Win EQ, Windows, memory usage and art of zen

[voland]

Happy long time user of EQplaynice, WinEQ 1.xx and now WinEQ2.xx here.

I have two questions on Win EQ and how it relates to Windows and how to improve perfomance.

My newest computer is 2.4 HT Pentium with Sapphire 9600 256mb and 1.5GB of ram. Running Windows XP Pro. Before running EQ I quit all the extra programs, namely Microsoft Antispyware and Avast antivirus and Skype.

I have been able to reliably run 3 sessions of EQ on this computer. What is puzzling is this: After first session, I usually have 700-900/1500 free, after opening 2nd session, memory indicator drops to somewhere around 100-200mb out of 1500 free. When opening 3rd session I usually get a low system memory warning from WinEQ. However once the 3rd session is loaded, the memory indicator will start slowly creeping up from 1/1500 usually back to 200-300/1500 and sometimes even to 700/1500 while running 3 sessions. This is with no extra models enabled save horses and elementals and male humans.

So the question is this, is WinEQ somehow able to tell that all the 3 sessions are in same zone or how else can one explain these memory fluctuations?

2nd question is about my older systems, they are running Windows 98 with 768megs and 512megs respectively. I used memtest86 to verify that memory is not defective. However, machine with 768mb seems less stable when running EQ and WinEQ1.38 (despite switching of video cards). Naturally it is not fault of WinEQ. I did read that Windows98 may have problems handling large memory amounts over 512mb. So, I am wondering would my multiboxing perfomance actually improve by moving to Win XP. I have been avoiding upgrading from Win98 because I thought WinXP is more memory hungry than Win98.

Thanks again, and keep up the great work.

[Lax]

So the question is this, is WinEQ somehow able to tell that all the 3 sessions are in same zone or how else can one explain these memory fluctuations?

I cant possibly explain why your memory would drop to 100-200mb and climb back to 700mb... SysInfo.txt might have more to say about it though

2nd question is about my older systems, they are running Windows 98 with 768megs and 512megs respectively. I used memtest86 to verify that memory is not defective. However, machine with 768mb seems less stable when running EQ and WinEQ1.38 (despite switching of video cards). Naturally it is not fault of WinEQ. I did read that Windows98 may have problems handling large memory amounts over 512mb. So, I am wondering would my multiboxing perfomance actually improve by moving to Win XP. I have been avoiding upgrading from Win98 because I thought WinXP is more memory hungry than Win98.

Windows 98 and ME are actually unstable with more than 384MB of RAM. It's fairly sad. Windows XP is a little more "memory hungry", but that's not much different from what should ideally happen in the progression of computer technology. I would probably say that if you compare dollar for dollar 1998 versus 2005, you spend far less money on the RAM Windows XP uses than you did on the RAM Windows 98 uses. 64MB was a lot of RAM back then, and now I would use a 64MB stick of RAM as a projectile without blinking. Think how cheap RAM will be 7 years from now, I can imagine having 4GB sticks in home computers fairly common, and I would personally be sad if the OS didnt "bloat" a little bit to take advantage of the huge difference in available memory.

At any rate, I would highly recommend Windows XP with service pack 2 over Windows 98 any day.

[Delone]

Have noticed the same thing, also running WinXP. As I open EQ sessions memory will drop, but the longer i stay in zone the free memory will increase to a certain point. Each time I zone it will drop off again before recovering. I have noticed that pagefile size will increase as the memory returns and had wondered if XP is storing data in pagefile and using it over RAM, as i get a fair bit of disc activity while playing and performance actually decreases over time as memory goes up, the opposite of what I would expect, but if its gettting data off disc from pagefile rather than using RAM, this would make sense.