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Just out of curiosity, what's the maximum amount of RAM anyone's ever got to work in a ME box?
I've got 1024MB, and I know of two other people who have as well.
Has anyone gone better?
I find it hard to believe that more memory would help, but I've still got two DIMM slots free... :D
At 1GB you are starting to push the limits. I "think" that I have seen someone (not many) who have indicated they have 1.5 installed.
Adding more (if it runs) will most likely give you nothing more, than more free ram.
Run SYSMON and monitor memory usage. It will give you a feel for whether more will have any affect. If you currently run with memory free all the time, adding more will have no benefit.
I'm not about to waste money on more RAM. DDR400 is not cheap.
All the same, I am curious.
:confused: Hello: Window$ MickeyMouse Edition [ME] has an upper limit of 512 MB of usable Ram regardless of configuration or inter-chip transfer speed (i.e. RDRAM, DDRRAM, PC400, PC800, etc.). Just like any version of Win9.x, the OS is DOS based, and has two choke points built-in of 64K each.Quote:
Originally posted by Spiny
Just out of curiosity, what's the maximum amount of RAM anyone's ever got to work in a ME box?
I find it hard to believe that more memory would help, but I've still got two DIMM slots free... :D
Depending on the OEM version of your OS, more than 512MB is overkill and could lead to lock ups, and even out of memory error messages. If it runs OK with 1024, just know that the system will not allow cache file sizes greater than 384MB. In many cases just updating Win ME to a good AGP graphics card with 128MB of onboard RAM will cause system lock ups as it tries to allocate files to this much space.
The Micro$oft Knowledge Base article # 304943 "Max Ram Size Problems" should help with your understanding of this issue. Also, some OEM versions of ME with lots of RAM have made numerous settings (to be found in MSCONFIG, Win.ini and System.ini tabs) changes to settings like... Stack Pages, vcache Max and Min file sizes, MaxPhysPage entries, and ConservativeSwapFileUsage registery entries.
In my book, Win ME likes no more than 512 MB of RAM, and a graphics card with no more than 64MB of onboard memory. Beyond this, the OS can not really make use of any more RAM. Save your $$$$$$$$$ for another hardware device; or better, a fresh 80GB/7200 Hard Drive and a Full CD Install of Win XP PRO.
regards,
spqr33
:D
PS: Love your Avatar
There is no 512mb upper limit to the ram ME (OEM or retail) can handle. Problems can arise (as Whitphil mentioned) when you get above 1gb. But memory between 512 and 1gb will be used if needed. You do want to limit the vcache to no more than a max size of 512mb, but that is not a big deal. And as for graphics card memory... Here again, there is nothing inherent in ME that says graphics cards with more than 64mb of ram won't work or produce benefits.
ME is Malfunction Edition, not Micky Mouse Edition. Or maybe it's "Many Errors" ;)
I already have a Radeon 9700 Pro with 128MB, as well as 1024MB of PC3200 running in dual channel mode.
No problems at all.
I've seen Windows address more than 512MB (RazorLame), but it hasn't used the swapfile yet. :)
I've read the KB article, and I have custom Vcache settings.
I don't really want to downgrade my 120GB 7200rpm 8MB cache HDD to an 80GB. ;)
I'll switch to XP when I get an Athlon 64. That's not going to be any time soon.
I don't actually intend to put any more memory in the PC (I'm saving my ££££££), but I'd like to know if anyone has actually exceeded the apparent 1024MB limit.
Maybe I should have posted a poll instead.
You're the first to comment on my avatar. Thanks. :D
Hey, thanks for the come back. I'm not a systems hacker and will not disagree with you on specific issues. But the Microsoft Support Techs and those fine folks at Dell Support will. Their almost adamant insistance to me was not to go beyond 512 MB Ram, graphics cards (I have an ATI Radeon 9500 EX64) over 64MB onboard memory, and Hard Drives over 80GB in size. Why? ; don't know. But I have a bunch of printed out communications from them with specific settings details to prove it.Quote:
Originally posted by DrMDJ
There is no 512mb upper limit to the ram ME (OEM or retail) can handle. Problems can arise (as Whitphil mentioned) when you get above 1gb. But memory between 512 and 1gb will be used if needed. You do want to limit the vcache to no more than a max size of 512mb, but that is not a big deal. And as for graphics card memory... Here again, there is nothing inherent in ME that says graphics cards with more than 64mb of ram won't work or produce benefits.
But when I limit my Ram usage to 384MB (I have 4 128MB RDRAM-PC800 chip sets), my system froze or locked up much less often than when set for full 512MB Ram. Especially when playing intensive flight simulators. I have made numerous settings changes in MSCONFIG as well (including limiting Restore space), all following the M$ KB articles to minimize lock ups and/or memory errors. It works for me, and several others who inquired similarly in this forum in the past.
Hey, if Win ME really can USE more than 512MB Ram, I for one would be very interested to learn the specifics of how and why. I love to fly flight simulators and do graphics presentations, so the increase in Ram would really be of benefit. Perhaps I should not believe all of the published M$ or Dell tech articles? Perhaps they are too conservative?
Regards,
spqr33
:cool:
Set your VCache for the required amount of memory, then put the extra RAM in. If you put the RAM in first, Windows might not be stable enough to allow you to change the VCache settings.
Details attached.
:DQuote:
Originally posted by Spiny
Set your VCache for the required amount of memory, then put the extra RAM in. If you put the RAM in first, Windows might not be stable enough to allow you to change the VCache settings.
Details attached.
My dear friend with the cool avatar. Now why didn't the techs at M$ or Dell have this available. I'll give it a try and let you know if it improves the video on my favorite flight simm, M$ Combat Flight Simulator 3, The battle for Europe.
Regards,
spqr33
:)
Regardless of what Windows will support, I doubt you will actually see much performance boost with anything above 512...
You're right of course, unless you're doing something really memory intensive, like video editing.
Games just don't need that much memory - yet.
The huge VCache does speed things up enormously. Programs load straight out of ram (the second time). You can get that with 512MB though.
;)Quote:
Originally posted by Spiny
You're right of course, unless you're doing something really memory intensive, like video editing.
Games just don't need that much memory - yet.
The huge VCache does speed things up enormously. Programs load straight out of ram (the second time). You can get that with 512MB though.
I probably should have started another thread on this topic. Hey Spiny, took your advice and found much inproved performance. But rapmaster was right, any settings above 512MB did not show any improvement. I went higher and tried to play the subject flight simm. no noticable performance increase, but setting it up to 512MB and other complimentary settings did the trick.
Too bad the techs at M$ and Dell follow the company line on msconfig settings max/min's. Did the following:
set Max/MinPagingFileSize to 307200 (300mB); MinSPs=48; MaxPhysPage to 3C000 (960Mb) and selected to set Virtual Memory to these limits; set ChunckSize to 4096 (32MB) from a MSCSE on another forum who said "what have you got to loose?"; and PagingDrive to C:.
In CFS-3, some missions have a lot of ground flack and with the air bursts, the video response can get quite choppy at times 'till I fly through the flack. This last test mission, the graphics were quite smooth and flight controls were very responsive.
Thanks a bunch. Hope these posts can help someone else with their memory management problems.
Regards,
spqr33
:D
Glad to be of service.
Going back on topic, I seem to recall the maximum memory for 98 and Me was supposed to be 1.5GB. Not that it would really help, but I'd still love to know if anyone has tried it.