What's a good amount of memory for Windows XP?

I have a Dell desktop that's 4 years old. It only has 512 MB memory and I was going to upgrade it. Is 1 GB a good amount for XP? It's used for internet and Photoshop. I don't play games on it. I'd be doubling it but is that a fair amount to get the job done?

the more the better for photoshop ya can get 4 gigs a ddr2 for like 35 bucks now

Yes, due to the low price you might as well get the get 4G regardless of whether you'll use it or not. Windows XP won't support the full 4 if you're using 32 bit. I believe it will use about 3gigs of the 4 that's installed. I can't remember the exact number and I think it varies from system to system. With 64 bit windows you can run as much memory as the MB will hold.

Photoshop is a memory intensive program so go with the 4 Gigs. Sure XP won't be able to use all of it (last I hear XP can only see 3.5 Gigs out of the 4) but it would be useful to have more than less.

I checked with Crucial and it will run $171.69 for 4 GB compaired to $29.95 to add 512 MB to get me 1 GB.

Where should I look to get these low prices that have been mentioned?

XP Home or XP Professional?

i use 2GB on Pro and that's plenty for my uses. gamers, numerical analysis, 3D modeling/design may need more.

a 32 bit address space can directly address a bit over 4GB (2^32 ~= 4.3G).

half-watt said:

XP Home or XP Professional?

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XP home

i dont know what mem u use but i assume its ddr2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211188

raggie33 said:

i dont know what mem u use but i assume its ddr2

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It says DDR. Nothing about DDR 2.

First off see how much maximum RAM the system can take, and also what type. If DDR, then it's probably 2GB or 3GB. If DDR2, then it could be 4GB or more. Regardless of the maximum amount of RAM your motherboard can use, no sense going above 4GB because that's the maximum for your OS (actually it'll see less than that).

Now once you find out what type and how much RAM you can use, you'll find the best prices at newegg.com. As a general rule, DDR costs more than DDR2, but it's still cheap enough for you to max out your system. For example, DDR goes for less than $30 for a 1 GB stick. 4GB of DDR2 (2x2GB sticks) will run you around $45. Either way, it won't break the bank. Nowadays when someone inherits an older but serviceable system I just advise them to max out the RAM. No sense not to given how inexpensive it is.

sbebenelli said:

It says DDR. Nothing about DDR 2.

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Check Dells specs. for your system.
I have some Dell DDR 400 I could part with very cheap,..2 X 512mb.
{184 pin PC3200}

PM me

if it's 4 years old, then it's probably DDR (not DDR2 ram)

old DDR ram is pretty expensive, with an old computer like that, you'd probably be fine with 1 or 2GB.

sbebenelli said:

I have a Dell desktop that's 4 years old. It only has 512 MB memory and I was going to upgrade it. Is 1 GB a good amount for XP? It's used for internet and Photoshop. I don't play games on it. I'd be doubling it but is that a fair amount to get the job done?

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I'd go with at least 2GB if you're going to use Photoshop. Spending $70 to run ~$800 software well seems reasonable to me How about start with the 2GB kit (2 x 1GB), and if your usage patterns are running the system out of memory with 2GB, you can throw in another 2GB kit, although you'll only get 1.25-1.5GB of it available when you're on 32-bit Windows.

With some motherboard chipsets, it's possible to run an unbalanced memory setup, such as a matched set of 2 x 1GB modules combined with a matched set of 2 x 512MB modules, for 3GB total.

On a different note: if your Dell doesn't have a dedicated video card, and is using onboard video instead, then consider at least a basic add-in video card. The onboard video competes with the CPU for memory capacity and memory bandwidth.

Edited.

OK. 512MB is not enough. 1G is kinda little, just ok for light job. 2G is ok in most non-intensive jobs. 3.2G is the max XP 32bit can support.

IG DDR ram is about $40. If you add 3G, that's over $100, and you still have the same old system.
If you go for 4G DDR2 memory with new CPU, mainboard, that will cost you about $200. That's something to think about.

If you can score a stick of 512M or 1G memory at dirt cheap price, go for it. Otherwise, think about other options and save money for it.

sbebenelli, perhaps Linux + GIMP is a better option? :devil:
WinXP + Photoshop will make your rig crawl with any image larger than HiDef resolution at 1GiB of RAM.
A short checklist:
- What type of RAM (DDR/DDR2/SDRAM): so yours is DDR, checked!
- Compatibility of RAM - speed, channel configurations?
- Maximum RAM supported by your mainboard BIOS?

for XP Home, i would not go anything above 3GiB as the OS and/or process may not see anything above that due to 32-bit Windows' process addressable space. A typical process/application in XP Home may only get a maximum of ~1.7GiB.

mechBgon is right, if yours is running onboard videocard with shared RAM, you should definitely consider getting a dedicated video card, your Photoshop will love you for that.

I'll second the Linux + GIMP, or Linux + Photoshop setup. (Not too hard to set up with a little help)

I've been using GIMP and Photoshop on Linux for a couple years now, and I won't go back to Windows.

Thanks everyone for your input. Before this thread I didn't know anything about memory. I learned I had DDR and the newer machines have DDR 2. I ended up getting 2 GB at Newegg for $47.99 shipped after rebate.

This should keep my desktop in service for awhile. I just couldn't see buying a new one yet. I also got rid of the dinosaur of a monitor and got a flat screen. What a huge difference.

Glad to hear you found something that worked!

With Windows XP and 2 GB of RAM you should consider disabling paging so your computer performs better.

I don't know why Windows always do paging even if it still has a lot of RAM memory free. By disabling paging your computer runs much faster since it is not constantly writing RAM memory information to the hard drive (doing paging).

linterno said:

With Windows XP and 2 GB of RAM you should consider disabling paging so your computer performs better.

I don't know why Windows always do paging even if it still has a lot of RAM memory free. By disabling paging your computer runs much faster since it is not constantly writing RAM memory information to the hard drive (doing paging).

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+1

I started to disable paging once I went to 768MB with my older Windows 98 system. I've been disabling it on my XP system from day one. With 2GB or more of RAM paging generally isn't needed. Rarely do I use even half of my 3GB of physical RAM. Paging seems to be a throwback to the early days when RAM was terribly expensive.