Posted: 7/27/2006 2:35:40 PM EDT
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Computer is a Dell 1.8Ghz running XP and onboard video. I believe it has 128 in it now, just trying to decide between getting 512 of PC2700 or 1 |
I have 1.5Gb and I have Maxed it out a couple of times. I need to build a proper desktop with at least 4 Gb for the heavy work, insted of getting by on my really fast but not always fast enough laptop. |
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I'll have to double check when I get home, but its I believe 3+ yrs old, thats why I think its maybe only 128mb. Hopefully its 256 and putting a 512 stick in it will be a nice bump in the speed of the system. It really chugs sometimes when you have a couple windows open. Its a Dimension 4500S if that matters at all. |
If you have 256 or 512 in it right now you have to match it with another stick of the same size/speed if you want to keep the existing stick I do believe. If it's only got like 256 in it right now you can just pop that out and replace it with a 1 gigabyte stick. |
Depends on what you are doing. If you are doing normal internet and productivity tasks and perhaps some light gaming and picture editing, 512 is a good number. (128 is WAAAY too low for an XP system) 1 Gig or more if you are doing a lot of gaming or handling demanding applications. |
| 512+ is where the big difference is noticed in regular Windows usage. Anything under 512 really hurts the system. But the difference between 512 and 1 GB is less noticible unless you routinely have many windows open at once, or if you do photo/video editing, gaming, or any other memory-intensive stuff. RAM is pretty cheap nowadays, so I'd just go ahead and up it to a gig and forget about it. |
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I bumped an older Win XP laptop from 256 to 512 and noticed a pretty big difference. I don't think XP is worth a crap with anything less than 512. It will run with 256, but not worth a crap. My Dell desktop PC came with a 2.4ghz cpu and 512mb ram when I bought it new. I added another gig of ram to it to bring it up to 1.5g. It made a noticable difference. I wish I did it sooner. The Toshiba laptop I just bought a few months ago also came with 512. I added another stick of 512 for a total of 1g before I even powered it up the first time. |
Sometimes, but not always. It depends on the motherboard. If you can, check your original parts list or motherboard manual if it came with one. I've got a Soyo motherboard with one stick of 64mb sdram, one 128mb sdram, and one 256 sdram. All three slots filled. Next time I upgrade I'll get a 512 to replace the 64. 
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Wow Art you have come a long way from Web TV, now you give computer advice. 
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Sure you can. RAM is like your work bench. What you do on it depends on how big you need it to be. 1GB would probably be a waste if all a person does is open IE and browse websites and send emails. But it might be wholly inadequate for people that do video editing and serious gaming. It's subjective, but yes, you CAN have too much RAM. (it doesn't hurt to, tho!) |
If you're running Vista right now, that's due to the 'prefetch' scheme. Basically it loads commonly used programs into RAM to cache them, so that when you go to open these programs, they launch a lot faster. When I ran the February CTP, after hitting the desktop at boot, it was using over 600MB. The OS isn't REALLY that bloated, it just looks like it due to prefetch. Again, though, it won't hurt to have a lot of RAM! |
 I absolutely cannot believe the memory some of you guys have...  That whole WebTV thing is something I'm trying to forget.
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No, you dont.... The only time you HAVE to match, is when using RDRAM (registered) The only *problem* that arises is when you put in newer, faster bus speed ram, and either your motherboard bus speed is slower, or the OTHER ram cars's bus speed is slower. Essentially, the faster ram will be slowed down to the level of the slowest other component. ie. if the old 128MB card was only PC2700, but the new card is PC3200.. The new card would then run at 2700 speeds, because the old card cannot speed up. Many times it's just not worth keeping an old ram card, if it's slower, even though it'll INCREASE your total ram MB's, because you lost the advantage of the newer faster one. Matching DDR ram isn't necessary. It is though, always a good idea, if you have the luxury. If you do nothing but surf the internet, email and other simple things, 512, with a corresponding change in the virtual memory settings (should be set to approx. 1.5-2 times as much as your physical ram, and both min AND max settings should be the same, for stability) would be fine. If you do anything graphics intensive, such as photoshop, 3d stuff, or play a lot of games, the more the better. You really CAN'T ever have *too much*. |
Vista is a resource PIG, and NOT worth the time. If you live for useless glitzy crap, well..... Whatever floats your boat. All the 13 year olds rave about it. Give me raw speed and processing power ANY day. I'll survive without stupid transparent icons. |
Blasphemy!
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Clearing the prefetch folder DOES NOT speed up anything, OR help at all. Another common internet, "13 year old *experts*" bullshit misconception.  The programs associated with the prefetch function DO NOT sit resident in your RAM and are NOT running all the time. That's just stupid and I can't believe this myth has lived on so long. XP uses the prefetch function as well... Here's a little info for conversations' sake, from here: mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html Cleaning the Prefetch Folder Tweak Negative Myth - "Deleting the contents of the Prefetch folder improves performance" Reality - "Every time you delete an application's Prefetch (.PF) file you will cripple that application's load time the next time you go to launch it. This can temporarily increase load times by as much as 100%. For one thing, XP will just re-create the Prefetch (.PF) trace files anyway; secondly, it trims the files if there's ever more than 128 of them so that it doesn't needlessly consume space. However you do not regain optimal application load times back until after the second time you launch the same application due to the Prefetch (.PF) trace file being re-created. Prefetch (.PF) trace files are not a cache and are not preloaded into memory upon windows startup. They are never even accessed until you launch an application. Only one Prefetch (.PF) trace file per application is created. There is never ANY reason to delete these files. Cleaning the Prefetch folder is actually a temporary self-inflicted unoptimization. Why you would want to deliberately hurt your PC's performance I have no idea." Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4 In other words, don't believe half of what you read as most of it is ignorance. Research something before assuming it to be true, ESPECIALLY when it comes to altering your computer's operating system. Vista just uses a substantial amount more memory to run because of all the fancy visual effects. Nothing more, nothing less. It's all a waste, unless you like *shiny things* when you get right down to it... It's the same thing as disabling all the fade and transparent effects in XP..... You get back the ram used to make it look pretty... And consequently, things speed up. |
Well just so you know, I was 13 40 years ago. An in depth Google search shows a whole bunch of people who agree with MattQ and not you. Me? I dont know. Thats why I'm fooling around with it. And as far as altering my operating system thats why I have Vista in the first place. I wouldnt care if the damn thing burst into flames and exploded. Try a little Research yourself and decide who you would believe. (Some guy on a gun board with his chest pumped out?) |
Relax there killer........ jeez Did I say YOU were a 13 year old expert ? No... I said too many of these myths get propagated by them. And are false and detrimental to things running well for your average computer owner. Some things joe surfer just should NOT be doing to try and make his machine faster, better, cooler, whatever... Don't be so sensitive or assumptive. I was pointing out that this kind of crap gets spread all over and believed WAY too often. Not that YOU were the source. Sheesh....... Sorry I hurt your feelings. Not here to get in a pissing match or count how many more google hits one side or the other can find..... |
You know... people said the same thing (resource pig, not worth money/time, etc.) when XP was coming about. If raw speed is what you want, I'm sure you can tweak Linux enough. |