Should I Add Memory

Hello,
I have a laptop running Windows 7 64bit with an Intel Core i7 CPU Q740 @ 1.73Ghz processor, I have recently created several virtual machines and created a Windows Server network for a college class. I have two servers and one client running Windows 7 in the virtual environment running simultaneously. When all 3 VMs are running they along with my host machine run extremely slow. I was thinking about adding a 4GB ram chip to boost the total memory on the host machine to 6GB. However I have read many times that most machines can only use 4GB of memory and that there is no point in adding more. Do you think it would help the performance if I added the extra memory or would it be a waste of time. Thanks.

bob363 said:

Hello,
I have a laptop running Windows 7 64bit with an Intel Core i7 CPU Q740 @ 1.73Ghz processor, I have recently created several virtual machines and created a Windows Server network for a college class. I have two servers and one client running Windows 7 in the virtual environment running simultaneously. When all 3 VMs are running they along with my host machine run extremely slow. I was thinking about adding a 4GB ram chip to boost the total memory on the host machine to 6GB. However I have read many times that most machines can only use 4GB of memory and that there is no point in adding more. Do you think it would help the performance if I added the extra memory or would it be a waste of time. Thanks.

I have some experiance with Virtual Machines.

Upgrading your laptop will be fine, you have windows 7 64BIt, so windows can use more then 3gb RAM.

Remember to alter the settings in the Virtual Machine to specify how much RAM it can use

If you go ahead, Make sure your laptop has enough DIM slots, Check if your current 2gb RAM is 2 x1 GB sticks or 1 x 2 gb stick

Thanks for the information. I do not have a lot of experience with VMS. I gave the domain controller 1GB of memory thinking I had enough to spare. Should I lower it to 512 until I get more memory, perhaps this will help performance. The other server and client I gave 512 from the start.

bob363 said:

Thanks for the information. I do not have a lot of experience with VMS. I gave the domain controller 1GB of memory thinking I had enough to spare. Should I lower it to 512 until I get more memory, perhaps this will help performance. The other server and client I gave 512 from the start.

It depends what each VM is doing. If the Domain controller is only used for Active Directory, Then you can lower it, and give the other 2 VM's a little more.

Have a play around. You can always change the values back.

Thanks. I will try that until I get more memory. Memory chips are fairly inexpensive these days so I think it is worth it to add some more.

Good Luck in College.