Memory size

Jun 8, 2007, 07:07 PM #1
Howard Brazee Senior Member Join: Jan 2007 Posts: 137	Memory size (I thought I had posted this, but can't find it). Every once in a while, my wife discovers a game won't install with the current RAM or video memory, so I bump it up in Parallels. Currently I have over 800K RAM, and the music sounds strained when logging onto Windows XP. How do I tell if I am using too much RAM or Video Memory? What are the trade offs?

Jun 8, 2007, 08:01 PM #2
unused_user_name Senior Member Join: Jun 2006 Posts: 501	I think you mean 800MB, not 800K.... It's been a long time since a computer would work with 800K of RAM. The tradeoff is pretty simple actually. Whenever you give more memory to a VM, you take some of it away from MacOS. Consider how much memory you have in your machine, and the fact that MacOS (10.4 anyways) basically requries 1gb of RAM for itself. If MacOS does not have enough RAM it will slow down all applications running in it (this includes Parallels). This means that if you want to give 800MB of RAM to your VM you should have at least 1.8GB in your Mac. There is a 'optimal' amount of memory for the VM that will make your system go fastest, above that and below it it will go slower... To put this more bluntly, if you give your VM too much RAM your VM will go slower. I find that XP runs fine (with my use) with 512MB. __________________ MacBookPro C2D 2.4Ghz, 4gb RAM, 200gb Disk, 1tb USB2 Disk 2x Win XP Pro VM, 512mb RAM, 30gb Disk Win 2k VM, 265 mb RAM, 20 gb Disk Fedora 7 VM, 512mb RAM, 20gb Disk Red Hat Enterprise Linux (64 bit) VM, 512mb RAM, 20gb Disk Minix VM, 128mb RAM, 200mb Disk

Jun 8, 2007, 08:01 PM

unused_user_name
Senior Member

Join: Jun 2006
Posts: 501

I think you mean 800MB, not 800K....

It's been a long time since a computer would work with 800K of RAM.

The tradeoff is pretty simple actually. Whenever you give more memory to a VM, you take some of it away from MacOS. Consider how much memory you have in your machine, and the fact that MacOS (10.4 anyways) basically requries 1gb of RAM for itself. If MacOS does not have enough RAM it will slow down all applications running in it (this includes Parallels).

This means that if you want to give 800MB of RAM to your VM you should have at least 1.8GB in your Mac.

There is a 'optimal' amount of memory for the VM that will make your system go fastest, above that and below it it will go slower... To put this more bluntly, if you give your VM too much RAM your VM will go slower.

I find that XP runs fine (with my use) with 512MB.

__________________
MacBookPro C2D 2.4Ghz, 4gb RAM, 200gb Disk, 1tb USB2 Disk
2x Win XP Pro VM, 512mb RAM, 30gb Disk
Win 2k VM, 265 mb RAM, 20 gb Disk
Fedora 7 VM, 512mb RAM, 20gb Disk
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (64 bit) VM, 512mb RAM, 20gb Disk
Minix VM, 128mb RAM, 200mb Disk

Jun 11, 2007, 11:01 AM #3
CStephen84 Member Join: Jan 2007 Posts: 40	Video Memory The video memory configuration recommends no higher than a setting of 16. Yet when trying to run coherence and periodically when running VM in full screen mode I get a window telling me I need to increase the VM memory. This morning I increased to 20. Still got the message in coherence. If I keep using it anyway the video is wavy when I pass the mouse over it. I think this is mainly due to one program I run in XP. I am using build 3188. Suggestions? Steve

Jun 11, 2007, 11:01 AM

CStephen84
Member

Join: Jan 2007
Posts: 40

Video Memory

The video memory configuration recommends no higher than a setting of 16. Yet when trying to run coherence and periodically when running VM in full screen mode I get a window telling me I need to increase the VM memory. This morning I increased to 20. Still got the message in coherence. If I keep using it anyway the video is wavy when I pass the mouse over it. I think this is mainly due to one program I run in XP. I am using build 3188. Suggestions? Steve

Jun 11, 2007, 11:03 AM

Shidayu
Member

Join: Jun 2007
Posts: 50

Quote:

Originally Posted by CStephen84

32MB is not a bad choice. This is often the minimum defined by many programs and settings, and seems to perform quite speedily on my system.

__________________
/SYS/- MacBook Pro - Intel Core (1) Duo 2.0 GHz - 2GB RAM
/VID/- ATi Radeon Mobility X1600 - 256MB VRAM
/OS/- Mac OS X 10.4.9 / Windows XP SP2 under PDM
/VER/- Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 (Build 4128)

http://shidayu.com/compat/ - Unofficial Parallels Desktop for Mac Compatibility Wiki

Jun 11, 2007, 11:05 AM #5
CStephen84 Member Join: Jan 2007 Posts: 40	Thanks for the quick response. I'll try 32 and report back.

Jun 16, 2007, 11:01 AM #6
CStephen84 Member Join: Jan 2007 Posts: 40	No--setting of 32 did not allow me to run coherence. Thanks anyway! Steve

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Memory size