Is my ram size small?

[dragos240]

I have 2gb of ram on my desktop. According to my dad, that's the most ram that can get inside my computer. I think otherwise. Why would this be, and would I need a new motherboard. There are many reasons I need a new motherboard btw.

[chucky chuckaluck]

i've always thought it was how you manage your ram as being more important than the size of it.

[Paqman]

i've always thought it was how you manage your ram as being more important than the size of it.

Fner fner.

What model mobo have you got dragos240?

[Khakilang]

If you are doing video editing or 3D graphics. It may not be enough. Any other thing should be good. I am using only 1.5GB RAM and I am very comfortable with it.

[cascade9]

To anyone else seeing this- taken information from a different thread, found here-

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1451475

Yes, 2GB does look like the maximum you can put into that motherboard. Well, they say 2GB max, I wouldnt believe that till had tried more-

http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/motherboards/socketam2/ecsMCP61PM-AM.shtml

Which is lame, the normal (non-corporate) version of that motherboard made by ECS goes to 16GB RAM max (though ECS has only tested it to 4GB)-

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=820&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Specification&MenuID=46&LanID=0

Probably, if it is limited to 2GB, its becuse the corporate customers who bought them wanted the motherboard crippled, so people dont go upgrading and buy a new computer instead.

2GB is pretty good, and more than enough for a lot (most?) users.


i've always thought it was how you manage your ram as being more important than the size of it.

Its not the size of themagic wand, its the amount of magic in it?

[Tristam Green]

x86 = 4gb.

read on, young one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_Limit#Operating_System_RAM_limits

[steveneddy]

Many times a particular MB will only recognize a certain size of RAM.

My old PIII desktop at home will only hold 512 mb of RAM and my three year old lappie tops out at 2 gigs, which is what I have installed.

If it runs well with 2 Gigs, then stick with it. If you need more memory for video, games or other high memory usage apps, than maybe a MB upgrade is in order.

And heck, since it isn't your money, toss your PC out into the yard and tell your Dad that a herd of elephants came in and wrecked everything. Then get a good 'ol System76 PC with quad core processor and 8 gigs of RAM.

If that doesn't work, maybe doing a little more housework - mowing the lawn, washing and waxing Dad's car, dust and vacuum the house, taking out the trash before being asked, wash the dog, cleaning out the cat box, stop punching your sister - may all help you accomplish your goal of more/better hardware.

[dragos240]

Can someone suggest a new motherboard that will fit in my case. (http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5234)

[Tristam Green]

lappie tops out at 2 gigs, which is what I have installed.

does it only have one slot?

[cascade9]

Many times a particular MB will only recognize a certain size of RAM.

My old PIII desktop at home will only hold 512 mb of RAM and my three year old lappie tops out at 2 gigs, which is what I have installed.

P3/512MB limit was for pretty much all the intel p3 SDRAM chipsets (i810, almost all i815s)


does it only have one slot?

Probably its a 940/943/945 mobile chipset, they are limted to 2GB.

Edit- 940GML, 943GML, 945GMS and 945GSE have 2GB limits, the 945GM/E and 945PM go to 4GB.


Can someone suggest a new motherboard that will fit in my case. (http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5234)

Not really much information on the case there......I would guess its a micro-ATX (M-ATX) case so yuo can only fit other M-ATX motehrboards in.

It can get complicated, sometimes the corporate cases have non-standard motherboard mounting holes, which makes it imposible to fit standard motehrboards. Even if it is a standard mounting hole pattern, they normally only have one set of standoffs- so you need to get a motherboard that uses the same mounting pattern. Or get handy with a drill and then use a tap and die set.

[CharlesA]

I hate trying to find "aftermarket" aka "standard" part to fit into proprietary cases.Best bet would be to actually measure the current mobo and see what the dimensions are.

[Frogs Hair]

If it is a micro ATX look here http://www.directron.com/microam2.html

[sydbat]

I hate trying to find "aftermarket" aka "standard" part to fit into proprietary cases.Best bet would be to actually measure the current mobo and see what the dimensions are.This.

Also, it might cause less headaches to simply go out and buy a new box, MB, RAM, whatever-else-you-want-to-upgrade instead of trying to retrofit. Cheaper too, in most cases. (basically, build your own system)

[MichealH]

Mine is on 1.5GB 3x512MB DDR2 I could goto 3 GB but naa!

[mips]

I have 2gb of ram on my desktop. According to my dad, that's the most ram that can get inside my computer. I think otherwise. Why would this be, and would I need a new motherboard. There are many reasons I need a new motherboard btw.

What pc/motherboard do you currently have, make & model?

[MichealH]

What pc/motherboard do you currently have, make & model?

There is a post above on this matter

[rottentree]

i've always thought it was how you manage your ram as being more important than the size of it.

i've always thought it was how you use your ram as being more important than the size of it.

[chriswyatt]

Size doesn't matter; it's what you do with it that counts.

[aklo]

2GB is not small....

I have 2GB and the max i've use is 1.3GB with HD movies + firefox + transmission + a little bit of programs here and there..

I really don't know what programs can use so much ram...i mean people with 4GB on their desktop i don't ever think they will utilize all the 4GB unless they are doing things like photoshop with thousands of layers and a big canvas size.

[JDShu]

My computer has 1GB RAM and its running fine. I die alot more in FPS games though haha. Virtualization, I've found is also a pain with low RAM, but I (and my guess is most people) rarely use it.

[cartman640]

2Gb of RAM is a respectable amount for general use.

Best way to see if you need more RAM is open up system monitor and have a look at how much you're actually using. If you're using a large percentage of it, upgrading is probably a good idea, if not, save your money until you see fit to buy a whole new system. My Ubuntu workstation here at work has 2.5Gb of RAM, and it's currently using only ~850Mb of RAM after a bit over a week of uptime (not running much, LAMP, terminal, few other services, etc).

Another indication that you're running out is if you are using Swap space, Ubuntu tends to do this when memory is running out, and paging to disk is very slow, so if you're using lots of swap space then you could probably do with more memory.


I really don't know what programs can use so much ram...i mean people with 4GB on their desktop i don't ever think they will utilize all the 4GB unless they are doing things like photoshop with thousands of layers and a big canvas size.

Virtual Machines eat RAM, as does video encoding. I've run out of memory on my home workstation (has 8Gb of RAM) doing both of these things. The other thing having lots of RAM is good for is caching, my system only needs about 1.5Gb of RAM to run normally (this is what is shown as used), yet free memory is normally less than 50Mb. That leaves ~6.5Gb of caches, so commonly launched software (like Firefox) launch in about half a second as the system doesn't need to touch the disk.

[Warpnow]

2gbs is more than enough. The only disadvantage is having to close your massively intensive video editting application when you want to transcode a high definition video.

[chappajar]

x86 = 4gb.

read on, young one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_Limit#Operating_System_RAM_limits

Not necessarily. Not all motherboards can use 4 GB, even if you plug 4 GB in.

[MooPi]

Well if your going to upgrade the motherboard, you might as well move on with a new CPU and ram. You will be hard pressed to find a quality motherboard that will accommodate your dated CPU and ram. Depending on how much you have to spend I'd suggest a new case power supply and motherboard ram and CPU.This way you won't run into compatibility issues. https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=18547908 (https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=18547908)

Probably won't be able to view today due to lag in approval by Newegg.

[Frak]

Not necessarily. Not all motherboards can use 4 GB, even if you plug 4 GB in.
Very, very few motherboards have that issue. So few, in fact, that it's not even considered a problem.

[chappajar]

Very, very few motherboards have that issue. So few, in fact, that it's not even considered a problem.

I'm not sure what the problem you're referring to is.
I was merely correcting Tristam Green's assertion that all x86 machines can handle 4 GB of memory.

[Warpnow]

Very, very few motherboards have that issue. So few, in fact, that it's not even considered a problem.

A LOT of low-end mATX motherboards, especially those used in cheaper OEM builders, can only accept 2gbs of RAM...

Its not a problem in high end or newer motherboards, but pick out an mATX motherboard that doesn't accept DDR3 made more than a year or two ago, and its veeerryyy likely it only accepts 2gbs.

[Frak]

A LOT of low-end mATX motherboards, especially those used in cheaper OEM builders, can only accept 2gbs of RAM...

Its not a problem in high end or newer motherboards, but pick out an mATX motherboard that doesn't accept DDR3 made more than a year or two ago, and its veeerryyy likely it only accepts 2gbs.
I've built many-a-mATX DDR2 machine, and I've never run across that issue.

[Warpnow]

I've built many-a-mATX DDR2 machine, and I've never run across that issue.

In particular, many of the mAtx ECS motherboards I've ran across only accept 2gbs of ram.

[Khakilang]

Many times a particular MB will only recognize a certain size of RAM.

My old PIII desktop at home will only hold 512 mb of RAM and my three year old lappie tops out at 2 gigs, which is what I have installed.

If it runs well with 2 Gigs, then stick with it. If you need more memory for video, games or other high memory usage apps, than maybe a MB upgrade is in order.

And heck, since it isn't your money, toss your PC out into the yard and tell your Dad that a herd of elephants came in and wrecked everything. Then get a good 'ol System76 PC with quad core processor and 8 gigs of RAM.

If that doesn't work, maybe doing a little more housework - mowing the lawn, washing and waxing Dad's car, dust and vacuum the house, taking out the trash before being asked, wash the dog, cleaning out the cat box, stop punching your sister - may all help you accomplish your goal of more/better hardware.

Don't toss your PC away. Just tell your dad that some poor guy in South East Asia needs it and donate to him. So just send your PC to me. I will pay for the delivery charges. :lolflag:

[K.Mandla]

No one should ever need more than 8Mb of RAM.

My biggest fastest machine only has 512Mb in it. Never used it all.

[Dayofswords]

I have 2gb of ram on my desktop. According to my dad, that's the most ram that can get inside my computer. I think otherwise. Why would this be, and would I need a new motherboard. There are many reasons I need a new motherboard btw.

i have 604mb of ram

kids these days!

[chappajar]

No one should ever need more than 8Mb of RAM.

My biggest fastest machine only has 512Mb in it. Never used it all.

640 KB should be enough for anybody. :p

[RiceMonster]

My laptop and desktop both have 4 gb (expandable to 8 ), but I don't think I've even used half of it before on either.


No one should ever need more than 8Mb of RAM.

Maybe if you don't use X.

[cascade9]

No one should ever need more than 8Mb of RAM.

My biggest fastest machine only has 512Mb in it. Never used it all.

You mean 8GB? I wanted more than 8MB with win95 :lolflag:
*thinks* actually, even with 48MB on win95 I still wanted more.

If you've never used 512MB......er.....well, I guess you never do much video encoding or lots of multitasking. I use more than 512MB every few days.

[Sam]

I have 1.5 GB here. I'm doing intensive development, sometimes with a Windows VM running for testing, and I almost never hit the swap.
I could get 0% swap usage if I tune my swappiness.


Unless you are doing video editing or running an virtualization hypervisor intensively, 2 GB is more than enough.

[Lamaar]

I run Ubuntu 9.10 on 124 mb here, it's fine for internet or messaging.

[Frak]

In particular, many of the mAtx ECS motherboards I've ran across only accept 2gbs of ram.

Problem highlighted.

[Warpnow]

Problem highlighted.

Well, they are most common provider of budget motherboards and are used in alot of oem builds.

[Otis Spunkmiyer]

Don't toss your PC away. Just tell your dad that some poor guy in South East Asia needs it and donate to him. So just send your PC to me. I will pay for the delivery charges. :lolflag:

You don't sound poor to me..
///
What happens a year down the road when you want 3G's ? What happens two years down the road when you want 4G's ? What happens three years down the road when you want 5G's ?
Why do I detect ulterior motives here ? Give dad a break, gee whiz.

[Yes]

Maybe if you don't use X.

You can run X in 8 MBs of RAM. You just won't be able to run many X apps other than terminals.

[Frak]

Well, they are most common provider of budget motherboards and are used in alot of oem builds.
That's the problem.

[DM was on fire!]

You can run X in 8 MBs of RAM. You just won't be able to run many X apps other than terminals.

Mmhmm.
I had 512mb in my old computer and on Ubuntu 6.06 I was constantly maxing out my memory.
I have 2gb now. I haven't tried Ubuntu yet with it, but I'm sure it will run fine.

[cascade9]

Not necessarily. Not all motherboards can use 4 GB, even if you plug 4 GB in.

True, but that can be from nasty OEM manufacturers playing silly buggers, or chipset limits.


A LOT of low-end mATX motherboards, especially those used in cheaper OEM builders, can only accept 2gbs of RAM...

The OEM builders aritfically limit the RAM in many cases, eg dragos240s motherboard (OEM) vs the normal version-

http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/motherboards/socketam2/ecsMCP61PM-AM.shtml

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=820&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Specification&MenuID=46&LanID=0\

Same chipset, the onyl real difference is the soundchip (possibly network), but the OEM model is limted to 2GB.


Its not a problem in high end or newer motherboards, but pick out an mATX motherboard that doesn't accept DDR3 made more than a year or two ago, and its veeerryyy likely it only accepts 2gbs.

Umm...some do, but a huge number dont have that issue. There are some intels that have 2GB max RAM that are fairly new (910GL, 945GC, 945GZ) but most of them have 4GB+ limits.

Even the very old nForce 405 and AMD690 chipsets do 4GB+.

If you do run across an AMD DDR2 motherboard, micro-atx or full atx, that is limited to 2GB, its fromthe manufacturer beign nasty, not a real (chipset) limit.


Problem highlighted.


Well, they are most common provider of budget motherboards and are used in alot of oem builds.

Dont just blame ECS, its the OEMs they build the boards for in a lot of cases.

Say 'no' to crappy OEM systems IMO.

[Warpnow]

Say 'no' to crappy OEM systems IMO.


I say yes to Fry's running cpu/mb combos for less than the MSRP on the cpu. Recently they had like an X25600+ and a motherboard for like $45. 2gbs DDR2 of ram limitation seemed to be the biggest drawback.

[cascade9]

I say yes to Fry's running cpu/mb combos for less than the MSRP on the cpu. Recently they had like an X25600+ and a motherboard for like $45. 2gbs DDR2 of ram limitation seemed to be the biggest drawback.

I do have to put in 'depends on what MSRP'- I've know one store here that used to sell quite old CPUs 'at a massive discount' then list the original MSRP for it LOL.

Fair enough, $45 for that is a good deal. But for that price, you are quite possibly get other issues- one of the reasons why dragos240 wanted a new motherboard was because he (she? it?- its the internets, I dont know :| ) bought a new PCIe video card, that refused to work in his motherboard- it had either been locked out from using an external video card, or had an odd BIOS issue. Should have been fixable with a BIOS update from what I could see, but apparently the manufacturer wanted $30 for the update!

[chriswyatt]

I had to upgrade the RAM on my dad's laptop to 2GB because of Farmville memory leaks. He said the computer was broken but never really explained why over the phone, I assumed it couldn't boot or something, or that the hard drive had corrupted as it was on its last legs anyway. It was just Farmville consuming vast amounts of memory and the general crapiness of both Farmville and Adobe Flash on Linux. It was causing his laptop to freeze up.

I tried to explain it wasn't Ubuntu being rubbish and it was the 'game' that he was playing on.

Anyway, moral of story, don't play Farmville, it's rubbish.

[Warpnow]

I had to upgrade the RAM on my dad's laptop to 2GB because of Farmville memory leaks. He said the computer was broken but never really explained why over the phone, I assumed it couldn't boot or something, or that the hard drive had corrupted as it was on its last legs anyway. It was just Farmville consuming vast amounts of memory and the general crapiness of both Farmville and Adobe Flash on Linux. It was causing his laptop to freeze up.

I tried to explain it wasn't Ubuntu being rubbish and it was the 'game' that he was playing on.

Anyway, moral of story, don't play Farmville, it's rubbish.

I think you were scammed.

[chappajar]

True, but that can be from nasty OEM manufacturers playing silly buggers, or chipset limits.
...


Er, yes. ...so?
My point was simply that not all x86 motherboards will be able to use 4 GB, nothing more. I suspect the reason why is irrelevant to someone in dragos' situation.