RAM upgrade gone bad???

  • Thread starter Thread starter frist44
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frist44

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Is it possible to almost triple the amount of RAM you have and your computer be subsequently slower????

I had 128 megs of RAM and just recently pulled two of the 32 mb chips and installed two more 128 mb chips to bring me up to 320 mb from the previous 128 mb. The memory is made by kingston and i got a good deal with rebate and everything.

My computer just hasn't seemed like it's been the same since i did it. I'm gonna pull those two new chips and see if it goes back to being how it used to be in the next few days, but is there a sure way to go when buying ram. i figured it was all the same, but i guess i'm wrong.

Has anyone had anything similar happen to them?

Thanks,
Brandon
 
Hmmm, sounds to me like either a swap file problem or a motherboard issue. Is your system accessing the hard drive a lot more? Check your virtual memory settings. They should be set to either "let windows manage size" or manually set to at least the amount of memory you have. Also, some motherboards just don't seem to work right with certain DIMMs in certain slots, or a particular combination. I would try different combinations and make sure you're not mixing SDRAM and EDO or something like that. Post your full system specs, BTW.


Slack,

I thought of that too, but the least amount of memory that modern systems can cache is 512MB, AFAIK.
 
system specs

PII 400 mhz
10 gb maxtor 5400 hd for OS
30 gb maxtor 7200 hd for audio
ATA 100 maxtor controller card
320 mb RAM
virtual memory set to "let windows manage size"

I think i will first try and pull the new memory out and restore my previous configuration and see if it's faster. If it is i may try to swap the positions.

I think right now it's set up:
slot1: 64 mb
slot2: 128 mb
slot3: 128 mb

I'll try and put the two 128 mb sticks in the first and second postion.

Thanks for the ideas,
Brandon
 
I have a 400Mhz machine that can only cache 128MB!

Slackmaster 2000
 
Is there somewhere I can see how much my machine can cache???

Let me know.

Also if it is similar to yours slack, does it hurt to have more in there or would it be more desirable to have the max your machine can cache, 128 Mb in your case and possibly mine too.

Brandon
 
If it is indeed the problem, then for recording it would be best to have your ram size equal to the amount that can be cached. Recording audio doesn't require large amounts of memory. Now in the case of video, it might be desirable to live with the general slower performance if it means saving HD cycles which can be really damn slow.

You can find out the cachable memory range by looking in the motherboard manual. If you don't have it, try looking online.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I doubled the vcache settings in the system.ini file and adjusted the virtual memory settings which seemed to have do some good. I don't know...with a PII 400, I guess I'm probably asking a little too much. Thanks for the help. It was much appreciated.

Brandon
 
You have to manage your RAM. First off in slot 1 you should put your biggest chip and so on. The smallest one should be in slot 3. Try that and see if it works. I was told to do this by a very trustworthy computer guy.

Cheers!
 
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