Why don't you try it and find out?

A typical 1998 PC running Windows 98 had 32-64MB of RAM.

DosBox seems to use about 60MB of RAM. So, IMO, 256MB is very comfortable unless you want XP or 2K.

swaaye wrote:

Why don't you try it and find out?

I thought about that, but the point is that I have to take the second 256MB out from another computer. So if everyone says it's worth nothing, I would just spare that step.

I always wondered how much RAM would be required for Windows 98 SE to function at an optimum level. Recently, I thought that 512mb was simply overkill, and that a smaller amount would be perfectly sufficient. Then I wondered if 3 lots of 128mb would be a "nice" amount to use. But if users "back in the day" were using far less than 256mb, then I reckon a simple one stick (of 256mb) approach would be a good choice. 1 stick of 256mb costs peanuts on ebay (that is, the PC-133 SDRAM stuff).

I used to play Unreal on Win98 with 64MB of RAM. That was my Pentium II PC w/Voodoo from 1997-98. It was quite adequate. You can probably run 128MB and be good for almost every game that came out through 2001.

There is no best amount of RAM for Win98. However, when your apps start to require you run 9x with 512MB or more, maybe you should think about why you are even using 9x. No game designed for Windows 9x (back when you had to run 9x) needs anywhere near that much.

I thought Win98 would freeze if you tried to use more than 512MB of RAM.

It will stock, but you can tweak some things to get it working.

I know for a fact that one game in my experience needs close to 512mb of ram in Win98.
That is Ultima IX, using the maximum 16-bit textures with maximum viewing distance.
Of course, you could play Ultima IX in Windows XP as well, but there may be some small incompatibilities relating to the world physics.

pianoman72 wrote:

I know for a fact that one game in my experience needs close to 512mb of ram in Win98.
That is Ultima IX, using the maximum 16-bit textures with maximum viewing distance.

On the other hand, Jane's Longbow 2 cannot run with more than 366Mb of RAM. I wonder if there are other games with such "too much RAM" problem as well.

This thread sounds like deja vu to me. Have I read it somewhere in this forum? I think I have even posted in that one.

Anyway, there's a system.ini entry that you can add to make the Win9x systems work with more than 512MB RAM.

256MB RAM is more than enough for a Win9x based OS.

I think 320mb is enough.

"640KB should be enough for anybody!"

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

pianoman72 wrote:

I know for a fact that one game in my experience needs close to 512mb of ram in Win98.
That is Ultima IX, using the maximum 16-bit textures with maximum viewing distance.

On the other hand, Jane's Longbow 2 cannot run with more than 366Mb of RAM. I wonder if there are other games with such "too much RAM" problem as well.

You can set how much RAM the operating system can use.
EDIT:

Malik wrote:

Anyway, there's a system.ini entry that you can add to make the Win9x systems work with more than 512MB RAM.

How do I do that? I have Windows 98 installed in Virtual PC, and I want to try.

There's a thead over at MSFN forums about it for the best advice. I'm lazy so I just use HimemX.

In System.ini, search for the section [VCache].
Under that add the line MaxFileCache=524288

Should look like this :

[VCache]
MaxFileCache=524288

If there's no [VCache] section, just add it and the next line. If the MaxFileCache already exists, change the numbers, if any present, to the above one.