Is there a 256MB limit on RAM in Windows 98SE????

TonyV · #1 June 12th, 2004, 06:07 AM

I have a Gateway ESS 450SE with 3 slots for memory. Right now I have 3 64MB cards in the slots.

I want to add additonal memory and I wanted to max it out with 3 128MB cards since Gateway says the total RAM I can have on this machine is 384MB.

Is there a 256MB limit for RAM in Windows 98SE? I don't want to upgrade to XP on this machine....

Thanks!
Tony

Jaytee · #2 June 12th, 2004, 06:25 AM

Hi Tony,
I think you will be fine with upgrading your memory to 384mb.

renegade600 · #3 June 12th, 2004, 12:52 PM

You can use as much as your motherboard will hold. Whether or not there is a noticible difference will depend upon what you do on your computer. I have always heard that 256 is the max that win98 will use efficently. More than that is a waste.

Dodge · #4 June 12th, 2004, 02:39 PM

I run 768 in my PC with 98se on it and could tell a big difference. It is mainly when you get to the 1-2 gig of memory that it will mess with you. I've seen alot of people run 1gig with no problems, but over 1gig is useless. So if you going to 384, you'll do just fine.

**Murray S.** · #5 June 12th, 2004, 06:30 PM

Howdy:

Actually, if you run more than 512megs of ram on a Win98/98SE system, you can end up with a very unstable system..

"Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed

http://support.microsoft.com/default...12&Product=w98

Murray

**jtdoom** · #6 June 14th, 2004, 03:23 AM

the latter is true, over 512 can be a problem, but a simple entry one can put in (by using) sysedit solves it.

it don't make it noticably faster, but programs using lots of memory like more than 512 too. (where it WILL make a difference)

I ran 98se with a gig for over a year without problems, using Vcache setting, for 512 Megabytes max.

[VCache]
MinFileCache=131072
MaxFileCache=524288

**jtdoom** · #7 June 14th, 2004, 03:40 AM

that other setting, EmmExclude, is primarily for lower end of high memory area access, (in the first megabyte of RAM) where a specific video adressing problem can make windows make the blue blink of death by allowing it to think the area is free for use, where it ain,t and windows grabs it, and then some application (usu a DOS app) calls for that area.

[386enh]
EmmExclude=A000-C7FF

is more conservative, and usually fixes that

to exclude all of A000 to FFFF was considered wasteful, but that was when high memory was less well managed than it is today.

btw, that gate of 64kilobyte still haunts 98
that's what this Vcache setting is used for, see

**jtdoom** · #8 June 14th, 2004, 03:47 AM

typoes, and additional info
I edited...

pls refresh