#7]

@shutter

if its got a 2gb memory stick in thats likely the best your going to get,

check aero is switched off and screen saver is disabled and it might improve the performance, the main problem is your laptop is designed around a 20 year old architecture that was cutting edge in the days of win me and nt4, realistically if you want it to work better install a less demanding operating system on it, or just replace it with something a touch newer, I often see laptops listed for under a 100 on ebay so it shouldn't be difficult to find something more current decade without breaking the bank /

[#8]

@nanotm  Thanks for your input..... Yeah. I know it`s "a bit old".... but it is not my main use laptop.... I got it, just for taking with me on hols, or if I went away to hospital, cos it is only a 10".screen and very light....  battery is good for 6 hours... so could be used where there is no convenient power point.   I don`t use it for gaming, or anything that needs fast processing. it`s a nice little machine.. but I was just wondering if I could gee it along a bit more by upping the RAM... various sources are telling me that 2GB is the max this will be able to handle.... so I guess that is really answering my original question.

I "could" put Linux Mint on it, but then the progs I use would not work, and there is no Linux equivs... (I have looked long and hard ! ).

Thanks again 

[#9]

hmm you could also try getting a usb memory stick (4gb max) and setting up readyboost iirc there generally in the sub £5 price range..

also if your system has more usb slots you might even be able to add a usb stick to act as the swap file (also called vmem) it wont be as fast as a second stick of ram would be but it also will be faster than the hard drive is so that might also improve performance, heck you might find doing the usb stick thing is actually a much cheaper more cost effective way of improving your laptop, not least of which is becasue you can just pull them out and use them on another pc with little effort lol 

[#10]

@nanotm Hmm.... that "vmem" using a USB stick sounds interesting... I have a couple of low value ones kicking around.... any instructions/info/advice on how to make it work, much appreciated.

Thanks

[#11]

It will be a flash drive & probably USB2 & hence slow - actually even slower than using your hard disk storage with the exception of when the hard disk is being heavily used.

[#12]

@VileReynard

it might be slower depending on the hard drive in question if its one of those 3500rpm drives then it will be faster, the problem as described is that theres not enough memory available to be able to type without delays before the text appears on screen that suggests that the current hardware configuration is already over taxed and so using a usbn drive might alleviate the problem

@shutter

ready boost

vmem also called page file

as VR already mentioned this might not improve the system  and then again it might, one thing to be careful of is when your setting the page file to only set it to a maximum of double your ram size, unless your doing serious editing you shouldn't need anything that large anyway and if you have more than one usb slot and a couple of 2gb or 4gb drives they will be perfect for this job (iirc if you set a drive to act as readyboost you cant use it for anything else)  another thing to be aware of is that whatever drive you choose to do this with will likely require formatting by the system so save anything thats on them somewhere else and using usb drives in this way if there not specifically designed for it (some drives were actually created as readyboost certified in years gone buy) they can die quite quickly, its been over a decade since I used readyboost though so I might be wrong / 

[#13]

@nanotm ok thanks for that... and the linkys.... will read them tomorrow,.... off to bed now...

Thanks again

[#14]

@shutter

It might be worth re-examining the suggestion of replacing your HDD with an SSD which you appear to have dismissed purely on the basis of cost earlier in the thread.

As you've said that your HDD presently has, quote "189GB free of 232GB", that demonstrates that you could get away with a much smaller device, thereby reducing the cost of the required SSD.

Your present usage from the figures above is about 43GB, and unless you anticipate needing much more than that, then a 120GB SSD would easily be sufficient. ( I ran my main PC operating system (Win7 Ultimate) and many installed programs from a 100GB SSD for several years until I replaced it with a larger one about a year ago )

As you've implied earlier that you were willing to spend £28 on RAM from China, an SSD could be a cheaper option than that!

They are frequently available at those sort of prices from e.g. Amazon (£22.97) and other online stores.  I've assumed your present HDD is a SATA device, I haven't checked prices for IDE connected SSDs.

It's usually a simple matter to clone your existing HDD to the SSD (so you wouldn't need to re-install everything), although depending on what software you use for this, it may be necessary to reduce the size of your existing C: partition to fit the capacity of the SSD.

An additional benefit of using an SSD is lower power consumption, and you can always remove it for re-use if you ever dispose of the laptop.

Edited for punctuation

[#15]

@RobPN

you shouldn't clone a spinning disk to a ssd since it often causes problems

on top of that an ssd wont actually be any better than a marginally faster hdd since its still limited by the sata bus speed which whilst listed as a large sounding "up to 3Gb/s" is actually 300mega bytes per second (300MB/s) which in the real world clocks in around 145MB/s transfer speeds for read/write (bi directional) the 300 figure refers to the total data bandwidth available... most spinning disks(in laptops) run around 5400rpm which amazingly gives them slightly wider bandwidth (higher performance) than the bus is capable of handling....

ergo an SSD would be a waste of money since it could not make use of its faster performance (normally around the 550 MB/s read / 300 MB/s write....

it wouldn't even be worth putting in a faster hard drive unless he had one of the old things that runs at a sub 5400 rpm speed (I recently got rid of a few 3500 rpm drives that I found hiding in a cupboard) 

the only options that are have a chance of effecting performance are customising windows and maybe adding a USB booster and thats mostly because like the majority of cheap laptops its old and slow (they were old and slow when they were first released in a lot of cases due to utilising prior generation architecture and without the expansion options) this lack of upgradeability is the primary reason why I dislike laptops ...