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Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:isemk3$o4k$1@dont-email.me...
> Adam wrote:
> > System:    ASUS N61JQ laptop
> > RAM:    8 GB
> > Graphics:    ATI Radeon Mobility 5730 (1 GB DDR3 VRAM)
> > Host OS:    Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
> > Guest OS:    Windows XP Pro SP3 (via VirtualBox)
> > Base Memory:    4096 MB (?)
> > Video Memory:    128 MB (?)
> >
> >
> > Given the following ...
> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888137
> >
> > How much base and video memory is recommended for
> > Windows XP Pro SP3?
> >
>
> The VirtualBox manual says the emulated graphics aren't
> a hardware device as such (unlike the VPC2007 I use,
> where an actual device driver installs for the graphics).
> It's supposed to be some kind of built-in VESA driver,
> that each guest OS would be using.
>
> For 2D displays, you can estimate video memory usage,
> using a "frame buffer" as an estimate. If the graphics
> are 32 bit, it takes four bytes per pixel of storage.
> If the emulated screen was 1024x768 resolution,
> then 1024*768*4 = 3MB or so. You can scale that a bit, to allow
> for more than one frame buffer, off-screen memory or the like.
> A fairly small number like 16MB should be enough to get started.
>

Thanks, my Display Properties Settings "currently" shows ...

Screen Resolution:    1366 x 648 (32-bit)


> The VirtualBox manual also mentions 3D. 3D can use "texture memory",
> to hold textures for 3D. Another usage for 3D display memory,
> is for "compositing" of application windows. WinXP doesn't do
> compositing, and Vista Aero would be an example there.
> MacOSX composites. Linux has Compiz (and some corny 3D effects).
>
> In a quick search, I see people suggesting 128MB as a video
> memory number for VirtualBox, but that could well be overkill
> for WinXP. I think MacOSX could composite in 128MB, and Vista
> may have had that as a suggested minimum as well.
>
> *******
>

Hmmm ... will keeping it at 128 MB cause problems?
But, if 128 MB is overkill for WinXP, how about 64 MB then?


> As far as base memory goes, you'd have to go back and see what amount
> of memory was recommended for WinXP at release.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_xp
>
>     "Memory Minimum = 64 MB RAM      Recommended = 128 MB RAM or higher"
>
> The smallest quantity I've used, is 512MB (on a real WinXP machine),
> which is sufficient to keep several application windows open, and
> copy and paste between them. If you try and get too fancy, things
> might be getting a bit tight, and paging out to the pagefile would
> be undesirable.
>

I usually keep many applications (FF, IE, Outlook, Acrobat,
Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) open at the same time.  Sometimes,
there can be as many as 15+ windows open.  So, I figured that
the more the better.  I'm not sure, which is why I posted.


> I run the majority of my virtual machines at 1GB, and that seems to work
> pretty well. When I was running Windows 7, I think I set that to 2GB,
> and that was OK. If I run Win98, purely for participation in File Sharing,
> I run that with 256MB. But for your average virtual machine, I usually
> choose 1GB. My computer has 4GB physical memory installed, and I've
> run two regular VMs and one small VM at the same time.
>
> HTH,
>      Paul


So far, WinXP VM is my primary OS.  I haven't gotten to that point yet but
I guess when I run more VMs, I'll lower the base and video memory numbers to
accommodate other VMs.

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Thread

how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-04 13:06 -0700
  Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help Paul <nospam@needed.com> - 2011-06-04 21:37 -0400
    Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-04 22:25 -0700
  Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help Aragorn <aragorn@chatfactory.invalid> - 2011-06-05 03:45 +0200
    Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-04 21:49 -0700
      Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help Aragorn <aragorn@chatfactory.invalid> - 2011-06-05 07:00 +0200
        Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-04 22:30 -0700
          Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help Paul <nospam@needed.com> - 2011-06-05 06:27 -0400
            Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-05 14:04 -0700
              Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-05 14:23 -0700
                Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help Patok <crazy.div.patok@gmail.com> - 2011-06-05 18:00 -0400
                Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-05 18:16 -0700
                Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help HoneyMonster <someone@someplace.invalid> - 2011-06-05 22:21 +0000
                Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> - 2011-06-05 17:36 -0700
                Re: how much base and video memory to allocate for Windows XP Pro SP3 guest OS via VirtualBox/Ubuntu - please help HoneyMonster <someone@someplace.invalid> - 2011-06-06 00:44 +0000

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