Applying RAM to a program in XP???? [Archive] - SpeedGuide.net Broadband Community

stevenpro

07-09-02, 05:49 PM

Guys, I wondering if this can be done easily. I have one computer in my entertainment center dedicated only to MP3's over my sound system. I'm using Win Media Player 8.0. Is there anyway I can dedicate RAM just to that program so it loads fast??? I have 512 mgs in that P2 450 machine. I also have XP Pro. Is it cool to go into admin tools and services and basiclly turn everything to manual?? I have that machine on a network not being the main computer. What should I leave as automatic so I don't screw it up on the network?????

I know I asked alot here, thanks guys.

Steve

Jeremy

07-14-02, 12:36 AM

A P2 450 may not be the most ideal system for a MP3 player, though it should suffice. With 512MB of ram, you can't really get it to load much faster than it already is. I have 256MB on my P4, and still boot up with about half of it free. If you're really serious, first load WMP, then press CTL-ALT-DEL, which brings up task manager in XP. Under performance, check out how much free RAM you have; i suspect you'll have tons free. Under processes, set wmplayer.exe's priority to highest by right clicking it. That'll give it a bit more cpu priority, but to increase its loading time means to get a new Ultra3 SCSI hard drive, or try in all your power to increase your hard disk's speed, which won't ever come close to the ~800MB/sec of your RAM. In NT, there is a setting to set a super large system cache, but i'm not sure if it's available in XP; download X-Setup and find out (google search). Besides, it would help only if you repeatedly close and open WMP.

Some of the services CAN be disabled, but not all of them.

http://www.3dspotlight.com/tweaks/winxp_services/index.shtml is a good place to start disabling and setting to manual some of those consuming services.

If you think you're PC is safe, and you won't screw it up, disable system restore to reduce disk access. press Windows key+pause/break (or ctl panel-system) and click system restore, and turn it off for all drives.

Also, if you don't mind no visualizations, consider running c:\program files\windows media player\mplayer2.exe, which is the classic WMP 6.4, which loads nearly instantly, and uses up far less memory than WMP8. I think it is far more efficient than WMP8

don't know if you're looking for that, but that's a bit of info ;)