Just Sayin' (Laptop Minor Upgrade)

kenster1092 · Jul 6, 2014

Hey Heroes!
As you know, I'm gone, and "what can you do about it?" lol...
Anyways, I call this a minor upgrade, some might call it a huge one, but here goes:

Tadaaa! Upgraded the RAM from 1GB DDR2 to 4GB DDR3... General Windows jobs run 10x faster, such as programs opening.... Games load 10x faster too, but no noticeable increase in game performance...

My dad stripped down a semi-new HP laptop (from 2010) that a friend of his gave us, but is rendered useless (because he didn't bring us the adapter, battery and HDD) down to the plastics, and handed me over the RAM sticks, which were two 2GB DDR3 sticks, I pulled out the two 512MB DDR2 and inserted the 2GB ones, booted up my laptop and voila!

The upgrade automatically gave more VRAM to my video chipset - from 128MB to 256MB (but it's down to 192MB cause 64MB is reserved for system use)...

Minecraft only runs a tad bit better... I'm thinking either the video chip (an Intel 945GM) or the CPU (Intel Core Duo T2450 Dual-core @2.00 GhZ) is bottlenecking the performance...

This is all I have to say for the day,
Kenster

judgedread540 · Jul 6, 2014

If you didn't know - you're only using 3/4 GB of ram b/c you have a 32 bit OS which can only use up to 3gb, if you want to use all 4gb you'll need to upgrade to a 64bit OS

0xNaomi · Jul 6, 2014

judgedread540 said:
If you didn't know - you're only using 3/4 GB of ram b/c you have a 32 bit OS which can only use up to 3gb, if you want to use all 4gb you'll need to upgrade to a 64bit OS

Ehh... this is mostly correct.
There's a feature for 32-bit OSes called PAE (Physical Address Extension) which permits the system to use more than that, with the limit applying to processes rather than the entire system. Read more.

According to some Google, the machine is 32 bit, so a 64 bit OS isn't an option here.

kenster1092 · Jul 6, 2014

Touche, but what's wrong with using only 3GB of remaining RAM? Windows by default requires 1 GB of RAM for its own system use.

Just sayin' but just below that "Installed memory:" was the system type (32-bit). Apparently my processor is built on the i386 architecture so I cannot install a 64-bit OS at all.

BTW from your link on my processor, what does hyperthreading do?

0xNaomi · Jul 6, 2014

kenster1092 said:
Touche, but what's wrong with using only 3GB of remaining RAM? Windows by default requires 1 GB of RAM for its own system use.

Nothing is wrong with it.

kenster1092 said:
ust sayin' but just below that "Installed memory:" was the system type (32-bit). Apparently my processor is built on the i386 architecture so I cannot install a 64-bit OS at all.

Reread my post. I realize this and was stating such. PAE is for 32-bit systems.

kenster1092 said:
BTW from your link on my processor, what does hyperthreading do?

Run more processes at once. If you're trying to do one, large CPU-hungry task it'll accomplish nothing but it makes it easier to run multiple tasks simultaneously.

kenster1092 · Jul 6, 2014

0xNaomi said:
Nothing is wrong with it.

Reread my post. I realize this and was stating such. PAE is for 32-bit systems.

Run more processes at once. If you're trying to do one, large CPU-hungry task it'll accomplish nothing but it makes it easier to run multiple tasks simultaneously.

PAE seems connected to Data Execution Prevention... I'll have to look into DEP to see if PAE's automatically enabled or not.

P.S You have quite the advanced knowledge of Windows, I'm amazed.

kenster1092 · Jul 6, 2014

@0xNaomi Alright, went into the advanced system settings and found the DEP. It is currently switched on for essential Windows programs and services only, and states that my processor supports hardware-based DEP. What now?

I'll have to go to school now since it's 06:15 and it's raining, I need to go early on rainy days.

0xNaomi · Jul 6, 2014

kenster1092 said:
@0xNaomi Alright, went into the advanced system settings and found the DEP. It is currently switched on for essential Windows programs and services only, and states that my processor supports hardware-based DEP. What now?

I'll have to go to school now since it's 06:15 and it's raining, I need to go early on rainy days.

I have no explicit knowledge, so lemme just quote a link:

Enabling PAE
Windows automatically enables PAE if DEP is enabled on a computer that supports hardware-enabled DEP, or if the computer is configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB. If the computer does not support hardware-enabled DEP or is not configured for hot-add memory devices in memory ranges beyond 4 GB, PAE must be explicitly enabled.

To explicitly enable PAE, use the following BCDEdit /set command to set the pae boot entry option:

bcdedit /set [{ID}] pae ForceEnable
IF DEP is enabled, PAE cannot be disabled. Use the following BCDEdit /set commands to disable both DEP and PAE:

bcdedit /set [{ID}] nx AlwaysOff
bcdedit /set [{ID}] pae ForceDisable
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: To enable PAE, use the /PAE switch in the boot.ini file. To disable PAE, use the /NOPAE switch. To disable DEP, use the /EXECUTE switch.

Notice the first section. It should be on for SOMETHING with DEP on... whether it has to be essential or all, I have no idea.

kenster1092 · Jul 7, 2014

0xNaomi said:
I have no explicit knowledge, so lemme just quote a link:

Notice the first section. It should be on for SOMETHING with DEP on... whether it has to be essential or all, I have no idea.

Looking at it, since my hardware supports hardware-based DEP AND is enabled, then PAE is also enabled by default. :confused:

This means I can use like 6GB RAM on a 32-bit system?

BeasttRecon · Jul 7, 2014

my phones probably better than your laptop/pc lol

kenster1092 · Jul 7, 2014

I'm pretty sure you should get out of this topic if you're gonna just troll. Or I'll have to ask a mod to clean your crap up.

Jrr_ · Jul 7, 2014

The man was stating facts!

0xNaomi · Jul 7, 2014

kenster1092 said:
Looking at it, since my hardware supports hardware-based DEP AND is enabled, then PAE is also enabled by default. This means I can use like 6GB RAM on a 32-bit system?

As much as your machine itself supports in hardware. Check out how much bios recognizes later.

There's no real maximum on software... article says serves have been run using it with 64 or 128GB of RAM.

kenster1092 · Jul 7, 2014

0xNaomi said:
As much as your machine itself supports in hardware. Check out how much bios recognizes later.

There's no real maximum on software... article says serves have been run using it with 64 or 128GB of RAM.

I can't test it since I only have two 2GB RAM sticks and my old two 512MB sticks. In order to test it I'll have to find some compatible RAM-sticks downtown (at my place)