Preserved Topic: how much ram?

I am currently running a pc with a 433 celeron chip, and 64 megs of ram. As everyone else here, I work with a couple of applications open at a time. I know adding another 64 megs will allow me to run more programs at once, but will it help stop semi-frequent crashes. Thanks in advance for your helps.

Your pc shouldn't be crashing because it only has 64mb of ram. I would suspect something else is going on there. Can you give anymore specific information about what you're doing when it crashes?

define 'frequent'? what OS? etc..

~Vp~

EDIT oops.. almost forgot to mention while on the subject of RAM .. if anyone is thinking of buying, now IS the time...I have seen it as cheap as $44 128Mb and $90 for a 256 strip.. fyi <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">



[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 11-15-2000).]

I'm not sure if you run Windows 98 but there have been a few critical updates and one was for shutdown problems and one for crashes. I do only the critical updates and I check every Saturday when I do my scan disk and defrag. Maybe that's it.

*points finger at Shi*

You do defrags every week? You GEEK!

ha ha ha ha h.......

Shit, computer just crashed. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

You know, I just installed 128 more megs a few months ago and I have noticed a few less crashes. Maybe thats just coincidental but it is something I was just thinking about last night...

I feel sorry for all of you. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/frown.gif"> I'm running a Pentium 166mhz with 32 megs of ram and windows 98 SE and a 2.38 gig hard drive. I never crash and I use IE 5.0, AIM, Photoshop 5.5, and Homesite 4.0 at the same time. never had it crash once. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">



<EDIT>I love this thing! I might get a good one once I have a job, but I'm never gettin rid of it. I even airbrushed flames on the side of my minitower. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"></EDIT>

[This message has been edited by Babamba (edited 11-15-2000).]

Alright, I was trying to hide this, but you forced me into it. My name is butcher and I use Dreamweaver, (whew... it feels good to get that off my chest). Most of my crashes seem to come when I'm switching browsers within Dreamweaver alot to test pages. It also happens when I try to run Photoshop, Image Ready, and Dreamweaver at the same time. I'm running Windows 98 and Netscape 4.7 (just in case anyone knows of any problems with Netscape... sorry Vp). Thanks Shi, I'll check the critical updates, I haven't done that in a while.

btw Vp, where did you see 128 megs for $44, I'll buy them now. The best I've seen around here is $99 for 128.

lol Butcher.. am I getting a rep for being a NN advocate?.. lol.. hey we all have our faults...... <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> no problemo !

I shall get the URL tomorrow from work and post it back for you... but because of the price I can't believe it isnt the same at a lot of online places....

I'll get back with ya tomorrow....

~Vp~ (aka Mr Netscape) LOL

since we're on the subject of computers crashing a lot and purchasing ram...

once again i'd like to point out the fact that ram is a key factor when it comes to system stability. i definitely wouldn't recommend buying "economy" ram if you're worried about crashes...

it's somewhat hard for me to recommend places to look for memory when i don't even know what you currently have or what you need. there are so many different forms of ram that it's a tough call. 128mb of pc133 cas2 sells for 90$ right now, whereas 128mb of pc133 cas3 sells for 50$... i'd avoid the cas3 memory personally, but if that's what you're already using... feh.

cheers.mikey.milker

Thanks Vp, I'll check back tomorrow.

I'm not very bright on the hardware end mikey milker, how do I find out exactly what kind of ram I have without taking stuff apart. I know I'll have to take the cover off to install the ram, but I don't want to do it untill I have to. (I'm much better at demolition than I am at construction).

I`m not much on the hardware end either ,but I read an article at about.com that said windows crashes are most often caused by the overload of the 2 64KB memory caches that windows runs its apps through. Is that true?

Actually butcher I used to have the same problems with dreamweaver. In my limited experience with it I have come to believe that dreamweaver has serious memory leak issues but since I upgraded from a 333mhz to an 800mhz, and doubled my ram my crashes have become much more infrequent. However prolonged use of dreamweaver and multiple IE windows always leads to the GPF or blue screen of death.

Ha! The BIG subject!

Three weeks or so, we debated that subject with my superior, which was planning to upgrade our PC. After half an hour, he finally say 'ok, here we go' and took the phone, bought new pc's for my colleagues, and only ram for me (because I have a 600mhz, enough for now)...
Let me introduce my job : I am Java developper and I use Visual Age from IBM;
with 64 mb, I've experienced * many * slow and horrible disk swap, but hey, ok, no more crash. (ok, one crash in 4 weeks...)
And then I've put the extra fresh ram in my pc, smiling as possible.
In one week, that fucking VA jammed 5 times.
He... much faster, no swap, but jam, and jam ,and jam and crash... memory is not a solution, sometimes. I think it depends on the software you use...and the inherent bugs...

That's it.

Oh, forgotted to precise: after the memory upgrade,my Pc have < 512MB > of ram....

http://www.pricewatch.com/Attdocs/33cat.htm

Hey Butcher, here is a link to the actual page with memory... goto www.pricewatch.com for details etc...

like Mikey says the cass of the memory is worth checking out.. I am not sure how easy it is to check your existing cas level on your memory you have at the moment. There is a program called "sandra" that does a system evaluation, stuff like cpu efficiency, memory type etc...

hope that helps

~Vp~

Thanks for all the insight guys. I crash now and then on a Celeron 400 with 64K RAM and Windows 95 and Microsoft 97 while running PaintShop Pro, ICQ, IE5, EvrSoft 1st Page, Notepad, and banning another IP from probing my computer. I can't even play music CDs while I work. My computer is custom made by a neighbor,so I'll have to check on a number of things, but I found your tips very helpful. Thanks.

...swept out through the cracks beneath the door...

[This message has been edited by RANCID (edited 11-16-2000).]

Thanks guys, I checked out pricewatch.com and there are many places selling 128meg chips at great prices, which leads me to my next question. Can any of you suggest any place that you have dealt with that you can recommend. Although I'm not bashful about buying online, I'm not all that trusting of everybody that's selling online. Any firm recommendations will be appreciated.

this will make ya laugh Butcher! I have never bought on the web! hehe... you know you could ring your local PC/computer hardware stores and see whay prices they have at the moment... it is more than likely to be a bit more expensive, but what I normally do is rush down to my local store and get them to throw in the memory into one of their store built machines while I am there jsut to make sure it is 'good' memory... I don't mind paying the little extra... easier for me then having to deal with postage and all that crap!.. lol..

just a thought!.. good luck...

Thanks Vp, it's a good thought and normally the way I would go, but it's much easier for my conscience to shell out $50 for one of my toys with Christmas comming and three kids. So I figured if I could get it for that price I would other wise it will have to go on the back burner again.

hey! why not buy the kids a stick of memory each?.. hehe

maybe not such a good idea! lol

lol very hard Vp. They would make great stocking stuffers.

if you're gonna buy memory once again i'll say go to -- www.mushkin.com

they run an amazing company that's held in extremely high regards by people that know hardware best hehe. they've got pretty good prices and the best quality stuff, plus they fed ex everything immediately. all three orders i've placed with them have gone great and arrived within three days each time.

cheers.mikey.milker

Thanks Mikey, I'll check them out.

ok guys me thinks i "Lisa" (that is my box) is probably the worst machine ever build. But it does the dirty job to be mine box.
I wil describe her:

-Lisa is living in an AT big tower.
The Mainboard is an ATX/AT Chaintech thingie,
With an AMD K6-2 350MHz on it and an 32MB SIMM on it and a stupid noname display card. The whole thing is mounted on a piece of board(cheap waste) which in turn is mounted in the AT tower. Since the fact that somebody (do not look at me) killed the battery from the bios. The bios will reset every time the machine starts up... Meaning no bios except for the factory settings. Start "lisa" press F1 watch windows 98 come to live....
She only crashes once a week.. but the thing keeps on running. Oyeah my keyboard is still the one as i had on my 286.

Was there not some problemo with 64MB of ram and some Mainboards???? Some cache thingie??

Do Not under estimate the power of JOHN DOE