Should I upgrade my memory to 2GB?

Question

I saw this sweet deal on eBay. I have an Dell Inspiron 8500 currently with 700 and something gb RAM. I do Photoshop, Sim City...

How fast would it make my computer boot up?

Answer 1

If you're doing graphics stuff, get a better graphics card. I you already have 1gb of ram another gb wont make your puter boot up quicker. It'll make your proggies run a little bit more efficient.

If your machine is capable of running dual channel, then you'll notice a difference. Not a tremendous one but one that you'll notice.

Answer 2

I'm going to agree with some of the others that 1GB should be sufficient for you since you don't do gaming. OCZ and Corsair make some of the best RAM. Be sure to check for compatibility before purchasing any RAM.

Also, you can make it so that your computer starts up faster right now. If your computer takes a while to get ready, from the time that your desktop first appears to the time that you can actually use the computer (sometimes it takes a few minutes for the startup programs to load), then this will help.

Click Start, then Run. Type "msconfig" (without quotes) into the box and hit enter. When the System Configuration Utility comes up, click on the "Startup" tab. There will be a list of programs and processes here which start up automatically every time you log in, which can slow things down for you at startup (and during normal usage of your computer as well).

You can go here: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
to find out which processes you should keep checked and to see which ones you should uncheck (so that they do not start up automatically). Click OK, then a window will come up asking you if you want to restart your computer. You don't have to, but it's up to you. The next time that you restart your computer, when you reach your desktop, a window will pop up saying stuff about the System Configuration Utility. Just check the little box next the bottom of the window and click OK (or whatever button is appropriate)

Answer 3

You do not have 7xxGB of memory. No one has a computer or laptop with that kind of memory. You should be running 768 MB of physical memory. How fast your laptop/PC boots is not based on your physical memory. You have to take the BUS speed, HDD disk spinning speed, processor, and other settings in the BIOS into consideration. Having more memory just creates more moving room between all your running applications and room for Windows services such as the explorer shell. It doesn't have anything to do with how fast your PC boots. That's dependent on your BUS speed, how fast your hard drive is spinning, how fast your processor is, and what certain things in the BIOS are set at. Such as whether or not fast boot is enabled or not. And it's rare to see a laptop on the market with settings for the memory such as shadowing, or adjusting the latency. That's just room for people who don't have a clue to make the wrong adjustment and wonder why their laptop won't boot or if it does, why their OS continuously hangs.

Besides all that, if you plan on using a lot of memory intensive programs, it won't be a bad idea to max out your memory. However, I really don't see you needing any more than 1 GB of memory. So I say . . . YES . . . do it.

Also, if Windows is taking a while to post, it's a sign of 1 or several of so many possible problems. But, we won't get into that, lol . . . Just max out your memory or get it up to 1 GB, but please know, it will not have anything to do with how fast your PC/laptop boots. Thanks.

Answer 4

It technically won't help your system boot any faster. The main purpose of RAM is to enable you to multitask or work on really high end graphics or mega long mathematics equations. From what you say you do with your PC 1 gig of RAM should be plenty. Processors make a noticeable difference, much more than RAM.

Answer 5

Upgrading ram reduces the load on your swapfile on your hard disc drive, which is a temporary storage on your hard drive like ram.

The more ram the better for speed and it will definitely help your Photoshop out.

Booting has nothing to do with ram, all ram does help is the amount of applications you can open at once and what you can do with them.

Answer 6

2 Gb of Ram isn't necessary at this time,1Gb should certainly suffice if you don't play 3d shooters like ghost recon or a game like oblivion.

To answer your second question: Start-up time of your PC is variable since it depends on your processor, version of windows, how many and what programs are booted when you log in to your account, etc. 2Gb of Ram would certainly help but I don't believe it's worth the price you have to pay for it, certainly when you know you don't need it.

1Gb of DDR Ram should make any system run smoothly.

Answer 7

im not sure but does it have the slot support for 2 gigs ram? what type of ram
what the freuqency range 333mhz 400???
is it low latency gaming ram
is high output LL OC ram
if so you might be able to do a front bus overclock to acheive proper use of the ram
512mb DDR = 400 mhz basic ram for basic use
712+ for performance, is the ram slots dual channel? etc

Answer 8

Imani is talking about her hard drive, not her RAM.
No way she has 200GB of memory installed in her computer.

Yes, you will see a speed increase overall, including boot time.

Do make sure your computer supports up to or over 2gb of memory, and make sure the memory is compatable. Check your documentation for that info.

Answer 9

i guess ur talkin about ram. i supose u have around 750mb rite now, so u dun need a lot for the things u do right now, upgrading to 2gigs will not help that much.

but if ur into hardcore gaming, and gunna be playing games coming out this and next year then YES!

Answer 10

yeah the more RAM the better
but it depends, on the timimg of the RAM, eg whats know as CAS, the lower the numbers the better..
eg get what u pay for. cheap RAM doesnt really help much but if it has good CAS timing all the better, it might cost more but well worth it.