What is the minimum recommended RAM for a PC (office use) using a Pentium 3 450 MHZ and running Win 98 SE?

My system currently has 64 MB and I suspect that this is not enough as I typically have a few windows open at any one time (Outlook, Word, Excel, IW Forum :D , etc)

Well they say you neer have enough RAM... but I think 128 is just about enough if all you have are these programs.

I actually remember when 8mb was considered A LOT!!! those were the days... [img]smile.gif[/img]

As Jorath Calar say a minum amount of ram are 128 mb i think to Win 98 or you can almost do nothing in it and games and stuff like that today is wery ram hungrey to not only on video. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="lightblue">According to MS; minimum is 32, optimal is 64.
In reality, get as much as you can but remember that 98 can do very odd things if it sees high RAM (512+); and decide to go out with a bang if you insult it`s memory handling ability so much as to waste money on 1024 MB RAM. </font>

I have been using Win98SE for more than two years and I can assure you that 64MB might not be sufficient for office use (especially if you open a 2-3 programs at once).

If you have a little more budget to spare, go for 128 MB. But of course when comes to RAM, more is better and you can never have too much. ;)

[ 09-12-2002, 09:45 AM: Message edited by: Paladin2000 ]

256 DDR ;) but 128 is good also

<font color="#cc9999"> Most motherboards except the newer ones don't even handle more than 512MB at leas tas far as intel CPU's are concerned due to chipset limitations. Ill bet your MB for the 450Mhz CPU won't even go higher than that. But 128 is probably the best choice with 256 being the most you can use efficiently, Win98 looses efficiency over 256...or so I have read. </font>

<font color="#cc9999"> Im betting that his Motherboard won't know how to deal with DDR RAM. It is only with the more recent Mother Boards that Intel chips can even use DDR. I know the AMD boards were useing DDR earlier. </font>

If you are using a PIII 450 and only have the original 64 meg of ram installed on your Win98 machine, I would hazard a guess that it is likely to be about 3 years old.

This probably means that it is running PC 100 SDRAM (check out your mobo manual to be sure. The good news is that this sort of ram is dirt cheap at present so you could probably get 512 meg for not too much cash.

Hope this helps ;)

Is there a button somewhere in control panel or something that shows me how mutch ram i have?

With 98, 256 is pretty good, with 2K or XP I wouldn't dream of having less than 512. Personally I have 2 gigs, but I do photo work.

[img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]
Thanks for your replies, fellas. I suspected that 64MB is simply not enough (and I'm not talking about playing games here. Minesweeper and Solitaire don't count :D ). I get random crashes that could be attributed to insufficient RAM. Or it could be inadequate software ;) . Anyway I have a small utility programme called RAMpage that shows how much RAM is free, and on starting up my PC at the office I see only about 6 or 7 MB free.

Looks like it's time to convince the purchasing people to get another 64MB stick!
[img]smile.gif[/img]

I recommend getting as 192 or 256, both will work. BTW, to find out how much ram you have (someone asked) right click the My Computer icon and hit Properties.

Ha! I just found out from the computer guy in my office that my system (and all others similar to it) will be upgraded to 256MB PC133 SDRAM (whatever that means). I saw the memory sticks on his table!! :D

I'd say 128 MB is the minimum recommended RAM you'd be looking at, although if you're seriously considering upgrading, why not push the boat out and get 256 MB? Additional RAM isn't expensive [img]smile.gif[/img]