SG Broadband Community

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i have Mcft windows xp on my computer right now but i dont have a lot or ram/ memory only like 96.mb of ram left so should i switch to windows 2000 would windows 2000 use less memory/ram can some one break down a little bit of the pro's/con's of both systems like how much mim. memory do u need for xp and how much mim. memory for 2000

thanks a ton

Assuming XP is tweaked, it really doesn't use too much more RAM than 2000 does.

However, 96MB RAM is really not nearly enough for either of those operating systems. I'd strongly advise that you look into upgrading.

Joel wrote: However, 96MB RAM is really not nearly enough for either of those operating systems. I'd strongly advise that you look into upgrading.

WinXP on default uses quite a bit more RAM, you can tweak it, apply the classic theme, and lower it's resource requirements to be pretty close to Win2K.

But either of them...jeeze, on 96 megs, I'd be ripping my hair out. I can't stand to work on them with less than 384 megs, 256 at the very very bare minimum, ideally 512.

thanks for your help guys well i am gonna jus keep windows xp on here and i did wat u said take off the themes ,ect.. and it runs pretty fast also what can i upgrade this is what i have now:

cyrix 6x86MX processor -> i know it suxz
199 MHz
96.0 MB of RAM

also my c: drive says 4.87Gb. Total space and 3.49Gb. of free space

also what other things can i tweek/ turn off to make it run faster any ideas will be a great help thanks again

mike19 wrote: also what other things can i tweek/ turn off to make it run faster any ideas will be a great help thanks again

Right Click "My Computer", select "Properties".
Click on "Advanced" tab
In the "Performance" box, click the "Settings" button
Flip Radio Button choice to "Adjust for best performance"
OK, Apply, OK

Choose a low system hit antivirus. NOD32 ($39.00), or AVG 7 (free edition)

Only so much you're going to be able to do with that system. 200MHz CPU, 96 megs....you're pretty much below the minimum requirements stated by Microsoft (Pentium 233MHz is bare minimum, which you're below, a Cyrix 200 runs about equivelent of a Pentium 133 - 166). 128 megs of RAM is stated as the minimum, 64 megs will work they say...

With not much system memory, you're computer will mostly be running off of the virtual memory (pagefile.sys), which is basically a chalk board scratch pad file on the hard drive. Age of your system, I'll wager an ATA-33 hard drive with 128k cache, 5,400rpm. She'll be working hard.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Right Click "My Computer", select "Properties".
Click on "Advanced" tab
In the "Performance" box, click the "Settings" button
Flip Radio Button choice to "Adjust for best performance"
OK, Apply, OK

Choose a low system hit antivirus. NOD32 ($39.00), or AVG 7 (free edition)

Only so much you're going to be able to do with that system. 200MHz CPU, 96 megs....you're pretty much below the minimum requirements stated by Microsoft (Pentium 233MHz is bare minimum, which you're below, a Cyrix 200 runs about equivelent of a Pentium 133 - 166). 128 megs of RAM is stated as the minimum, 64 megs will work they say...

With not much system memory, you're computer will mostly be running off of the virtual memory (pagefile.sys), which is basically a chalk board scratch pad file on the hard drive. Age of your system, I'll wager an ATA-33 hard drive with 128k cache, 5,400rpm. She'll be working hard.

I guess you deserve a shameless plug since you helped so much.

The Devil wrote:I guess you deserve a shameless plug since you helped so much.

Well, IMO it's the best antivirus out there, it's very low system performance hit, and showing that it doesn't cost much.

YeOldeStonecat wrote:

Well, IMO it's the best antivirus out there, it's very low system performance hit, and showing that it doesn't cost much.

QFT

YeOldeStonecat wrote:

WinXP on default uses quite a bit more RAM, you can tweak it, apply the classic theme, and lower it's resource requirements to be pretty close to Win2K.

But either of them...jeeze, on 96 megs, I'd be ripping my hair out. I can't stand to work on them with less than 384 megs, 256 at the very very bare minimum, ideally 512.

I definitely agree. I run Windows 2000 on a Celeron 850mhz machine with 196 MB of RAM and find that it runs quite slow (but it is acceptable). The minimum for XP is 256 MB of ram (preferrably 512 or more is better). REmember the more RAM you have in a system the faster it will run. I just recently upgraded two computers with two sticks of 256 MB of ram in each system, and they run very sweet now. One's got a 2.4ghz Celeron CPU and the other has a 1.2ghz Celeron CPU. But I think if you want speed, upgrade the RAM as this is the easiest and most economical. Now, if you want even faster speeds the consider replacing the entire mobo and CPU to a faster speed.

You can run Windows XP or 2000 decent on a machine with 192 MB of RAM, but that all depends on what you want to do with the system. Don't look to play any high end games or do any digital video editing, but basic Internet use, web browsing, and office work a machine running 2000 or XP with at least 128 MB of RAM should be fine, but that also depends on the speed of the CPU chip.

I personally hate the fancy blue screens and themes in XP, so the first thing is to disable all built in Themes if running XP and don't use monstrous sized wallpapers as this definitely hogs up a lot of ram. Check out task manager as well to see if any programs are hogging huge amounts of ram or CPU time.

Mike