Is it worth upgrading RAM?

nomoneytoday

I would do it, but then all my machines get max ram when bought. My current pc has 4gb (limited to 2 x 2gb slots) and current mac has 2gb (2 x 1gb slots)

Percy1983

At £25 i would just do it and sell the 2 512's on ebay for a few quid. I did this why my other halfs 'rubbish' laptop and it really made it a lot more usuable and 'not rubbish' but that did have 512mb ram to start with.

Strider590

More RAM is always better.

If you look at you hard drive access LED flashing away on the front of the case, does that flash ALOT or even stay on constantly when your doing something that's slowing the PC down?
If so, then more RAM will definitely help!

In laymans terms (or as close to as I can), data on RAM is accessed almost instantly, where as data from the HD takes more time. When you PC runs out of RAM memory its starts using the HD as extra memory, hence slowing down.

John_Gray

Strider590 wrote: »

More RAM is always better.

If you look at you hard drive access LED flashing away on the front of the case, does that flash ALOT or even stay on constantly when your doing something that's slowing the PC down?
If so, then more RAM will definitely help!

In laymans terms (or as close to as I can), data on RAM is accessed almost instantly, where as data from the HD takes more time. When you PC runs out of RAM memory its starts using the HD as extra memory, hence slowing down.

You get far more useful information from information in the various tabs in Task Manager - real numbers rather than some guess at why an LED might be flashing...

Strider590

John_Gray wrote: »

You get far more useful information from information in the various tabs in Task Manager - real numbers rather than some guess at why an LED might be flashing...

Hmmm, that's a little too complex really.... But yeah look at the section "physical memory" divide the numbers by 1024 and that equals your total RAM, and remaining RAM.
For example mine states 2096364
2096364 / 1024 = 2047MB of RAM
or 2047 / 1024 = 1.99GB of RAM

Do the same for "available" and you know if you need more RAM.

Flashy light is much simpler in my opinion

Virtual memory is sooooo slow.

John_Gray

Strider590 wrote: »

Hmmm, that's a little too complex really.... But yeah look at the section "physical memory" divide the numbers by 1024 and that equals your total RAM, and remaining RAM.

That's only a small part of the available information.

In the Performance tab, compare the Commit Charge total with the Physical Memory total - is it close or above? If yes, then you'll be doing a fair amount of paging. The Commit Charge peak comparison will indicate the 'worst case' you've had so far.

You can add extra columns to the Processes tab (View -> Select columns), and Page Faults is a good one to add if you're worried that you don't have enough memory. (You'll probably find that browsers and antivirus programs 'cause' lots of page faults, and this is quite normal.)

... and so on. Task Manager is a very good snapshot tool if you take the trouble to find out what the numbers mean!

nomoneytoday

Percy1983 wrote: »

At £25 i would just do it and sell the 2 512's on ebay for a few quid. I did this why my other halfs 'rubbish' laptop and it really made it a lot more usuable and 'not rubbish' but that did have 512mb ram to start with.

Unfortunately 512mb sticks are now almost worthless. I think I was offered under £5 for a pair, so gave them to a mate instead

Strider590

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Unfortunately 512mb sticks are now almost worthless. I think I was offered under £5 for a pair, so gave them to a mate instead

That would depend on what type they were, the newer stuff is cheaper for some odd reason. The old DDR2 PC2700 - PC3200 will set you back a fair bit.

[Deleted User]

Psychofly wrote: »

I think that sounds like pretty good value to be honest. If you look at the £25 and wonder if you can afford to spend it then I would say no. Don't do it. The performance increase won't blow you away. But if you look at the £25 and think.. meh.. it's only £25. Pennies really. Then yeah.. go ahead and do it. It's a pretty good value upgrade. All comes down to whether you can afford the £25 on a luxury... only you can decide that.

I'd double check whether it's DDR or DDR2...

For my Acer 5024 a 1GB, 200-pin SODIMM, DDR PC3200 stick costs £43.69 inc. VAT from crucial.com. Hardly worth it if you ask me!

Money_Grabber13579

I've just upgraded from 1GB to 4GB, and while the difference isn't huge, I don't have a time lag when switching tabs in my internet browser. So for that difference, I'm very glad I did it!