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General discussion

Windows 7 on 2 GB of Ram?

Jun 9, 2010 10:25PM PDT

I recently upgraded to windows 7i ultimate (32 bit). I currently have one GB of ram and the computer is extremely slow.

I'm thinking of buying another 1 GB and putting it in. Has anyone here tried Windows 7 with 2 GB of ram? Does it work well with this amount?

Discussion is locked

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Back in beta days we ran it on 512MB RAM
Jun 9, 2010 10:38PM PDT

So my thought is it's not the RAM. It took awhile for me to figure out why my fresh install of 7 was slow on my HP d4999t. Turns out I needed not only the motherboard chipset drives but the Intel Storage Manager.

Also external USB drives might be indexing which you can unplug as you sort out drivers and more.

I also install the 64 bit on 2GB RAM so I don't have to reinstall later.
Bob

PS. Yes it works fine here on 2GB RAM Windows 7 64 bit.

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it really works better on 2 gb
Jun 10, 2010 6:13PM PDT

thanks for the reply, unfortunately it was not applicable to me as I have no external drives. I installed and extra gb in and it works fine now.

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What I'm seeing.
Jun 10, 2010 12:02AM PDT

W7 home.

For day to day ops my ram usage floats between 650-800MB.

Yes I have some apps that will push the ram usage much higher....but that's not day to day.

Some folks have a start-up group that is quite large.

The result is Gobs of ram get used and then the machine starts swapping it's brains out....not good for perf.

The fix.....make the start-up group smaller.

For this machine.....2GB of ram would work fine.

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Win 7 RAM
Jun 10, 2010 11:33AM PDT

Win 7 will run fine with 2GB RAM, but is best with 3-4.

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Yes
Jun 11, 2010 10:30AM PDT

I just run Win7 Pro with 2GB RAM now. Meanwhile, On the other hand, the ultimate version may spend more time in logon.

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HOW MUCH RAM SHOULD BE ON BOARD FOR WIN7? 1 or 2 GIG ???
Jun 11, 2010 10:42AM PDT

My HP Pav. 767c, several years old has ONE gig. on Board. Win. 7 Runs just fine in all respects....But if you can afford 2 gig on your computer, that would be the NORM for these days, and be comfortable with whatever you are running.

My HP Netbook however, didn't run all that well with ONE Gig and Win XP, so I upgraded to TWO gigs. It will run both well. I have found that WIN 7 is 'Lighter' on your Hard Drive Space. Can't believe I have only used 1/4 of Hard Drive Capacity on the HP Desktop...and have full HP Office, Norton, several utility programs, most Media programs, etc...and have almost 3/4 of my hard drive space left.....

Bottom Line, another Gig is cheap...Do it for Pete's sake!!


Stan Coppel

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I have 3 GBs on a Windows 7 PC
Jun 11, 2010 12:56PM PDT

but since I've used it (November 2009) I have only used 1 1/2 GBs. So two should do but it depends on the applications your using. I'd start there, at 2GBs then move up if you have the space/slots later. Adding RAM is simple provided it's compatible with your machine.

Read this before installing anything in a PC/Laptop

http://www.pcworld.com/article/82184/avoid_static_damage_to_your_pc.html

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My Friend's Laptop has 1GB Ram.
Jun 12, 2010 8:48AM PDT

My Friend has recently upgraded to Windows 7 and his Laptop is only 1GB but it runs totally well. You may need to have a qualified service tech look at yours.

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Sure!
Jun 12, 2010 12:27PM PDT

Hi there, since last Octobre (2009) I have upgraded my laptop with 1GB. Ram, 160GB. HDD and Core2 Duo Processor, running under Windows XP Professional Edition 32 Bits. I?ve installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit; but as so as you, I?ve experienced a very slow response on my laptop, due to the new O.S. and more than 100 apps and programs installed!

So I decided to install a new 1GB. Ram to my laptop, but had to ensure that be the same brand/manufacturer, this in order to have more efficient communication with the processor. I had a great result; I?m running faster, playing games an runing more than 4 or 5 apps. at the same time without having my O.S. freeze. Also now I?m thinking to install 2 modules of 2GB. on "Dual Channel" configuration. More RAM, more Power to your PC!

Kind Regards.

Lawtimes74

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2GB Ram
Jun 13, 2010 1:26AM PDT

Anyone doing any amount of multitasking needs a minimum of 2GB 3-4GB is desirable. Win 7 uses most of non-used RAM for caching, so multitasking. benefits from the larger RAM amounts. Win 7 seems to handle caching better than earlier versions. A speed increase will be seen when going to the maximum RAM. Withlesser amounts of RAM, caching will use the hard drive, which is much slower.

With Win 7 64, more than 4GB RAM is only beneficial for multitasking, as no application can use more than 2GB.

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Is this true? Not here. Pictures to show it too.
Jun 13, 2010 2:18AM PDT

"no application can use more than 2GB."

As I am writing apps with Visual Studio 2008 your statement seems to be false. My apps look to be able to plunder all the RAM today.

For a quick test you can perform today, try this on Windows 7 64 bit and VS2008.

namespace bigapp
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
byte[] gigabyte = new byte[0x7fffff80];
byte[] gigabyte2 = new byte[0x7fffff80];
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("bigapp created two " + gigabyte.Length.ToString("N") + " size arrays.");
}
}
}

So while we have to limit each array to under 2GB each we can have more than 2GB in use per app.

Picture at http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w146/rproffitt2000/?action=view&current=bigapp.jpg
Bob

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Max RAM
Jun 13, 2010 3:04AM PDT

2GB is the normal limit per application. You can get 4GB only if you set IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE to true. Win 32 can get 3GB with this set. However, the majority of users would (and should) not play with the registry.

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Still seems untrue.
Jun 13, 2010 4:09AM PDT

I can keep going with this app to more and more ram beyond 2GB, beyond 4GB without a single registry change.

But and this is a biggy, I'm showing this on Windows 7 64 bit.
Bob

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Yes
Jun 12, 2010 8:33PM PDT

I have the 64bit Windows 7 on 2GB. I is a little slow!!