Which PC memory do I need? 8 February at 3:20PM in Techie Stuff 9 replies 280 views

Rotor

Hi my current computer is getting slow ( takes about 10 minutes to get a working page on start up) and running windows 7 so I am going to change it. Looking at the palicomp site there are several types of memory - SSD , nvme. hybrid, hard drive , m2 - and i don't know which would be best for me.
Current one is 1TB hard drive but want something that will start up quickly as at the moment I have to leave it on all day which uses a lot of electricity
Thanks

Username03725

Try a few other things first. 

In Task Manager under the Startup tab check for any rogue items that start with Windows which you may not want or need.

And install a program called CCleaner then run it to clear lots of junk that builds up over time and slows Windows down to a crawl at boot time.

To identify the memory type in your PC in Task Manager and under the Performance tab click on Memory and it will tell you how much RAM you have and what type it is

J_B

You need to tell 'us' exactly what make and model of PC you have, then maybe more help will be forthcomimg.

km1500

"Looking at the palicomp site there are several types of memory - SSD , nvme. hybrid, hard drive , m2"

None of these are memory.

Ozzig

You might have luck going to Crucial.com/uk and see if it's checker can tell you.

Ayr_Rage

You are doing the right thing, Windows 7 is no longer supported, time for it to retire.

As for the type of RAM in an new computer, don't even worry about that, just ensure you buy one with a SSD HARD DRIVE, that will ensure fast startup.

If your current hard drive is still working, harvest that from the body of the old computer, buy a suitable caddy/enclosure and use it as a backup drive.

Rotor

thanks all , yes - i was thinking of replacing the computer rather than trying to upgrade as the system is 6 or so years old. SSD it is then - Do I need a 'big'  ssd i.e. 1 tb plus ( equivalent to the one i have now) 
as you can tell I don't really know what i'm talking about and now km1500 tells me it's not even memory at all - that's somewhere else presumably

Ayr_Rage

@Rotor have a look and see how much space is free on your current dive, 1 tb should be large enough for most people unless you store a lot of photos and videos.

The hard drive is memory, but it's storage rather than active memory.

RAM is the memory that is used in conjunction with the programs stored on the hard drive, it resides on the main board of the computer and the more you have the faster things will run up to a point.

Do let us know how you use your computer, there is no point in overspending on an enormous amount of processing power and RAM if all you do is general browsing and watching a bit of youtube.

It is the likes of photo and video editing or gaming that really benefit from high spec computers.

Have a look at this article, taking note of the recommended RAM for the tasks you regularly undertake.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-windows-11-pc-need/

JohnB47

I had a similar problem with my windows 10 laptop a year ago. With help from this site I copied all of my stuff off and then completely reinstalled Windows 10. At the same time I replaced my hard drive with an SSD. 

My laptop has since been like brand new.

If you tell us the make and model of you pc, people here could perhaps help you totally revitalise it.

It's very satisfying to renew something rather than throwing it away.

Username03725

Rotor said:

thanks all , yes - i was thinking of replacing the computer rather than trying to upgrade as the system is 6 or so years old. SSD it is then - Do I need a 'big'  ssd i.e. 1 tb plus ( equivalent to the one i have now) 
as you can tell I don't really know what i'm talking about and now km1500 tells me it's not even memory at all - that's somewhere else presumably

My PC is mid-spec, nothing special (£450 from Currys) and is 8 years old but it works fine booting up in < 30s and running W10 having been upgraded from 8.1 that it came with (iirc). It runs development tools (Visual Studio, SQL Server Studio) and the usual browsers, Office tools and other things that come & go and is more than fast enough despite its age; don't get bogged down with needing a new PC just because it's slowed down a bit - that's fixable.

Soon after I had mine I swapped the 1TB HDD for a 500G SDD, cloning the OS to the new SSD and then doing a clean Windows install after saving all the stuff I thought I'd want. The 1TB HDD became a 2nd drive in the PC, and there's a 2TB NAS drive mapped to it too so plenty of local storage. That 2TB disc was a spare from a previous project. I've also added 4GB of RAM to the 4GB it came with - the Crucial Memory tool provided the info of what RAM to buy.

Occasionally I run CCleaner to remove accumulated junk and to see if any unexpected apps are starting up at boot-up, and stop them if necessary. An occasional check of Services to do the same - suppress unnecessary services that start automatically but aren't required.

The point being that the PC's age isn't the main driver to fixing your performance problems. An SSD big enough to hold Windows but not much else will do you if the budget is a bit tighter than ideal. You can change the [My] Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Music etc folder locations to the HDD if you prefer to reduce the IO on the SSD and to make a fresh Windows install easier. I'd think a new SSD , a clean Windows install and enough RAM to get it to 8GB would solve your problems.