PDA

View Full Version : Increasing VM.


Lil Josh
October 28th, 2009, 09:18 PM
I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my home PC, but I need 512MB of RAM. I only have 256. So, I was wondering if increasing the virtual memory of RAM to like 512 would help out with installing Windows 7? If it does, then okay. If it doesn't, how could I upgrade my RAM so that I can install Windows 7?
bribera
October 28th, 2009, 09:40 PM
No, that won't really help. Virtual memory basically allows you to use your hard drive as RAM; however, it's insanely slow. Since Windows 7 will actively use more memory than you have in RAM, it'll just swap the entire time and be unusable.

To upgrade your RAM, you need to figure out what kind of RAM you have and how much of it your motherboard supports. What kind of computer (i.e. brand and model number) do you have?

As an aside - using Ubuntu instead of Windows 7 is probably an easier path here. It has much more lenient system requirements:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements#Desktop%20installation
;)
Lil Josh
October 28th, 2009, 09:55 PM
Ugh, I don't use Ubuntu for downloads or installations because I have no disk space, well, not much. I use my home PC because it's much easier, in my opinion.
bribera
October 28th, 2009, 09:57 PM
Well, you can definitely look into adding more RAM. What kind of computer is it? You can probably find online what type of RAM it would need. Given that it only has 256MB, I'm guessing it's a little older and therefore it would be extremely cheap to add more.
Lil Josh
October 28th, 2009, 10:04 PM
Dell dimension 2400 with 256MB of RAM. I thought using VM would help it, but it didn't. Any idea on how to get 512MB of RAM without buying?
bribera
October 28th, 2009, 10:19 PM
I found the specs for your computer here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/specs.htm

It looks like you want 512MB of PC2700 DDR - that's about $25 new on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=512+pc2700&x=0&y=0).

But without buying anything... well, that type of RAM is pretty old - you might look on craigslist for someone trying to give away old hardware. Outside of that, I don't have any good ideas :?