Ram question?

Question

i want to upgrade my 512 ddr 3200 to more because i feel programs are running slowly mainly at startup..
i have to decide between adding an extra 512 mb or 2 extra 512 mb which will mean 1 gb..
the system is not new so i wonder if adding more than one stick of 512 mb is worth it..
please give me advice?

Answer 1

RAM will help but is not the fix all for a slow PC. If boot up is an issue check out my tips below. You will probably need to stop programs from "starting" at boot up.
Use them all and it should help a lot.


A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive. You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.

One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well. Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It may take several hours, so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.

A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the Editor and User reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.

Another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool. It’s called Autoruns and it was written by SysInternals who were recently bought up by Microsoft.

Before you download the program create a folder under program files called Autoruns. Leave Windows Explore open.

Launch Internet Explored and go to the following Microsoft web page. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx

Go to the bottom of the page and download the Autoruns program. After it downloads unzip the file and you will see 4 files. Drag and drop those 4 files to the Autoruns folder you created under Program Files.
Once you have the 4 files in the C:\Program Files\Autoruns folder you can double click on the file titled “autoruns”.

This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Logon” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK.
NOTE: Leave items that show Windows; System 32; Program Files; etc. alone. Shutting them off may cause some things not to work. Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.
WARNING: Don’t go into the other tabs and start deleting things. You will probably give yourself major headaches if you do that. Stay focused on the “Logon” List only.

Regularly clean up your browsing history, files, cookies, temp files, etc. A good program to us is Ccleaner and it is FREE. Get it here: http://www.download.com

Also, you need a “registry cleaner”. The registry can get “defragmented and clogged” with various data that you simply don’t need. The only effective way to clean this massive list is to use an automated cleaner. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Registry Cleaners. There should be several FREE ones there for you to use.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM XP Pro. It is free and is available from http://www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time. I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also. Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return to the Task Bar.

What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com or http://www.4allmemory.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

If you have a graphics card w/ its own onboard videoram, 2x512 Mb is enough if you are using Win XP.

Integrated graphics could take up 128 Mb or more of system RAM. Videocards w/ Turbocache or Hypermemory also "grab" part of system RAM. You could opt for more than 1Gb in this case.

Slow at startup means you have so many startup programs. Disable unnecessary ones in msconfig. You might also have so many big files on your desktop instead of just shortcuts.

Answer 3

visit http://www.crucial.com for a memory scan and advise on the best upgrade for your computer. This is an excellent site and will not force you to buy Crucial.com RAM