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no to really start argueing about this spdyscotty, but xp is a very ram intensive operating system....AND the majority of the newer softwares are going to incorperate thru a rich gui interface...more intense processes that while being dependant on processor speed....do rely on ram to get "the work" done.....
a 2.4 processor with 2 gb of ram will kill a 3.4 processor with only 512 if all else was equal.....your 600mhz processor is kind of minimal...but not inadequate......I run several older pIII750's & such & they can be surprisingly adequate when not asked to multitask hevy....but with 256 they work in a very frustratingly slow way......just the jump to 512 can make the difference.....& when you feed a 750 with 1 gig of ram you will see that the 750 is not as slow as you thought
think of the ram as workers or armymen & the processor as a manager or general leader..... a mediocre manager can still accomplish alot with a huge work force....
to further this analogy...the buss speed is comperable to the corridors that the workers must travel through.....having a bunch of guys with really narrow corridors will slow down the process as well......
right now you have a mediocre work environment...(the pc itself) with a not so swift head leader (the processor) & relatively narrow corridors (system buss speeds, etc..)...the best thing you can do to get the processes through & get work done by the pc is to give it as many laborers as you can......
older laptop ram should be really cheap on ebay & the single best thing you can do for your install is to bump it up to 512......I garrentee if you did this blindly without questioning it you would thank me for the advice.......
I'll even stick my neck out further & garentee this to you in front of all these witnesses.....that if you got this machine up to 512 & then disagree with anything said here...I'LL BUY THE RAM CHIP FROM YOU.....
it is in microsofts best interest to claim as little as possible as minimum......it's just bragging rights for them.....the same way a car manufacture will claim as long as possible for tune up intervals or oil change itervals......it's bragging rights but not really the optimum values.....
just trying to help.......
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