# Increasing ram without buying more



## thelostrose (Sep 27, 2007)

I was on a technical website a few days ago, and it said I could change the amount of ram my computer has by changing the settings I already have; what I want to know is this: how viable is this option, and has anyone tried it and had it work well for them? And if it works well, how do I do this? 
This is my computer:

HP with Windows XP SP2
Ram: 383 mb
Screen Res: 1024x786
IE Version: 7.0
Hard Drive: 30 or 40 Gb

If you need any more information, please let me know. I will be back asap.
Thank you all!


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## BCCOMP (Jul 9, 2007)

I do not know of a way of increasing ram with out buying more. In other words you can not make a 512MB stick into a 1GB stick. What you can do is decrease the amount of RAM the PC uses at a given time by changing what programs load when windows starts, thus giving you more free ram. There are many tweaking programs out there to help even a novice user speed up thier PC.
Thanks,
Bill


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## Jack.Sparrow (Jan 22, 2007)

That's a weird claim and certainly the first time I've come across it. 

I am at a loss to see how that would work, unless it's using something as a substitude for ram. I can't see how you could increase the amount of ram you have but changing a few settings :4-dontkno:


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## wonder44 (Oct 25, 2010)

with windows xp all you need to do is go to start, right click my computer
, properties then advanced, performance, advanced then click where it says
virtual memory or change. now click on your c drive or d drive. then click custom size, then chane the amount of mb of ram you would like as ram. remember with xp you can only use 4gb of that drive space as ram, this works with sp2 and sp3 so dont worry. then click set, then way you go. restart your pc and you should notice a difference already once it has booted back up. 
hope i helped.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

There is no way to increase available RAM "size" without physically adding RAM sticks of a larger size. 
You can increase the Virtual Memory as proposed by wonder44 but that doesn't increase your available RAM. The standard setting for Virtual Memory is 1.5 times the physical amount of RAM.


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

RAM is hardware and no settings anywhere can add more. But this isn't the first time I have heard this claim. Some time ago a member of this forum had downloaded what he thought was RAM and wanted help in installing it. I have seen other claims as well.

Changing pagefile settings does not add memory. The pagefile is not simply an extension to RAM, although you will find many websites that say it is. But increasing the size of the pagefile may actually improve performance in some unusual situations. This isn't because you have added memory but because it allows the pagefile allocation system to work more efficiently. But this will only be a significant factor if pagefile performance is a bottleneck for performance, which it usually isn't. In most cases if the current pagefile size is adequate for your workload, making it bigger will do nothing for performance.

If you provide the URL of the site we could more adequately answer your question.

But bottom line: there is no substitute for RAM.


I should add a few comments regarding the so called memory booster or acceleration programs that can be found all over the internet. Many of these claim to improve usable memory and performance. But in the majority of cases they merely disrupt the highly developed memory management system that is already present and impair performance. These programs should be avoided.

David Solomon and Mark Russinovich had some very uncomplimentary things to say about these programs in "Windows Internals", fifth edition. Both are highly regarded Windows experts.


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