P4t533 Max Ram

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Tim

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Mar 31, 2004
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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Yes. Use Disk Manager in Computer Management in Administrative tools.
There are other programs that will do it, but the above is the MS supported
way.

- Tim


"John Smith" <recons@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:RDm_c.9006$lv3.3983835@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
> Tim, what do you recommend using to create a partition, can XP PRO be used
> to accomplish it? Thanks, Mike
>
>
> "Tim" <Tim@NoSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:cha6r4$f7m$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
>> To put a page file on its own partition.
>> 1. Create the partition / assign a drive letter. In your case, make the
>> partition the size you want the page file to be.
>> 2. Confirm the drive is present in My Computer.
>> 3. In Control Panel, System. Advanced, Performance, Advanced, Virtual
>> Memory, click the new drive above and set a custom size = to free space
>> on the above new drive. For other volumes with page files on, you can set
>> the size to Zero (click the drive, Click No Paging File). There is no
>> point in setting an Initial Size for a page file and a Maximum Size -
>> this can only result in a lot of extra disc IO's to extend the page file
>> when it is needed, then later somehow it is contracted pointlessly - so
>> set it high and leave it high.
>>
>> If you want performance, do not place the partition on the same drive as
>> the C drive since the C drive is likely to be at the front of the disc -
>> putting a partition further down the disc for a page file will only
>> guarantee longer seeks to get to the file = slower system. If it is the
>> only active partition on a drive, then it doesn't really matter.
>>
>> I recommend you either use Perfmon to verify the disc volume with least
>> IO's (if your page file is this important) to determine where the page
>> file can be placed, or configure a disc drive with this specifically in
>> mind EG on the front edge (fastest part) of one or both of your backup
>> discs - so long as the backup discs are both Master IE separate IDE
>> channels (they will compete otherwise for the IO channel if Master /
>> Slave). Modern IDE drives are OK for this as they have good IO bandwidth,
>> even though the seek time may be somewhat less than SCSI. NOTE: if you
>> optimise your page file, you may steal performance from other parts of
>> your system to the point where "system" goes well, but "application" now
>> has suffered a penalty. In short, if Total Commit memory is not near
>> Total Physical memory, your page file is probably not a problem. A very
>> important clue that memory is or has been stretched is that if the
>> Available Memory in the Physical section (task manager of course) heads
>> towards 4MB, then you have had a very low free memory situation and
>> Windows memory scavenger process has or is about to go and pinch memory
>> of other applications to feed the hungry one - try loading your system up
>> severely and watch the memory stats; open say a huge graphics file when
>> the Commit charge is near Physical and watch what happens - you will see
>> a big shuffle of memory resources between applications. 4MB is a trigger
>> level to the VM memory scavenger process (sorry forgot what its called).
>>
>> Many claim that the page file gets a lot of IO's. It can *seem* to get a
>> lot of IO's on a lightly loaded system. There are several metrics in
>> Perfmon you can learn about to analyse your page file usage. It is
>> important to understand the metrics as a superficial understanding will
>> lead you to entirely wrong conclusions. EG Virtual Memory Page Faults are
>> normal in Windows, some types of VM Page Faults can cause page file
>> operations, *but* not all. Most VM Page Faults do not result in touching
>> the page file, so a drill down to understand the workings of the VM
>> system is a good idea.
>>
>> From your description of application usage, it does not sound like your
>> applications are huge memory gobblers.
>>
>> As for IRQ sharing. If it is working, if you are not getting errors in
>> your event log, if all else is OK, then don't fret about the IRQ sharing.
>> However the stuttering you describe is *bad*. This is often due to poor
>> HDD drivers, ill configured HDD drivers - not using DMA, or not using the
>> best UDMA settings. It can also be due to recovered Reads on a failing
>> disc drive. If you have a SMART enabled bios, then turn it on. I am sure
>> that if the problem was due to disc IO issues then you would know about
>> that already. Nearly always the drive DMA settings come up correctly, so
>> the thing to do is to search around to find out what the active settings
>> are (IE the UDMA or PIO mode of the drives, watch the CPU in task manager
>> during intense IO - if it goes high during say a backup, then PIO may be
>> being used so performance will suffer and needs fixing). Sorry not sure
>> there - there is usually a utility somewhere: try device manager, check
>> device manager settings, check bios settings, check... It *is* in
>> situations such as this that others report no choice but to force
>> Interrupts apart - but most usually sound cards. If there are hardware
>> devices not in use EG firewire, disable them in bios, remove unnecessary
>> PCI devices, try moving the SCSI card to another slot.
>>
>> - Tim
>>
>>
>>
>> "John Smith" <recons@nospam.com> wrote in message
>> news:wH%Zc.2559$lv3.349346@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net...
>>>I agree with your comments on the board and the RDRAM, I love this board.
>>>That is the reason why I am considering spending the money when the same
>>>money could by me a new board and ram.... It is probaby a silly decision
>>>to invest money into this setup, however let me tell you about my 96
>>>Cadillac Eldorado ETC, lol...
>>>
>>> Let me tell you a bit about my system in response to your observations:
>>> 1) I have a new Windows XP Pro installation as of April 2004
>>> 2) All patches are installed up to SP2
>>> 3) I use Ad Aware 6.0 Pro and run it daily at noon (its up to date)
>>> 4) I use Norton AV 2004 it runs at 6 PM every night
>>> 5) I run defragment every friday night, after doing disk clean-up
>>> 6) I have Spam Bully 2.0 guarding my Outlook mail (this program is a hog
>>> I think)
>>> 7) I have an ASUS FX 5600 video card running Nvidia's most recent
>>> drivers
>>> 8) I have 2 Seagate X15 Ultra 160 drives with an Adaptec 39160 adaptor
>>> 9) I am using two 7,200 IDE drives for automatic back-ups and video
>>> editing
>>> 10) I changed my PAGING FILE to a minimum of 1024 and a max of 2048
>>> 11) I am trying to figure out how to put the paging file into its own
>>> partition so that there is no defragmentation
>>>
>>> However I do have one problem that I have been unable to fix. My
>>> Adaptec SCSI adapter shares IRQ 21 with my LAN card and NEC PCE to USB
>>> Open Hose Controller, NOT GOOD!!! Now what do you think? When I say
>>> sluggish I mean that I will type and there will be a LAG in it appearing
>>> on screen, VERY ANNOYING....and my MOUSE will STUDDER..... Now what do
>>> you think? Mike
>>>
>>>
>>> "Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
>>> news:4137C4A4.7030201@neo.rr.com...
>>>> First, let's deal with your last question:
>>>>
>>>> The P4T533 has only 2 memory slots and takes only 232-pin 32-bit RDRAM.
>>>> The two speed grades are RIMM 3200 (800MHz, aka PC800) and RIMM 4200
>>>> (1066 MHz, aka PC1066). Convention is to use the "RIMM xxxx"
>>>> designation for 32-bit 232 pin RDRAM and "PCxxxx" designation for 184
>>>> pin 16-bit RDRAM.
>>>>
>>>> The only commonly available modules are 256 MB per module, which will
>>>> max out the board at 512 Megs, the configuration that you currently
>>>> have.
>>>>
>>>> 512 Meg modules definitely do exist, and they show up on E-Bay. Two of
>>>> them would give you one gig. However, they are expensive, usually over
>>>> $200 each, and they are VERY RARE. Sometimes, months will go by
>>>> without a single one showing up (although, on rare occasions, I've seen
>>>> 4 or more at once available). By the way, yes, you can mix sizes, that
>>>> is, you could have one 512 and one 256 for 768 megs of memory.
>>>>
>>>> According to the Samsung catalog, 1 gig and even 2 gig modules actually
>>>> were made and sold, but I have never seen one of either size. Never,
>>>> and I work with this particular motherboard a lot.
>>>>
>>>> I love the P4T533 motherboard, it's incredibly fast and it's incredibly
>>>> stable, more so, I think, than later motherboards using dual channel
>>>> DDR. It makes me sick that industry politics killed a memory system
>>>> that was far superior to the system that ultimately prevailed.
>>>>
>>>> But, that point aside, you can buy a new motherboard AND memory for
>>>> less money than what it will cost to upgrade your P4T533 to one gig.
>>>> And the new motherboard will support faster CPUs and FSB's, although
>>>> the memory system (DDR 800 dual channel) is actually slower.
>>>>
>>>> So, to that extent, you have to make some decision as to how you want
>>>> to proceed, and what various things are worth to you.
>>>>
>>>> Now, however, let me go off on a different tangent.
>>>>
>>>> I don't think that you have the problem that you think that you do, or
>>>> that upgrading from 512 meg to 1 gig will help you (or help you much).
>>>>
>>>> What you are doing is not really that demanding. When you open "x"
>>>> documents in word (whether "x" is 1 or 20), there is only one copy of
>>>> word itself running and loaded into memory, and the documents
>>>> themselves take up almost zero space (in most cases, only 50k to 400k).
>>>> Basically, as long as you are just running "office" applications -- and
>>>> nothing that you've listed is outside those parameters -- memory just
>>>> is not going to be your issue. 512 megs is plenty, probably beyond the
>>>> point at which more memory will make much of a difference. I do
>>>> everything that you do plus video capture and editing, and DVD burning,
>>>> with the same system that you have (P4T533 with 512 megs). And the
>>>> system is very fast.
>>>>
>>>> I susepct, rather, that your system has just become "dirty". Meaning
>>>> that your disk is fragmented, your registry is a mess, your temp file
>>>> directory overfloweth, you have adware / spyware and MABYE virus', and
>>>> WAY too many programs are loading and doing things at startup.
>>>>
>>>> If that's the case (and I'm about 85% sure that it is), adding memory
>>>> won't help, while some time spent cleaning up your system might do
>>>> wonders. The ultimate cleanup is to reinstall windows on a freshly
>>>> formatted disk drive, but I won't deny that this is a LOT of work.
>>>>
>>>> Also, if you have a large drive (more than 80 gigs) with only a single
>>>> partition, you might consider partitioning things down. Simply, it
>>>> takes time to search the disk drive data structures when the disk gets
>>>> big, and this applies to both FAT and NTFS, although there are
>>>> differences in the relative efficiency of the two file systems (FAT is
>>>> better with small drives, NTFS is better above about 16 gigs; but both
>>>> systems slow down as the size of the drives increases, especially if
>>>> they are also badly fragmented).
>>>>
>>>> Hope that this helps.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> John Smith wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi, I have 512 mb of RDRAM in an ASUS P4T533 running XP Pro with a
>>>>> P4-2.4 533 processor and ultra 160 X15 SCSI drives. I have had bouts
>>>>> of 'sluggishness' and high CPU usage at times, which I find is solved
>>>>> by re-booting and reloading what I am working on. I don't know if
>>>>> you can call me a power-user (which sounds hokey) but I frequently
>>>>> have many programs and documents open at the same time and I mean
>>>>> MANY...., maybe 6 Word docs, 3 Excel files, sometimes 3 IE6 windows,
>>>>> Outlook, mapping programs, well you get my drift...along with the
>>>>> usual assortment of security programs, firewall, virus, ad stopper,
>>>>> and spam stopper. Maybe I am a STUPID user not realizing the
>>>>> limitations of my system and over running its potential I don't know.
>>>>>
>>>>> That said, I just loaded XP's SP2 and definately do see an
>>>>> improvement in that the sluggishness is minimized, but it is still
>>>>> there ever so slightly on heavy use. I just increased my paging file
>>>>> to a minimum of 1024 (2x) and a max of 2048 (4x) and am still
>>>>> observing to see if it makes any differences.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) Will the ASUS P4T533 take 1 GIG of RDRAM?
>>>>> 2) If I buy new RDRAM, how do I make sure that it is compatible with
>>>>> the RAM that I have? I have two sticks of 256 MB RDRAM, is it
>>>>> advisible to buy 1-512 MB stick and pair it with an existing 256 mb
>>>>> stick to net 768 MB? The only way to get to 1 GIG is to buy 5-512MB
>>>>> sticks, will the take 2-512 MB sticks and remain stable, I had heard
>>>>> that this board will not take 1 GB, is that true?
>>>>>
>>>>> I know this RDRAM is expensive, but upgrading to a new motherboard is
>>>>> also expensive, maybe its cheaper to go to 1 GIG if it solves my
>>>>> problems and improves performance, what do you guys think? Mike
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 
G

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Lock-ups with stuttering mouse and lagging keyboard...

I had that when the SCSI bus is resetting itself or not getting what it or
the OS wants. And sometimes I had that when a network card is not succeeding
in doing what it needs to do and XP is waiting for it. If these boards share
IRQ's, you're in lock-up territory.

I have a P4T533 like you and I think I use it for far heavier stuff than
Office apps. And it works wonderfully. My idea is to be very discerning
about the position of your PCI cards. Even though it should be possible, I
never liked two of my 'core' PCI boards (like network, SCSI) to share IRQ's.
And Creative soundcards are notorious for not wanting to share.

In the manual (E1109 version I think), look at Chapter 2.6.2. In the bottom
table, you will see that there's only 2 or 3 PCI slots that actually do not
share their PCI interrupt with any other on-board services. Slot 4 and 6,
off the top of my head but please check the manual.

My network is in 6, my soundcard is in 4 and I use on-board IDE RAID now.
(SCSI is on another system.) If you use SCSI, you can disable some on-board
services (like RAID, like IDE) and free up another slot that is no longer
sharing because you disabled its other services.

I suggest you try this before anything else. There'll be some hassle, some
whining from XP about installing 'new' devices, but it might just solve your
problem.

Grtz,
Friso