Re: more RAM = more speed?
*- On 24 Aug, Patrick Olson wrote about "more RAM = more speed?"
>
> I have Debian 2.1 running on a P-133 with 32MB of RAM and a 6.4GB Western
> Digital IDE, but it is awful slow when I have a lot of stuff running,
> including a few Netscape Communicator web browsers. Specifically, it
> likes to keep me waiting while it stops and runs the hard disk in the
> middle of a program, or sometimes when I switch to a virtual console that
> has been idle for a while.
>
[snip]
>
> 1. Am I barking up the wrong tree with the idea of a RAM upgrade?
>
No. Dollar for dollar a memory upgrade will gives a better performance
boost in this situation.
> 2. Is it a bad idea to buy RAM for a P-133 since it only takes 72-pin?
> Instead, should I upgrade to a motherboard that can handle a newer
> type of RAM?
>
Upgrading to a new processor, new motherboard and new memory type with
more memory than you have now will still cost more than a simple memory
upgrade for you current setup. And you will not get a significant
performance boost unless you are doing extensive number crunching
> 3. If I upgrade nothing but RAM, how much do I need to have enough to cut
> down on the swapping it does now and keep it to a minimum even after I
> load StarOffice 5.1? Keep in mind that although my budget is limited,
> so is my patience with this old hardware.
>
This is difficult to say. Netscape tends to take and not give back
memory, I often exit and restart it just to release memory. I would
suggest at least 96M or more. StarOffice is reported to be a massive
memory hog(I personally don't use it).
> 4. Is there something else I should upgrade?
>
Add a second hard drive on the second ide channel(hdc) It is good to
have a swap partition on a different controller channel with each
partition having equal priority. The kernel will use the partition
which will provide the best performance.
HTH,
--
Brian
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