In ,
Lorne typed:

Is there a simple way to determine if adding RAM will make a material
change in performance?


Yes. You get good performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from
using the page file significantly, and that depends on what apps you run.
Most people running a typical range of business applications find that
somewhere around 256-384MB works well, others need 512MB. Some people,
particularly those doing things like editing large photographic images can
see a performance boost by adding even more--sometimes much more.

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory will
decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance. If you are
not using the page file significantly, more memory will do nothing for you.

Go to http://billsway.com/notes%5Fpublic/winxp%5Ftweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your pagefile usage. That should give you
a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how much more.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup


I have 512Mb and do not do anything particularly unusual though I do
edit pictures (4Mb in JPEG format - obviously bigger when open in a
picture editor).

Task manager says 450Mb page file used at a typical usage of programs
open.
Task manager also says under physical memory:
Total 523760
Available 146000 (but goes up/down)
Cache 248000 (but goes up/down)

Kernel memory says:
Total 56740
paged 44056
nonpaged 12684

By opening some more programs and 6 jpegs in paintshop pro I got the
page file used up to 580Mb.

Is it possible from this to say what optimum RAM would be?