should I buy more RAM?

john_s_2

My heart says yes, my brain says no. I've had a few glasses of wine and my heart is winning. So I thought I should leave it overnight and see what you guys say :-)

I run XP Home and do nothing more demanding than email/browsing and the odd bit of Excel and Word. Very basic image editing for a website I run. I have 512MB RAM.

I have just installed the Google gadgets thingy and added the System Monitor gadget. It reports that I'm using around 75% of my physical memory, but it occasionally peaks into the 90s.

Crucial reports that I should upgrade to 2 gigs. Well, they would, wouldn't they? But it's only 40 sobs (2 x £20).

Will I notice much difference if I increase my RAM? My hard disk spends a lot of time chewing but I don't know if that's cos it's using the page file or not.

Or should I just spend the forty quid on more wine?

Donnie

I'm sure that the tools just suggests that you can install up to 2GB RAM, not that you should have 2GB RAM.

1GB and the corresponding increase to your Virtual Paging Memory should suffice.

What memory does the Crucial tool suggest that you use?

Sput2001

Do you have any spare RAM slots in your motherboard?

If so, you could try getting an extra 512Mb to take your system up to 1Gb, which should be plenty for your needs, you'll certainly notice a reaonable increase in speed. I suspect the difference between 1Gb and 2Gb on your system won't be all that noticeable...

And yes, the advice from Crucial will always be to upgrade to maximum possible, irrespective of how much difference it will actually make.

Leopard

Donnie wrote: »

What memory does the Crucial tool suggest that you use?

Crucial memory, I would imagine.



John S,

Installing more RAM will make a huge difference.

The reason your hard disk spends so much time "chewing" is because it is constantly having to shift stuff in and out of Virtual Memory - because you don't have enough physical RAM.

This is using up your CPU power, wearing out your hard drive and (because it all generates heat as well) wearing out your cooling fan.

If you spend the £40 on more RAM the only thing you will regret is not having done so a year ago.

mitchg

I agree with Leopard

QUOTE]If you spend the £40 on more RAM the only thing you will regret is not having done so a year ago.[/QUOTE]

1gig should be plenty though for most home users 2 is a niceity but in my opinion not a necesaty

john_s_2

Cheers for those answers! I figured Crucial were recommending the "max" - which is perfectly fair enough. But from what little I understand about such things I figured a gig would be plenty (for me).

I currently have two 256 sticks and no spare slot so would have to buy a gig stick or maybe two 512 sticks. I know this isn't a yes/no question but if I bought a gig stick would it be sensible to leave the other 256 stick in the other slot? And have 1280MB (I think?) in there overall?

This is what the Crucial scan returns: Currently installed memory:

256MB
256MB


Each memory slot can hold DDR PC2700,DDR PC3200 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.

And it recommends two of these (although I would get only one).

1GB, 184-pin DIMM, DDR PC2700 memory module
CT12864Z335
£18.73 ex. VAT
£22.01 inc. VAT*
sale tag - £2.25 ex. VAT
£16.48 ex. VAT
£19.36 inc. VAT*


* Module Size: 1GB
* Package: 184-pin DIMM
* Feature: DDR PC2700
* Specs: DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64 •

If any more information is required then I'll try to find out. Thanks!

f1charlie

You need to check if your motherboard requires memory in matching pairs ie two sticks the same size. If that is the case you won't be able to use one of your 256MB sticks.

Mat_Lock

Get the memory but I would also suggest a reformat of the O/S as it's also more than likely the O/S is very messy and there are many many processes which are running and also slowing the machine down.

Perfect example for me was the other day at work, upgraded a XP PC which only had 256mb RAM, I installed 2 x 512mb RAM and it made some slight difference but because XP was the original install from about 4 years ago it's still slow and corrupted.

Fresh installs always are quick as lightning.

Leopard

If you're planning on keeping the computer for a bit, stump up the extra £20 now, get 2 sticks of 1GB for one shipping fee and do it through Quidco to get 7% off.

Sooner or later you're going to want or need the extra 1GB, so you might as well buy it now and enjoy the benefit of it for longer.

Keep the old RAM to put back in your computer when you finally sell it. Your new RAM may well be transferrable to your next computer.

totalsolutions

No brainer -YES - 2Gb

mdbarber

ddr ram is less popular and hence less saleable now so it won't get any cheaper and may even go up in price as less buyers ask for it, go for 2 now.
Also the point about the OSis good and do remember to limit your pagefile or turn it off as windows will automatically increase its size to 2gb as you up the memory