Need to buy more RAM?

Isklar

I've recently had to start using my old desktop again and I'm having some performance issues.
It's about 5 years old, it's a Dell Dimension.
It says it's a Pentium 4 CPU 2.66 GHz, it has 74.4GB of which 47.3 are Free.
I think the issue is with RAm - it only has 256MB.

It's fine when I'm surfing the net, but doing anything else such as opening Word or Control Panel or Adobe etc it is very very slow.
I've done a thorough virus check, defrag etc.
The paging file size is recommended at 379. Current use (big Adobe file open, Mozilla and 3 tabs open) is 396. I have it set to System Managed.

I'm not at all techie so I'm at the limit of my own skills here. New Ram for it will cost about £36. Does it sound like this will solve the problem? Any other suggestions?
Thanks

isofa

What Operating System, XP?

256MB is a tiny amount by today's standards.

Upping the RAM to 1, 1.5 or 2GB will make a massive difference, I've a P4 2Ghz as a test machine with XP and 1.5GB RAM and it flies along, even when it was new, and it must be an older model than yours it had 512MB to start with!

www.crucial.com/uk/ for prices and the spec of RAM you need.

The other thing you can do (after increasing the RAM), is to back all your files up and check you have the CDs to install everything, then wipe the system, and reinstall XP and your applications from scratch, on a 5 year old system, this will give a significant speed boost, clearing out all the junk Windows accumulates over the years.

aliEnRIK

Im absolutely certain you could find cheaper RAM than that (But it would need to be determined exactly which RAM you need first)
256 is far too low, 512 would be better but 1 gig would be a HUGH boost (Assuming the motherboard allows it)

Goto CRUCIAL and post all the details of whats needed

MX5huggy

RAM is what is needs a clean install of XP with 1 Gb flies along.

prowla

What they've said...

(I have an older machine, a 1GHz Pentium, that can take a maximum of 512MB.)

John_Gray

What model Dell Dimension? Check via the Crucial website, or a program like Belarc Advisor, or by actually taking the side of the case off and looking (gasp!), whether there are two spare memory slots and two occupied, or whether there are just two slots in total, probably already occupied by 2 x 128 MB memory cards.

If you have two spare slots, I would probably get 2 x 512 MB cards (to give a total of 1.25 GB), or 2 x 256 MB cards (to give a total of 768 MB). The price of the memory is usually cheaper (per MB) for the higher capacity cards, so you will need to see which you can afford - the prices seem to vary quite arbitrarily.

If it has only two slots, and each is occupied by a 128 MB card, you will have to take both out and replace them by 2 x 512 MB cards.

Isklar

I'm running XP, yes. Probably the most important bit of info and I missed it out!

Crucial scan recommends 2 x 512 MB cards (that's the minimum upgrade). The cost is £31.04 plus VAT.

I can't bring myself to take the side of the case off (I'm a middle aged woman!) although I realise I will have to do that in order to put the memory in. It has a total of four slots according to Crucial, two were empty.

It's a Dell Dimension 4600.

I don't do Gaming or anything - I just use the net for work and leisure and purposes, and need to be able to access MS Office quickly etc. Will adding the minimum recommendation enable me to do this?
I have found my XP installation CD's so will also consider a reinstall. Although that does scare me...

motorguy

Isklar wrote: »

I'm running XP, yes. Probably the most important bit of info and I missed it out!

Crucial scan recommends 2 x 512 MB cards (that's the minimum upgrade). The cost is £31.04 plus VAT.

I can't bring myself to take the side of the case off (I'm a middle aged woman!) although I realise I will have to do that in order to put the memory in. It has a total of four slots according to Crucial, two were empty.

It's a Dell Dimension 4600.

I don't do Gaming or anything - I just use the net for work and leisure and purposes, and need to be able to access MS Office quickly etc. Will adding the minimum recommendation enable me to do this?
I have found my XP installation CD's so will also consider a reinstall. Although that does scare me...

If you're adding two 512's, keep the original 256MB in there too.

Also check the price of two 1Gb stick, there may be little or no difference these days. I've XP on this laptop and whilst getting a boost with 1GB i upped it with another 1GB to two and its really great now.

John_Gray

£21.84 for 512 MB, £35.64 for 1 GB.

For what you're doing, you'd probably be happy with the 512 MB of added memory. 768 MB is enough unless you are running several large programs at the same time. When you say Office, I hope you aren't using Access - otherwise I'd say go for the extra 1 GB instead!

When you open the case to add the new memory in, be careful to turn the PC off first, and pull the mains plug from out of the back of the case. Disconnect all the other plugs, and put the system unit on the table, on an old sheet or lots of sheets of newspaper. Wait a couple of minutes, then look at the back of the system unit. The case side which comes off is the one which is on the opposite side of all the plugs. There will probably be a thumb-screws near the top and bottom of that side, which you want to slide backwards and off. In the worst case there may be three smallish bolts, but Dell are usually better than that. It shouldn't be difficult to see where the two free memory slots are in the inside. Crucial includes instructions about what to do, which may be better than what I've said!

When the memory is fitted, just put the side back on, and connect everything up again.

To check that you have the expected amount of memory, go into Task Manager, the Performance tab, and look at the Physical Memory quadrant. The line you want says "Total", and before you start it should show a figure roughly equal to 262144 K (256 M). If you add another 512 MB of memory, this figures should increase to roughly 786432 K (768 M).

Your page/swap file will automatically increase in size to compensate for the additional real memory, so if this feature is System Managed, it will do this automatically. (If not, that's another thread!).

Best of luck!

AHAR

Isklar wrote: »

It's a Dell Dimension 4600.

I think you just lift a lever on the back and the side panel pops straight off. You'll definitely be able to manage it yourself. Here are the instructions from Crucial's site:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/install/dimm.aspx

Edit: Dell also produce very good documentation:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/parts.htm#1138251

John_Gray

AHAR wrote: »

I think you just lift a lever on the back and the side panel pops straight off. You'll definitely be able to manage it yourself. Here are the instructions from Crucial's site:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/install/dimm.aspx

Edit: Dell also produce very good documentation:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/sm/parts.htm#1138251

It depends on the age of the Dell - the older ones had fat thumbscrews, the somewhat newer ones (e.g. Dimension 5150) have a large black plastic slider at the top which releases the case side.

That's a good Crucial URL - another one (from yesterday's Crucial order!) is a PDF: General Memory Module Installation.