Re: [gentoo-user] 2GB of RAM

[Steven Susbauer]

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006, Ralph Slooten wrote:

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> Hi list,
>
> Today I expended my RAM to 2GB (DDR) to my workstation, as apposed to
> the initial 1GB I had. The RAm added is identical to the initial RAM.
> Without changing the kernel (2.6.16.x) I still get 1GB available, and
> digging into the kernel I found the section regarding the High Memory
> Support and Memory split.
>
> I did a bit of googeling, the first page I found (old) said to turn on
> High Memory Support, however a more recent page
> (http://linux-vserver.org/Step-by-Step+Guide+2.6) states to leave it off
> and just change the split to 2/2 to make full use of 2GB of RAM.
>
> I tried both ways, but either way I get poor 3D performance from UT2004
> when I have this extra memory in.
>
> Now I'm confused ;-) It's (kernel's) default is "3G/1G user/kernel
> split" but there seems to be no documentation supplied with my kernel
> (2.6.16.5).
>
> Do any of you have experience with > 1GB of RAM, and efficiently getting
> this to work _well_ on your systems? What ideal settings should I use in
> my kernel? Are there any downsides to > 1GB?
>
> With "3G/1G user/kernel split" selected, and "High Memory Support (off)"
> I get 1GB despite 2GB in the motherboard, even when lilo boots with
> append="mem=2048M". If I enable the 2/2 option instead I get 2G of RAM.
> I tested the 2GB with 2x virtual machines (vmware) running each with
> 512MB ram (iE 1GB in use for vmware) and the system performed still
> exceptionally well, however UT2004 still sucks when playing (sluggish
> and screen jolts from time to time like I have too little RAM).
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> Ralph
>

What graphics card are you using? Sluggish and screen jolts sound possibly
like your graphics are too high for the card. Generally too little ram
will result in your HD doing a lot of work during gameplay.
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