How Much RAM Do You Really Need?
 

How much RAM does your PC have? If you run Windows XP, it is probably in the range of 512 MB to 1 GB. Older Windows versions will do the job with less than that, but as soon as you execute demanding applications or more than one application at a time, anything below 512 MB will likely translate into performance bottlenecks.


Of course, the more RAM you have, the better off you are - but how much memory do you really need?

http://www17.tomshardware.com/2005/1...u_really_need/

a decent new PC has to ship with 2 gigs, because ram is too dam cheap nowadays

2 gig is to much, check your taskmanager and see how much is still free. The windows memory managment system is not that good imo.

Even with a lot of programs open and active i got minimum 150 MB free (I have 512MB ram in my system)

Only when using apps like photoshop, maya,.. or recent games then more memory comes in handy. But even then 2 GB is overkill.

but that's my opinion.

1gb seems best if you play games. I have 512Mb and for most games it isn't enough (after closing a game, windows sometimes needs 2 minutes before it works again at normal speed).