help for RAM

tupadjia · 05-27-2006, 04:17 PM

I have an amd64 3000+ with 512 RAM but only have less than 200mb free. can someone tell me what should I do to free up some RAM, maybe bring it up to 300mb or so. thanks in advance!!!

**Joefireline** · 05-27-2006, 04:22 PM

On my laptop, I have software on it called acer eperformance, which was pre-installed on it, and it just maximises the amount of memory free. You should be able to find some similar freeware with a search in google.
200MB free is standard, I have 512MB ram, and it is always around 300MB used, so you don't really need to worry about it.

**Terrister** · 05-27-2006, 05:43 PM

I would go to start,run and type msconfig. Now go to the startup tab and uncheck everything you do not need at startup. You would be surprised how many things run you do not need.

tupadjia · 05-27-2006, 08:52 PM

i did that, and i unchecked like 90% of the crap and i also went and uninstalled all the unneccessary programs and i am still under 200mb's. but, on second thought, does the amount of files u got on a comp affect ram? out of 160GB HD, i have almost 45% full.

chauffeur2 · 05-27-2006, 09:49 PM

Hi tupadjia, and Welcome to TSF.

Here's a bit of 'food for thought'........

Now that you've 'cleaned' the start -ups, and you think that you don't have enough RAM free; I would be looking at the other "essential" start up programs; such as, what type of Anti Virus program that you are running...I say this because if you are running Norton Anti Virus, or McAfee, these programs are extremely RAM hungry.....I'll probably get blasted for saying this, but its true...Norton's has a tendancy to control your computer, rather than YOU controlling your computer! I got rid of it ages ago, and opted for the AVG Professional Version. [That's the one that you pay about USD $40 for a two year licence opposed to the free version that is available.] AVG is not RAM hungry, and is quite effective.
Having said that, in the start ups there are two other programs that want to start that are not essential; namely, Microsoft Office.Ink, and Adobe Reader Speed Launcher.Ink, I have disabled these and have no problems when I want to use them by simply clicking on the respective icons associated with the programs [ e.g: Word or, .pdf files].
There are others too such as with Hp Printers, they have programs that want to start when Windows starts, and they are not 'essential', so disabling them won't hurt your system, or them either.
My philosophy when it comes to Windows is..."Run it lean and Run it mean...because in the long run it'll thank you for it!"
I found a very useful freeware program on Google called 'Free RAM Pro', that monitors and keeps your RAM 'tuned' with as much free as possible.
Try it and see what happens. [You will need to adjust the settings to suit the amount of RAM that you have though.]
Another possibility for you 'losing' RAM could be because of the RAM required by the BIOS to operate your AGP graphics....I have 1024Mb RAM, but I lose 64Mb for the graphics, which means that I only have access to about 960 Mb RAM, and with Free RAM Pro I have it managed to try to keep about 760 Mb free, or about 75%. Asking it to give you more [in my opinion] would be a too bigger an ask.
Playing with the AGP Graphics in the BIOS is not a good idea, as I did just that and ended up with all sorts of hassles, until I gave it back the 64 Mb that it needs, and all is well....fickle things these electronic gadgets!!

Try my suggestions if you like them, and post back here, so that we can all see if it helps.
Good Luck with it.
Regards, Dave T.

chauffeur2 · 05-27-2006, 09:53 PM

P.S: You could also do a Disk Defragment, because if your disk is defragmented this could cause the system to run slower and need the RAM when it searches for programs to start.

**TheMatt** · 05-28-2006, 04:17 PM

200 MB of free space with 512 MB of RAM is good and doesn't really need adjustment. Also, don't use MSconfig to adjust startup options, use startup CP:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

tupadjia · 05-29-2006, 12:15 AM

to chauffeur 2, i also have AVG running and basically, i did everything you said, but for some goddamn reason(excuse my language, but right now, i am very pissed off at MS), its still under 200MB, i am starting to think that xp xxxx[ no foul language please ]

chauffeur2 · 05-29-2006, 01:38 AM

Hi tupadjia,

Don't despair, as the frustration can lead you to make mistakes...

A couple of other ideas come to mind now.... although you have about 45% of the RAM free, that's not too bad as "The Matt" has said in here; however, lets look at other possibilities....
First up how old is the computer?..and have you tested the RAM at all?

Try this link,.....

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Download the tester to a floppy disk and put it into the machine and boot it up...the Mem Tester will activate by itself and run thru about 6 scans and analyse the RAM and tell you whether it passes its tests or not....now if it doesn't pass the tests, don't worry too much for the moment, just let me know which ones [if any] that fail, and we'll look at it.

Post back with your results.

Regards,
Dave T.

05-27-2006, 04:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
tupadjia Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 49 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	help for RAM I have an amd64 3000+ with 512 RAM but only have less than 200mb free. can someone tell me what should I do to free up some RAM, maybe bring it up to 300mb or so. thanks in advance!!!

05-27-2006, 05:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Terrister Moderator Hardware Forum Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: West Georgia, USA Posts: 7,098 OS: Xp	I would go to start,run and type msconfig. Now go to the startup tab and uncheck everything you do not need at startup. You would be surprised how many things run you do not need. __________________

05-27-2006, 09:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
chauffeur2 Manager Emeritus Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 10,180 OS: Xp Sp3 with all updates + Vista™ Ultimate SP1. My System	Hi tupadjia, and Welcome to TSF. Here's a bit of 'food for thought'........ Now that you've 'cleaned' the start -ups, and you think that you don't have enough RAM free; I would be looking at the other "essential" start up programs; such as, what type of Anti Virus program that you are running...I say this because if you are running Norton Anti Virus, or McAfee, these programs are extremely RAM hungry.....I'll probably get blasted for saying this, but its true...Norton's has a tendancy to control your computer, rather than YOU controlling your computer! I got rid of it ages ago, and opted for the AVG Professional Version. [That's the one that you pay about USD $40 for a two year licence opposed to the free version that is available.] AVG is not RAM hungry, and is quite effective. Having said that, in the start ups there are two other programs that want to start that are not essential; namely, Microsoft Office.Ink, and Adobe Reader Speed Launcher.Ink, I have disabled these and have no problems when I want to use them by simply clicking on the respective icons associated with the programs [ e.g: Word or, .pdf files]. There are others too such as with Hp Printers, they have programs that want to start when Windows starts, and they are not 'essential', so disabling them won't hurt your system, or them either. My philosophy when it comes to Windows is..."Run it lean and Run it mean...because in the long run it'll thank you for it!" I found a very useful freeware program on Google called 'Free RAM Pro', that monitors and keeps your RAM 'tuned' with as much free as possible. Try it and see what happens. [You will need to adjust the settings to suit the amount of RAM that you have though.] Another possibility for you 'losing' RAM could be because of the RAM required by the BIOS to operate your AGP graphics....I have 1024Mb RAM, but I lose 64Mb for the graphics, which means that I only have access to about 960 Mb RAM, and with Free RAM Pro I have it managed to try to keep about 760 Mb free, or about 75%. Asking it to give you more [in my opinion] would be a too bigger an ask. Playing with the AGP Graphics in the BIOS is not a good idea, as I did just that and ended up with all sorts of hassles, until I gave it back the 64 Mb that it needs, and all is well....fickle things these electronic gadgets!! Try my suggestions if you like them, and post back here, so that we can all see if it helps. Good Luck with it. Regards, Dave T. __________________ Dave T. Submit New Articles If it works, Don't fix it! Especially if Bill Gates had anything to do with it!!

05-27-2006, 09:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
chauffeur2 Manager Emeritus Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 10,180 OS: Xp Sp3 with all updates + Vista™ Ultimate SP1. My System	P.S: You could also do a Disk Defragment, because if your disk is defragmented this could cause the system to run slower and need the RAM when it searches for programs to start. __________________ Dave T. Submit New Articles If it works, Don't fix it! Especially if Bill Gates had anything to do with it!!

05-28-2006, 04:17 PM	#7 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	200 MB of free space with 512 MB of RAM is good and doesn't really need adjustment. Also, don't use MSconfig to adjust startup options, use startup CP: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

05-27-2006, 04:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
Joefireline Enthusiastic TSFer~Joseph Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Portishead (Bristol) England Posts: 5,319 OS: Windows 7 64bit(Desktop) / XP Home SP2(laptop) My System	On my laptop, I have software on it called acer eperformance, which was pre-installed on it, and it just maximises the amount of memory free. You should be able to find some similar freeware with a search in google. 200MB free is standard, I have 512MB ram, and it is always around 300MB used, so you don't really need to worry about it.

05-27-2006, 08:52 PM	#4 (permalink)
tupadjia Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 49 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	i did that, and i unchecked like 90% of the crap and i also went and uninstalled all the unneccessary programs and i am still under 200mb's. but, on second thought, does the amount of files u got on a comp affect ram? out of 160GB HD, i have almost 45% full.

05-29-2006, 12:15 AM	#8 (permalink)
tupadjia Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 49 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	to chauffeur 2, i also have AVG running and basically, i did everything you said, but for some goddamn reason(excuse my language, but right now, i am very pissed off at MS), its still under 200MB, i am starting to think that xp xxxx[ no foul language please ] Last edited by whodat; 06-01-2006 at 11:31 AM.

05-29-2006, 01:38 AM	#9 (permalink)
chauffeur2 Manager Emeritus Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 10,180 OS: Xp Sp3 with all updates + Vista™ Ultimate SP1. My System	Hi tupadjia, Don't despair, as the frustration can lead you to make mistakes... A couple of other ideas come to mind now.... although you have about 45% of the RAM free, that's not too bad as "The Matt" has said in here; however, lets look at other possibilities.... First up how old is the computer?..and have you tested the RAM at all? Try this link,..... http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp Download the tester to a floppy disk and put it into the machine and boot it up...the Mem Tester will activate by itself and run thru about 6 scans and analyse the RAM and tell you whether it passes its tests or not....now if it doesn't pass the tests, don't worry too much for the moment, just let me know which ones [if any] that fail, and we'll look at it. Post back with your results. Regards, Dave T. __________________ Dave T. Submit New Articles If it works, Don't fix it! Especially if Bill Gates had anything to do with it!!