on 7/5/01 13:58, Andrew Kershaw at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> VM seems to be a somewhat subjective subject...
Yep!
> Personally, I find VM incredibly slow when compared to real physical memory.
> Lots of people will say otherwise, but I, for one, CAN notice the
> difference. 2 macs side-by-side have a noticeable performance difference
> when one runs VM and the other doesn't.
>
> VM hashes up your disk too. Because you are writing data to your disk so
> often, it tends to frag pretty quickly. To keep VM effective, you need to
> defrag and optimize often.
>
> All things being equal, and with the relative cheapness of physical RAM,
> there is really no need to use Virtual Memory...
If you have only 1 meg over physical (the default) you should rarely, if
ever have your computer swapping in and out info from disk to RAM and back
so you shouldn't experience any slowdown. Even then there are slightly
different behaviours to apps that I notice (but never noticed a speed
difference on a B&W G3/450 with an OEM 12 GIG IDE). When you have the sounds
on (Appearances app) for the Finder icon selection, and you select a whole
bunch of icons you'll get all the clicks without VM but will only get a few
of the clicks with VM when you rapidly move the mouse.
That said, if you have the HD space to spare (i.e. you don't mind
sacrificing slightly less than 1 gig of disk space) I doubt VM will slow you
down or render your computer any less stable, regardless of disk
fragmentation. But, 1 gig is a lot of wasted space, even on larger drives.
Some apps claim that they work better with VM on, others (notably older apps
which you're likely not using if you've got G3s with oodles of RAM) prefer
to have VM off.
If you had less RAM (say 64 or 96) I would suggest that VM is a useful
option as it actually reduces the RAM requirements of apps. VM can write to
disk code libraries that normally get loaded into RAM but don't get used,
thus freeing up the space without sacrificing speed (you'll actually have
more free physical RAM by turning on VM).
Eric.
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: David Holman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (G-List)
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (G-List)
> Subject: virtual memory
> Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 09:26:41 -0700
>
> i'd like to hear some comments on the pro's & con's of virtual memory. i've
> heard explainations from both sides but still don't have conclusive info. i
> am particularly interested in how virtual memory might effect a machine with
> a large amount of built-in mem (my two g3s have 896 & 768).
--
G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives |
-- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Velocity Upgrades - Mac Memory Factory Direct. 128 MB for 9600, 8600,
7600 - $79.99; 64MB for 6500, 6400, 5400 - $39.99; 32 MB for 9600, 8500,
7300 - $24.99 <http://www.backbeatmedia.com/wcgi-bin/velocity.cgi>
Friends -- Complete Series on Video CD -- $289.17
Back to the Future Collection on Video CD -- $15.97
EurekaMovies.com <http://lowendmac.com/ad/eureka.html>
- - - - -
G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml>
Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
List archive: <http://mail.maclaunch.com/lists/g-list/>
Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks!
<http://www.applelinks.com>
