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How much RAM does my Windows PC have?

Hey Dave, I need to do to know how much RAM memory i have in my Microsoft Windows XP computer?


Dave's Answer:

There are two straightforward ways to figure out how much RAM your computer has installed and available to Windows XP, actually. The first, and probably the easier, is to go to START --> Control Panels and choose System:

Windows XP [winxp] Control Panels: System

Double-click on that and the very next window you'll see will indicate your available RAM:

Windows XP [winxp] Control Panels: System: General Info

Don't like that approach? Okay, a different way to do this is dig through the program menu system to find the hard-core sys admin System Information tool. Here's the path: START --> All Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> System Information. Phew!

Launch it and click on "System Summary", and near the bottom you'll see the information you seek:

Windows XP [winxp] System Information Tool: System Summary

Either way, that should get you cruisin' along with your computer, easily able to ascertain your installed RAM and much more.



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Comments

Also a good ram shop will have a checker that will be able to tell you how much ram you have, how many slots you have open, and list the ram type that you need for your computer.
This definately comes in handy if you are interested in upgrading your computer by install more memory. If you have 1 GB ram, and two slots on your computer, you may have one 1GB stick in one slot, or you may have two 500 MB sticks in two slots. This will factor into your decision to upgrade.

Posted by: Dave at May 26, 2007 8:34 AM

Thank you! I was trying to figure out if the RAM I installed is actually working. So comparing the properties RAM of 224 to the system info RAM of 288, I can see that I picked up a little extra memory, but not the full 256KB that I installed. Any ideas why this is?

I also noticed that my page file size is much smaller than the example computer you show, so I'm going to increase mine to see if that helps my performance.

Posted by: Dana at November 23, 2007 7:25 PM

I don't get it (duh!)

So i was told i can only go the max of 2 - 512mb.

my employer has this:
msword xp home edition
Ver 2002
Sv Pk 2
Pentium (R) 4CPU 1.80 GHZ
1.80GHz, 1.00gb of RAM

what does that mean? does he have the max in?

Posted by: susan at January 23, 2008 6:24 PM

hey dave. i just installed 2ea. 256mb of memory in my pc, i think that should add up to 512mb, i checked my self, did the same step in your illustration, but only has 256. can you help me with this. thanks.

Posted by: eugene at February 2, 2008 7:47 PM

Eugene, sounds like either you have a bad RAM card or that you are putting one of them in the wrong slot. I'd take them both out, reseat them (e.g, put them back in firmly) and see if it works better. Look to see if they're in the right slots too, or just put them in different slots and experiment. Good luck!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at February 3, 2008 7:44 AM

the first won't work if you aren't admin.

Posted by: mike at February 16, 2008 4:31 PM

Computer Specs
Windows XP SP2.
1.20 Ghz, 224 MB of RAM
Used Space: 35.3 GB
Free Space: 2.91 GB ( 7% free space )
Capacity 38.2 GB

Hello.
Please help. My computer runs very slowly. I have emptied the Internet Options Cache (cookies, files, etc ). I did Disk Clean Up, AOL Check-up and now and trying to Defrag the C: drive.
I can not do the defrag because I get a message stating there is not enough free space on the drive to do the defrag.

I went to Control Panel...Add/Remove Programs and deleted a bunch of stuff that I know I dont use much. The only thing left there are basic Microsoft Programs, AOL and Windows things. There does not seem to be any other programs that I have installed over time....I got rid of all that or so I thought.

If I use Start...All Programs....it lists so many of the programs I have installed from disks over time such as WinFax, Encyclopedia Brittanica, multimedia stuff, Bible Scripture program, etc. I dont need to keep any of that on the hard drive because I have it on disk if I need to re-install later. Most of these programs Do Not have the feature where you can Uninstall the software by using right click; so I can not delete them that way.

Hardly any of the things listed under All Programs are listed in the Control Panel....Add/Remove Programs. BUT when I try to access those programs....the search flashlight comes up....the computer can not access them because I already deleted them but they still show up as taking up space.

It seems as though I have an awful lot of programs on my computer that I can not access in order to remove them.

I dont want to buy more memory RAM or anything else because I know my computer can do what I want the way it used to.

Please email back with advice as soon as you can.

My Thanks, Stormy


Posted by: Stormy at April 5, 2008 1:43 AM

Simply, thank you.

Just installed another couple of 'sticks' of memory and this is a simple way to verify that the computer recognises them.

Posted by: Nigel Brooks at April 8, 2008 3:50 AM

Stormy, you can delete programs in the control panel , add/remove programs. Why don't you invest in an external harddrive to hold extra space or upgrade to a bigger harddrive?

Posted by: brizz at May 13, 2008 5:09 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!









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