[PLUG] Is 1 GB enough memory?

[Carlos Konstanski]

Am 16.03.2010 09:21, schrieb Fred James:
> Richard C. Steffens wrote:
>> My sister recently upgraded from an XP machine to a Mac. I got the 
>> hand-me-down. I now have a test machine and plan to use it to try out 
>> different distros. XP will not be one of them.
>>
>> One reason she got her new machine is that the old one runs so slowly. 
>> Of course, XP is part of the problem, and who knows what mischievous 
>> malware has found its way onto the hard drive (no, I'm not connecting it 
>> to the house network until I wipe that drive and load Linux).
>>
>> Another reason it is slow is that it has only 256 MB of RAM. The mother 
>> board has two memory slots with one DDR PC3200 stick in it. I can get a 
>> 1 GB stick for $36. Will that be good enough? I realize that more is 
>> usually better, but $36 is better than $72 for now.
>>
>> Other details:
>>
>> Processor: AMD Sempron 2400+, 1.6 GHz
>> Hard drive: 111 GB (can't see the make and model unless I take it out.
>> Floppy, CD writer/DVD reader.
>>
>> TIA for any advice.
>>   
> Richard C. Steffens
> First - check the specs on the motherboard and see just how much memory, 
> and in what configurations, the board will take.
> Hope this helps
> Regards
> Fred James
> 
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1G should be ample to load all required runtime processes into memory
without swapping. More memory will give you a bigger disk cache, but you'll
be "over the hump" with 1G.

Carlos