Optimal Memory and CPU Settings

E

elasticmedia

Member
I'm using Parallels 8 in a dual core intel core duo 2 imac with 6 gigs of RAM, what is the ideal memory setting? I am guessing that I should only give it 1 cpu. I use windows 7 and don't do heavy lifting: just Internet Explorer and the windows finder and a relatively low end drawing program (Rapid Sketch). The slider in the configure window shows a suggested range of 512MB to 2 GB. I find that Parallels gradually sucks away memory so I try to quit once I am done with my windows needs.

thanks
Jim
 
i have a core 2 duo MBP 2.4GHz ran with 4gb of ram until last week. then upgraded to 8gb. i use integrated graphics instead of the discreet graphics.

i set up all of my VMs with the same configuration:
1 CPU
1 GB ram
Performance: "Faster Mac"
- "enable adaptive hypervisor"
- "tune windows for speed"
Power: "Better Performance"
enable "Automatically compress virtual disks"
Video: 256MB
"enable 3d acceleration"
"enable vertical synchronization"

i run the same software in each:
- visual studio (from 6 up to 2012)
- microsoft sql server (2005, 2008 and 2012)
- occasionally microsoft office when needed
- internet explorer on occasion

i have run WinXP, Win Vista, Win7 and Win8 with the same configuration. the only one that seemed to struggle was win8. i upgraded to 8gb last week and allocated 2gb of ram to win8 (left the rest the same) and it runs much better.

WinXP struggles at first start up while windows update does all of its checks. once that's done, it returns to normal.
 
I also have a question: I have a win XP VM. considering it's XP, would it make sense to assign more than 1 CPU core to that VM? Can XP use more than one?
I'm gonna keep the memory at 4GB until I get it to work right, then I'll see how much I can shave off that....
 
Well, the best configuration - like the most stable and well-tested one - is actually the one we suggest for OS type by default :)

But yeah, WinXP can handle two CPUs.

Regards,
Hanna
 
> But yeah, WinXP can handle two CPUs.

Really? Ok, then I'll see if 2 CPUs would do me any good. I doubt it, but it's worth a try...
 
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