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More is better! NOTOct 17 '00 (Updated Oct 28 '00) Write an essay on this topic.Sorry for the obnoxious title, but when it comes to RAM, more is not necessarily better. First the obvious reason: cost. If you're not making full use of your current RAM, the performance benefits of more RAM will be almost zero. I know someone who bought 256 megs RAM for a "faster system", but I later discovered she was almost never even using half that RAM during real-world use. She basically did nothing but waste $150 on 128 megs of unused RAM. As for how I knew she was only using about half the RAM, I used the handy Windows utility "System Monitor". If you're interested in learning how to use it, see the section below on "Determining Your RAM needs". The second reason: more RAM can sometimes decrease performance, not increase it. And I'm not referring to the "Windows can only handle 64 megs of RAM" myth (which was a limitation of many early Pentium motherboards, not Windows). Of course, slowdown due to 'too much RAM' only becomes noticeable in the 256+ meg range, which is more than most PC users have, but any time you simply have far too much RAM it can theoretically decrease system performance for several reasons: -Regardless of how much RAM you have, your CPU has to constantly monitor and "refresh" that RAM. With larger amounts of RAM, it will consume slightly higher amounts of CPU processing power just to keep that RAM running. -Your L1 and L2 cache must be "spread out" over a greater area, potentially resulting in more "cache misses" and decreased cache performance -Any time you have extra unused components in your PC, those components are little more than an extra heat source that you don't need. RAM modules don't produce nearly as much heat as components like CPU's, video cards, or hard drives, but if you have huge amounts of of unused RAM, that heat can add up and potentially make a noticeable impact. Especially if you're overclocking your system and want the the most system stability possible, you want to get rid of as many excess heat sources as possible such as unused RAM. Determining Your RAM Needs To first get an accurate picture of your RAM needs, you will want to set your computer to "conservative" swapfile use. This basically means your computer will not waste its time using the swapfile (AKA "virtual RAM") when it doesn't need to, since the swapfile is not only much slower than actual RAM, but it's a waste of CPU processing power since Windows has to continually re-size the swapfile depending on how much you need (see the first comment on this article for a tip on how to prevent that). Instead, by setting your PC to "conservative", your PC will use all available RAM before it resorts to using the swapfile. Many people think that's how it already works, but in reality it hasn't been this way since Windows 95 (Lord knows why). Recent versions of Windows tend to use the swapfile even when there's plenty of RAM available. Note that this step is purely optional, and non-advanced users may want to skip it, although it will give you a better idea of your RAM needs and improve system performance. First do a search/find for a file on your C: drive called "SYSTEM.INI". Open the file, and right below where it says [386Enh], insert the line: ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 Then save the file and reboot your system. You've now set your system to "conservative" swapfile usage. Now load System Monitor, and click Edit-->Add Item-->Memory Manager-->Unused Physical Memory and click OK. Do the same thing again, but this time select the "Swapfile in use" item. You will now have two "charts" that are continuously being updated in realtime, one showing how much RAM is free and the other showing how much swapfile your system is using (feel free to experiment with other "items" too to get a better idea of your PC's inner-workings; most of the item names are pretty self-explanatory). Now go ahead and start using your PC! Load up multiple apps, just as if you were using your PC normally. If you usually have your email client, multiple browser windows, notepad, etc. open at the same time, go ahead and simulate those conditions. You can pretty much load any application you want, while System Monitor keeps running in the background. Periodically check the System Monitor, paying attention to how low the Unused Physical Memory dips, and if there are any significant increases in your swapfile. If that swapfile chart remains "flat", that means your current amount of RAM is fine. Even if your free RAM get pretty close to zero, that's basically how Windows manages its available RAM; it doesn't actually mean you're "running out of RAM" as long as the swapfile chart remains flat. In addition, if you find that unused physical memory never dips below a certain amount, you already have too much RAM! When I used System Monitor on my friend's system, her free RAM never even dipped below 120 megs. Personally, I have 128 megs in my primary system I've found that amount to be "just right" for most of my needs. Even with 10+ Internet Explorer windows, my email client, Notepad windows, Winamp, and my SETI@Home client running full-blast simultaneously, System Monitor shows no swapfile access whatsoever. Of course there are certainly times when more than 128 megs can be invaluable, ex. editing 100+ meg Photoshop or Freehand files, doing video editing and MPEG encoding on your PC, 3D rendering, etc. Besides those exceptions, however, 128 megs is typically the "sweet spot" for most Windows users. Of course, it should be noted that System Monitor is designed to measure the RAM needs of non-game applications. Games tend to have their own ways of using all the RAM you have available, although I have yet to find a game that doesn't run perfectly fine with 128 megs. Some people experience improved performance in certain games all the way to 256+ megs, but even with the most intense games available, by buying anything above 128 megs you're still facing diminishing returns. IMPORTANT UPDATE: Even if more RAM is not necessarily better, right now may be the ideal time to stock up. RAM prices have recently reached an all-time low, and prices may be increasing very soon if RAM manufacturers cut back on supply. I said the same thing last March, right before RAM prices doubled over the course of the summer. To quote a 10/27/00 story from The Register, "Spot prices of the benchmark 64Mb DRAM fell through the floor today, hitting a record low in Asia, of $4 per PC100-flavoured chip, the Korea Herald reports. This is getting perilously close to break-even territory, and if prices don't rise soon, Korean DRAM makers will consider cutting back on production, in order to shore up next year's price projections" Thanks for reading, -vicwang  |
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