Frequently Asked Questions

Upgrades / Parts FAQs

Q: I currently have 64 MB of RAM installed in my computer. Will my computer's performance increase if I add more than 64 MB of memory?

A: Computers using Pentium motherboards and processors can experience performance degradations if more than 64 MB of RAM are installed. The reason is that the Pentium chipsets can only cache up to 64 MBs of RAM. Windows 95 is always going to load high, meaning that Windows will load in the portion of memory that is not cacheable if there are more than 64 MBs of RAM installed. The computer won't be able to cache the Windows 95 Operating System (OS). Since the OS is utilized often, this will slow overall performance. Windows 98 and Windows NT do not load high, so you will only see this problem with Windows 95. Please note that this is a computer industry problem. This is not only related to Gateway.

Pentium II motherboards and processors do not have this problem because of the fact that the Pentium II chipsets will cache up to 512MB of memory. That means to see this issue on a Pentium II, you would have to have 512MB of RAM installed. Again, this holds true for the entire computer industry.