RAM is it worth it

chnelomi

hi just after some opinions and possible help at a later date.

i usually use a lap top for everything but i gave it to my sister for a couple of days as my OH has a PC and oh boy did i regret that. treacle comes out the jar twice as fast.

The computer is about 5 yrs old and just over 500mb:eek::eek::eek:
i know i hang my head in shame at that so i was thinking of upgrading his ram i done a check and it is recommended no more than 2gb be installed for best performance should i bother upgrading or just get a new comp. the PC is not used for much really only for going online and occupational letter so nothing demanding.

Thanks for reading

Sput2001

I guess you're running Windows XP, in which case a RAM upgrade is well worth considering. 512Mb isn't really enough for XP nowadays. Bumping up to 1Gb would probably be plenty for now, although RAM's pretty cheap these days so going for the full 2Gb would be worth doing. Adding or replacing RAM isn't a big job.

A five year old PC shouldn't be ready for the knackers yard just yet...

Other things to try first (and for free) are to download and run CCleaner and Malwarebytes and see if they remove any clutter/nasties, which should make a difference.

weegie.geek

2GB will be more than enough if it's just for browsing. I'd probably stick another 512MB in it. The bottleneck on a pc that old will probably be the cpu though. Flash can really hammer the CPU, so if you use flash heavy sites, you'll notice it slow to a crawl.

To be honest, if it's only for typing and the internet, unless you're noticing it being really slow I wouldn't bother.

Jaffa.

Go here to the crucial website and use the scan my system tool to find out what ram will work in the pc.

Running disk cleanup will help (start > run > cleanmgr /sageset:50
Defrag would help speed things up too

What security do you have installed on the pc at the moment?

chnelomi

Yes it's his PC running slow been on here snooping for the past couple of days tweaking the performance. done ccleaner and malwarebytes deleted a lot of old files and things he had downloaded then it occurred to me to check the ram:mad:
it is xp he's running. think i'll try 1gb first and if that goes well i will get another. i've upgranded ram before so shouldn't have a problem their. just wanted to see if i was wasting my time or not.

Thanks

Jaffa.

If it's 5 years old be sure it can support 2GB first.

Pitchshifter

I agree with weegie and Nick, put an extra 512MB to bring it up to 1GB. That might make things go a bit smoother, beyond that more RAM is not going to help much. I think we can safely assume the CPU is getting a bit long in the tooth by todays standards, so a new PC is probably on the cards if you want the best experience possible.

Actually, why don't you give us the full specs of the computer and we can make an objective judgement.

chnelomi

OK guess who's getting a new computer.lol
by the time I'd upgrade to get it to a respectable standard I'd be as well buying a new computer. so now the search begins. thanks for the input. And before anyone asks for more info on it's spec lets just say i had a hard time finding the ram and as the guy put it "never new anyone was still using these" computer is over well over 5 yrs old just he got it 5 yrs ago to him it's the same thing GGRR

Jaffa.

chnelomi wrote: »

OK guess who's getting a new computer.lol

Congratulations

gaming_guy

chnelomi wrote: »

OK guess who's getting a new computer.lol
by the time I'd upgrade to get it to a respectable standard I'd be as well buying a new computer. so now the search begins. thanks for the input. And before anyone asks for more info on it's spec lets just say i had a hard time finding the ram and as the guy put it "never new anyone was still using these" computer is over well over 5 yrs old just he got it 5 yrs ago to him it's the same thing GGRR

i can still get the exact same stick of ddr400 ram that i used in a computer build in 2003 from ebuyer.

it may work out cheaper to get a few sticks of ram than get a new machine. RAM is pretty easy to fit anyway.

chnelomi

sorry got another question are mother boards interchangeable was thinking of trying to build/add new but don't know how to check if one fits base i have? that sounds daft but i know what i mean.lol