[dba-Tech] upgrading RAM

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Apr 7 08:28:55 CDT 2008


Susan,

I recommend 1 gig at a MINIMUM for Windows XP.  XP itself uses at around 256
megs all by itself.  If you throw in Antiviruses, software firewalls,
malware detectors and the like... well you get the picture.  If you
multitask heavily (access, word and Office plus Outlook all open at the same
time) then you should have much more.  

If you want to run VMs then you will need more.  Depending on what you want
to run inside of the VM, I would recommend at LEAST an additional 500 megs /
VM, probably 750 Megs / VM to be on the safe side - those will be the
amounts that you give the VM.  Most people will not multi-task heavily
inside of a VM, they tend to be used mostly for testing a program against a
specific OS, so the memory requirements usually won't be as extreme as a
developer's main machine.  If you use a lot of memory in the VM then
obviously you will need more memory for that VM, however you will quickly
run into a limit of how many VMs you can have going at the same time, not
that most of us run a lot of them simultaneously.  BTW, more cores helps the
speed of VMs.  I would HIGHLY recommend at least a dual core and a quad core
if you really get into the VM thing heavily.

Windows comes to a screeching halt when it starts hitting the swap file,
which it sounds like yours is doing.  Memory is CHEAP (at least for DDR2
800) and can guarantee you will never hit the swap file under normal
circumstances.

What kind of memory you need will depend on how old your machine is.
Anything produced in about the last 4 years or so uses the DDR2, otherwise
it could be the DDR.  The DDR is no longer as cheap as the DDR2 because of
declining demand.

I use the following inexpensive brands and can recommend them:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

If you anticipate running X64 systems and 8 gigs (seems unlikely given your
question)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211188

If your machine runs DDR then I do not have any specific recommendations
other than perhaps:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231047
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211014

Newegg is a reliable and "best price" supplier that I have used for many
years and probably 20K dollars.  

I get nothing for recommending them and they are privately held so I don't
own stock etc.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com 
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Susan Harkins
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 9:01 AM
To: DBA Tech List
Subject: [dba-Tech] upgrading RAM

<http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/viewscanbyid.aspx?id=F3E2AAC431D926C3>

I'm running on 256MB, which is adequate, I can certainly work, but there are
days when everything grinds to a screeching halt. I want to upgrade so I can
run a virtual machine with Office 2003 on one and Office 2007 on the other.
I don't really have any other needs -- no special software, I don't do any
desktop publishing -- nothing like that. 

Recommendations? 

Susan H. 
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