Extra RAM to speed up PC

misterthrifty · 10 March 2017 at 5:58PM

Hi

I have an old Hi-Grade PC running Windows 10 which is getting a bit slow. I carried out a check on the Crucial website and it currently has 2x 1GB DDR PC2 5300 memory sticks. My question is, would upgrading to 2GB sticks make a substantial improvement and what specification should I be looking for to upgrade for a reasonable price and where to look?

TIA
Mr T

coffeehound · 10 March 2017 at 6:09PM

How old is your PC? What processor does it have?

misterthrifty · 10 March 2017 at 6:16PM

Not sure how old as I bought it 2nd hand but based on an Asus P5QPL-AM I think

Chrishazle · 10 March 2017 at 6:33PM

First thing you need to do is find the exact spec of your motherboard to see how many RAM slots it has and what RAM you can install. You can then price up a RAM upgrade - but as it looks like you have DDR2 (as I have) you'll get a shock at the price of quality RAM. Don't be tempted by the cheap generic stuff on Ebay - I have 4 x 4GB DDR2 800 PC6400 sticks of RAM sitting on my desk, they caused so many crashes - BSOD etc - that were only cured when I removed them, re-installed my previous OCZ 2GB sticks and added 2 x 2GB sticks of Crucial RAM. I got lucky on Ebay and picked up the Crucial RAM for £25.

Also check your Mobo owners manual (online if necessary). My ASUS mobo will not support RAM made from 128Mb chips, which many of the cheap Ebay RAM is made from! You can quickly tell by counting the number of chips, look for 4 per Mb rather than 8! I found out the hard way and had to return 4 sticks to China for refund - then bought 4 sticks made from 256Mb chips - they crashed the machine despite passing the Windows memory checker.

If it is the Mobo you mention :

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5QPLAM/specifications/

2 x240-pin DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR2 1066(O.C.)/800/667 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
** Refer to https://www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL (Qualify Vendor List)
*** When installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is recommended.

John_Gray · 10 March 2017 at 6:49PM

Even if you are running 64-bit Windows (which can make use of 4 GB of memory, as Chrishazle says) I doubt you would get a large speed increase. The PC is more likely to be limited by the speed of the CPU and of the hard disks. Any improvement will also depend on what software programs you want to run.

misterthrifty · 10 March 2017 at 6:57PM

So are you saying it wouldn't be worth putting extra RAM?

onomatopoeia99 · 10 March 2017 at 7:24PM

If it's a 64 bit version of Windows then extra RAM may make a difference as the 64 bit builds have a much higher base load than 32 bit versions and so need less programs running before they need to start paging.

Heedtheadvice · 10 March 2017 at 7:35PM

Crucial is quality ram and their online checked for what you can fit is very reliable.
Now it might be debatable as to whether it is worth updating on a purely financial basis but updates can be an easy option for some improvement. It depends upon.....Lots of things some of which have been mentioned already.

In general it is worth doing a performance check to see what size of swop file is being used and if there are holdups in the disk queue or lots of swops taking place. Extra ram can reduce these and bring an improvement in apparent speed.

Compared to memory, hard disks are slow, so cause speed slowness in the operating system, applications and data reading and writing.
A smallish solid state drive installed as well as your large hard drive to hold the os and apps will normally make a big difference to many operations even when data (pix, document, videos etc.) remain on the hard disk. 250GB ssd will normally do the job to hold the os and apps that many people have and still leave space for the swop file and temp files to reduce the need to access the slower hard disk.

No doubt someone will post things more specific......Or even disagree as to the benefit of spending money on a machine that is not this year's model but those two simple easy steps can be money saving (£100 might do it) and well please you. You will not get top of the range performance but ask yourself if you need that!

I'd rather spend any excess ensuring I have a decent backup!!

Oh for a practical result my machine, middle range a few years ago has lots of ram and an excellent see, boots into desktop in less than ten seconds and is certainly fast enough for me in general even when used for some intensive activities such as video editing which had previously been frustrating me.
.....Horses for courses.....

John_Gray · 10 March 2017 at 7:44PM

misterthrifty wrote: »

So are you saying it wouldn't be worth putting extra RAM?

I wouldn't put it as strongly as that (because I don't know for certain); more like it may not make a major improvement.

GDB2222 · 10 March 2017 at 7:51PM

This PC is probably similar vintage. It has 4GB RAM but only reports 2.75GB as I am running W10 in 32 bit mode. I have never noticed a problem with running out of RAM and doing a lot of paging.

However, 2GB is probably a bit on the low side.

2 questions:
Do you have an SSD?
If you get a new PC one day would you put it together yourself?

I ask because buying an SSD might be the smart upgrade, but even more so if you later take it out and use it in a new PC.

debitcardmayhem · 10 March 2017 at 9:39PM

Everyone says has it got a SSD or add more RAM? Yet no-one ever asks define slow, in what way is it slow(nor do original posters define it) ? Slow is subjective and then the answers become generalised. I used to get annoyed when the former forum user "closed" used to say run hijackthis and post the results etc. Often the term slow is down to malware or a bad internet connection, my post is slow because my keyboard is sticking and I HAVE TO KEEP use the caps lock key to type i oops I meant a caps i/I. Sometimes perceived slowness is never solved by new SSD/more RAM/nor re-install(though sometimes it is the quicker option). The thread is titled Extra RAM to speed up PC but the OP does not say in what way it is slow , compared to what , when it was new? since I have installed many PUPs , or it was better when I was with BT/TT/Sky or since my neighbour has been using my internet or the channel used for WiFi is congested, or my streaming is slow, or even it was because of Donald tweeting at 8.04 GMT .
end of lecture .....
I would say 4GB may be better, but W10 is "better" in memory needs, and that may be the cheapest option apart from time spent looking for problems within the pc.

Extra RAM to speed up PC

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