X60 (Core 2 Duo T7200) + Windows XP SP2 + 4GB RAM (2GBx2) ??

[brosen]

Hi, I have the new X60 with Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, and I just bought 2 x 2GB Sodimm RAM modules.

My Windows XP SP2 reports PAE (Physical Address Extension) enabled.

Windows XP SP2 will show the 4GB RAM ?, I also have 1GB of Pagefile, so for the system there are 5GB RAM, should I disable the Pagefile and leave only the 4GB RAM ?

I need the extra memory to run VMWARE, and I want to use it with 2.5GB RAM just for VMware, so that means I should use the /3GB option in Boot.ini in order to enable applications to use more than 2GB RAM ? (windows limitation, 2GB for applications and 2GB for the OS)

Thanks

[smvp6459]

I have 2GB of memory and disable the virtual memory. I use VMWare lightly and other memory intensive apps, and I haven't had a problem yet. New games might cause a problem...

[fbrdphreak]

Be careful disabling virtual memory - some applications require it and will crash without it. You don't lose any tangible performance by enabling virtual memory, I say just leave it on.

Are you asking or telling us that XP shows 4GB RAM? My understanding is that Windows XP 32-bit can only address up to 3.2GB of that RAM. Leave the pagefile, as stated above. The 3GB option I believe just allows allocation of up to 3GB for a single thread, but my understanding could be off.

[penpen]

i think the max windows 32bit can utilize is 3G memory

[bigtiger]

Given enough memory, is it possible to fake some memory as pagefile? I do not like page file and my memory is never used up. Maybe some Ramdisk software can fake this?

Anybody?

[fbrdphreak]

There's no reason not to like a page file, it is there for a reason. You can only cause problems by disabling it...

[smvp6459]

Be careful disabling virtual memory - some applications require it and will crash without it. You don't lose any tangible performance by enabling virtual memory, I say just leave it on.

I'm curious what programs you've run into that crash without virtual memory?

On my 2GB machine I've seen 0 problems given my current usage. Photoshop has a nag screen at the beginning, but the way I use it doesn't cause any other issue.

On my 1GB machine I saw it ask for virtual memory once, when I ran a memory-hogging game.

In contrast, I see much less harddrive access with it off. It doesn't seem to matter how much memory you have, XP loves to access its pagefile even when there's no good reason to do so.

[atlacatl]

Hi, I have the new X60 with Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, and I just bought 2 x 2GB Sodimm RAM modules.

Any words on performance gains from X60 1.83 GHz model? Better yet, compared with X60s 1.66 GHz?

I'm considering an upgrade, but don't know if the difference is worth while.

Thanks.