Max RAM for Win95b ?

The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed in a particular motherboard is not
related in any way to the operating system; it is a limit that is specific to the
motherboard. Whether you mobo can support 512MB of RAM depends on the
manufacturer's specs. You can check by going to www.crucial.com

That said, Win95B will work with whichever amount you install total....either 256 or
512. Anything greater than 512 will require particular tweaks to the system.
However, unless you have some specific apps that require such large amounts of
memory installed, you will not likely see a big performance difference between 256
and 512, and increasing to 512 may just be a waste of money.

What you should do is monitor you swap file USAGE for a week or so while doing your
usual work. You can use System Monitor for that...add the option to monitor "Swap
file in use". If the actual swap file usage is very low or non-existent, then
increasing the installed RAM will not accomplish anything. If however your swap
file usage averages an appreciable amount, that amount when added as RAM will
relieve the load on virtual memory.

Certain older chipsets such as the Intel 430TX have a limit where only the first
64MB of RAM will be handled by the L2 cache. However, you can still use 256 or 512
MB of RAM on such systems, because the added RAM will reduce or eliminate the usage
of the swap file, leading to a huge increase in performance even though the uncached
RAM may cause a very small performance drop.

With Win95, it is very helpful to set a MaxFileCache in the [vcache] section of the
System.ini file, especially when installed RAM amounts go up, lest the swap file
grow too large because vcache doesn't shrink quickly enough. With 256MB RAM
installed, I would start with a setting like this:

[vcache]

MaxFileCache=32768

Watch you swap file usage and see if the setting helps, or needs to be tweaked.

Hope this helps.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Pedro" <someone.RemoveThis@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:ejmsh2pu0s87hbpl2mj9khlpb210037g5h@4ax.com...
> We have a P2-350 Mhz with Win95b and 256 Mb RAM. I have seen a few
> articles about the max ram that can be placed in the mobo, for Win95.
> Some say 256, some say 512.
>
> Will it be okay to add another 256 Mb RAM ?
>

thanatoid <waiting.DeleteThis@the.exit.invalid> wrote:

>Pedro <someone.DeleteThis@my-deja.com> wrote in
>news:ejmsh2pu0s87hbpl2mj9khlpb210037g5h@4ax.com:
>
>> We have a P2-350 Mhz with Win95b and 256 Mb RAM. I have
>> seen a few articles about the max ram that can be placed in
>> the mobo, for Win95. Some say 256, some say 512.
>>
>> Will it be okay to add another 256 Mb RAM ?
>>
>
>Okay but pointless. The 95B OS can not use more than 64 MB of
>RAM.

NOT TRUE!! I think this myth comes from the fact that a lot of
motherboards built in the Win95 era couldn't cache more than 64MB. You
could still use more than 64MB, up to whatever your motherboard
supported (they didn't support 4GB in those days). Access to memory
over 64MB would be slower than if it were cached, but still a *lot*
faster than the virtual memory file on your disk!

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T.DeleteThis@bls.gov

On 30 Sep 2006 19:14:33 GMT, thanatoid <waiting.RemoveThis@the.exit.invalid>
wrote:

>Okay but pointless. The 95B OS can not use more than 64 MB of
>RAM. Unless you do some extremely heavy video or sound editing
>in applications which "abuse" RAM, in which case you would
>probably be using a newer OS, there is no point in adding more.

I had no idea Win95B cannot use more than 64 Mb ram. I have the option
of obtaining 256 Mb ram for free, that would be compatible for this
mobo, and thought it may help. Apparently not.

Thanks.

On Sun, 1 Oct 2006 00:26:21 -0400, "glee" <glee29 RemoveThis @spamindspring.com>
wrote:

>The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed in a particular motherboard is not
>related in any way to the operating system; it is a limit that is specific to the
>motherboard. Whether you mobo can support 512MB of RAM depends on the
>manufacturer's specs. You can check by going to www.crucial.com

The mobo should be able to support it, by this spec:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=112

>That said, Win95B will work with whichever amount you install total....either 256 or
>512. Anything greater than 512 will require particular tweaks to the system.
>However, unless you have some specific apps that require such large amounts of
>memory installed, you will not likely see a big performance difference between 256
>and 512, and increasing to 512 may just be a waste of money.

Okay, thanks. The extra ram would be free, so I thought, it may help.

>What you should do is monitor you swap file USAGE for a week or so while doing your
>usual work. You can use System Monitor for that...add the option to monitor "Swap
>file in use". If the actual swap file usage is very low or non-existent, then
>increasing the installed RAM will not accomplish anything. If however your swap
>file usage averages an appreciable amount, that amount when added as RAM will
>relieve the load on virtual memory.

Okay thanks. I will set the monitoring of the swap file up, possibly
it can o/p to a file, for later review. (Actually, today the W95b
computer hung, first time in ages, got the blue screen and some msg
about waiting ... ).

>Certain older chipsets such as the Intel 430TX have a limit where only the first
>64MB of RAM will be handled by the L2 cache. However, you can still use 256 or 512
>MB of RAM on such systems, because the added RAM will reduce or eliminate the usage
>of the swap file, leading to a huge increase in performance even though the uncached
>RAM may cause a very small performance drop.

The details on the chipset are:
VIA® VT82C693A Chipset
VIA® VT82C596B chipset Chipset

>With Win95, it is very helpful to set a MaxFileCache in the [vcache] section of the
>System.ini file, especially when installed RAM amounts go up, lest the swap file
>grow too large because vcache doesn't shrink quickly enough. With 256MB RAM
>installed, I would start with a setting like this:
>
>[vcache]
>
>MaxFileCache=32768
>
>Watch you swap file usage and see if the setting helps, or needs to be tweaked.
>
Okay, thanks. There is no value at all for "[vcache]" in system.ini
at present, so I will add the value as you suggested.

Thanks.

If it's free, grab it. It probably won't make a big difference for most of
the things you do, but there are always odd times when Windows suddenly
needs a lot of RAM, and having the extra there won't hurt.

The chipset will support that RAM, but the motherboard might have its own
rules, so be sure to check. Note that you might run into problems if the
new RAM isn't the same type - while it's technically possible to mix RAM
types, in practice it sometimes doesn't work.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Pedro" <someone.TakeThisOut@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:uhb1i2lqtu53mi5e4u1kmcg1tjov0a400a@4ax.com...
> snip <
>
> Okay, thanks. The extra ram would be free, so I thought, it may help.
>
>>What you should do is monitor you swap file USAGE for a week or so while
>>doing your
>>usual work. You can use System Monitor for that...add the option to
>>monitor "Swap
>>file in use". If the actual swap file usage is very low or non-existent,
>>then
>>increasing the installed RAM will not accomplish anything. If however
>>your swap
>>file usage averages an appreciable amount, that amount when added as RAM
>>will
>>relieve the load on virtual memory.
>
> Okay thanks. I will set the monitoring of the swap file up, possibly
> it can o/p to a file, for later review. (Actually, today the W95b
> computer hung, first time in ages, got the blue screen and some msg
> about waiting ... ).
>
>>Certain older chipsets such as the Intel 430TX have a limit where only the
>>first
>>64MB of RAM will be handled by the L2 cache. However, you can still use
>>256 or 512
>>MB of RAM on such systems, because the added RAM will reduce or eliminate
>>the usage
>>of the swap file, leading to a huge increase in performance even though
>>the uncached
>>RAM may cause a very small performance drop.
>
> The details on the chipset are:
> VIA® VT82C693A Chipset
> VIA® VT82C596B chipset Chipset
>
>>With Win95, it is very helpful to set a MaxFileCache in the [vcache]
>>section of the
>>System.ini file, especially when installed RAM amounts go up, lest the
>>swap file
>>grow too large because vcache doesn't shrink quickly enough. With 256MB
>>RAM
>>installed, I would start with a setting like this:
>>
>>[vcache]
>>
>>MaxFileCache=32768
>>
>>Watch you swap file usage and see if the setting helps, or needs to be
>>tweaked.
>>
> Okay, thanks. There is no value at all for "[vcache]" in system.ini
> at present, so I will add the value as you suggested.
>
> Thanks.
>
>

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 16:40:32 +1000, "Jeff Richards"
<JRichards.RemoveThis@msn.com.au> wrote:

>If it's free, grab it. It probably won't make a big difference for most of
>the things you do, but there are always odd times when Windows suddenly
>needs a lot of RAM, and having the extra there won't hurt.

Okay.

>The chipset will support that RAM, but the motherboard might have its own
>rules, so be sure to check. Note that you might run into problems if the
>new RAM isn't the same type - while it's technically possible to mix RAM
>types, in practice it sometimes doesn't work.

Okay, I will try and see what type of ram is installed now, and what
the type of RAM for extra is. Here is a 'Sandra' report of the memory
now:

<<< Windows Memory Information >>>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

< System Memory Summary >
Total System Memory: 316MB
Free System Memory: 61MB, 19%
Total Physical Memory: 256MB
Free Physical Memory: 920kB, 0%
Maximum Swap File: 1793MB
Current Swap File: 60MB
Free Page File: 60MB, 100%
Page File Drive: C:

< Extended Memory Information >
True Allocated Memory Load: 118%
Total Windows Base Memory: 640kB
Free Windows Base Memory: 425kB, 66%
Largest Free Base Memory Block: 246kB, 38%

< 16-bit Sub-System >
System Resources Free: 69%
GDI Heap Free: 81%
USER Heap Free: 69%

< Performance Tips >
Tip T2005: Use a fixed-size swap file.
This is faster than a
variable-size swap file.
Tip T2: For more information about
tips, press F1 and scroll
to the Tips section.

<<< DOS Memory Information >>>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

< Base Memory >
Total Memory: 640kB
Free Memory: 518kB, 81%

< EMS Driver >
LIM Version: 4.00
EMS Page Frame: E000h
Total Memory: 2MB
Free Memory: 2MB, 100%

< XMS Driver >
Interface Version: 3.00
Driver Version: 3.95
Total Memory: 255MB
Free Memory: 2MB, 1%

< HMA Block >
In Use: Yes
Total Memory: 64kB
Free Memory: 9kB, 15%

< DPMI Driver >
Interface Version: 0.90
Provider Type: 32-bit
Total Physical Memory: 255MB
Swap File Size: 255MB
Free Memory: 510MB, 100%
Swap Page Size: 4kB

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of Report

Thanks.