I want to upgrade the RAM ?

Question

I have 256 MB DDR 2 RAM 400Mhz 240 pins (PC2-3200) installed on my desktop which has 915 GV intel motherboard, P4 3.0 Ghz with H.T, 800 Mhz FSB with XP pro o/s.
I know the mother board of this configs can hold upto 2 GB RAM. But I use only Photoshop 7 & coreldraw 11 (both occasionally!). 90% time I ONLY use internet. I don't play any games etc. I am planning to install identical ram of 256 MB, increasing the memory to 512 MB. What you guys suggest, is it enough for me ?

Answer 1

Knowing how your computer acts both before and after should be the selling factor. Here are a few factors to help you decide.

If the computer constantly asks to increase file paging allocation, get more RAM.

If you notice a slight pause between loding programs and you want them to load faster, or like to use multiple programs at once and notice a hiccup trying to switch programs, get more RAM.

If you only notice slight pauses or hiccups, or it takes a while longer than you like for a program to save a document, you don't necessarily need more RAM but it will increase performance for you.

If you do not notice any or very much difference in performance after installing new RAM, you probably have a process (usually a virus) that is hogging your CPU time. Don't be scared if you can't notice much of a change however as increasing 256 to 512 is not a large jump. Your motherboard is now using 25% of the RAM it can rather than the 12.5% it was using before.

The one thing I notice gamers doing is spending too much money into upgrades to improve their computer by a fraction when they can simply wait for the upgrade to diminish in the market then play their favorite game when it actually becomes worth it. The lesson? Don't spend money where don't need it.

Answer 2

512 MB should be enough for your usage. I use my PC for lots more and I have the same amount of RAM on the same cofiguration. In fact I would say that in case you do not have a specific reason to, don't even invest in the extra 256. If you do decide to go ahead with increasing the RAM, get one 512 RAM chip instead of using 2 X 256.

Answer 3

sure, improve to a minimum of 2Gb, the hot customary. bypass to the dell website and to be sure what style you want. must be everywhere from $20-40. this can seriously develop your pcs performance. pcs have become more low-priced, and also you'll get a good twin middle processor for $500 and a minimum of 2Gb's of ram and an extremely roomy 200Gb complicated force. in case you want to make that bounce. you likely won't be able to improve the images card in that computer on the grounds that PCI tutor did not fairly come on that many pcs decrease back then, so in case you improve your total computer and then improve the images card for a a procedures more acceptable computer than the single you've acceptable this second.

Answer 4

512MB is XP's sweet spot.

Going to 1GB and beyond may show some benefit depending on the number of apps you have loading at startup, but for what you mainly use your PC for, the jump to 512MB will show the biggest difference. Every jump after that will likely be minimal increases.

And don't forget that dual-channel is important to the overall performance of your 915 chipset. Dual-channel can only be activated when running more than one DIMM, preferably identical to get the best performance. Dual-channel lets your memory bus run in synch with your 800MHZ FSB.

Answer 5

512 MB is the standard now a days, but 256 also enough.

Answer 6

Shop online and go for 1GB of RAM. It is not much more than the 512 and it will save you upgrading for quite a while. I actually wish now I'd gotten 2GB instead of 1....oh well.

Answer 7

Get 2 512MB sticks of ram. Your computer will run a lot faster.

Answer 8

512 should be enough for basic computer use
however your Windows XP will probably run smoother also with, let's say, 1G.

Answer 9

512MB is good enough. any increase will not much benefit to you.