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From: mcculley@alien.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: Pro Memory Upgrade
Message-ID: <22574@shlump.lkg.dec.com>
Date: 9 May 91 19:53:00 GMT
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Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 23


In article <42829@netnews.upenn.edu>, chaim@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Chaim Dworkin) writes...
>[...] I wonder though if all
>that memory is necessary.  Before I added the extra two boards I never 
>ran out of memory and never had a program crash for possible memory
>reasons.  Is there any application that requires more than the standard
>base memory?

The biggest effect of insufficient RAM will be excess swapping.  You should
seldom see anything crash or lock up from inadequate memory size, but you could
see performance go down drastically.  Depending on your applications there
might or might not be a point at which adding more memory doesn't matter, but
it's tough to tell.  If you don't have any reason not to plug it in, why chance
it?

I forget exactly what the standard base memory was, but I think I can say
authoritatively that it was expected to be adequate to meet normal application
requirements.  The question should be phrased "do any applications benefit from
more than the standard (minimum) memory?" not "do any applications require more
than the standard?"						   ^^^^^^^
(Answer is, depends on your applications, your mileage may vary...)

- Bruce McCulley