Pentium 3 computer?

Question

Hi,

I have a really crappy computer. IT's a pentium 3 with about 500 MHZ. I was wondering if I add ram to my comp, will it significantly go any faster? Rite now I'm runnin on 384 MB RAM. It takes about 2 full secondes to load a regular web page while using Comcast high scpped interent and mozilla firefox. Since this proccessoer is so slow anyway, will it help if I put any more RAM on it, or is the proccessor so slow already that no matter what I do with the computer, it will stay slow as is?

Thanks

Answer 1

That set up is still good enough for web browsing, light office apps, mp3 playing BUT no games. Just make sure you do not have too many startups that take up available RAM. Also do not open many applications or windows at the same time.

Increasing RAM would definitely improve its performance and minimize access to virtual memory which is VERY SLOW.

P-3, because of its low wattage, is a favorite set up of 24x7 downloaders. Very cheap, almost disposable if you toast one.

Answer 2

If your puter runs ok while not on the net and loads webpages slow its your internet connection. Comcast runs what are called nodes. Each node has so many subscribers in it who share the bandwidth. The more people on the slower everybody goes. I've seen people switch from 3 cable to 1.5 DSL and actually run faster on the net because, unless they were online at 3am when everyone else was asleep they got nowhere near to the "up to" speed on cable. Some said it was so bad they felt like they were on dialup! Could be spyfiles too. Try running a prog such as ad-aware to get rid of any pests that may be slowing you down.

Answer 3

Yes more ram will help but 128 will work just fine but if you want to see a real improvement change to a faster hard disk, even if you buy a new computer you can always use the hard disk and then install Windows ME, don't install Firebox it to large and will take for ever to load, the same with XP... Remember you are using an older computer that worked just fine with older OS's in it time, I have a Pentium 2, 300 Hz and it very fast on the Internet using Verizon DSL 700bps

Answer 4

Speed is a balance between a lot of things. Adding RAM might speed it up overall or it you might not even notice it.

If your installation of Windows is several years old, the best thing you could do is to clean off the disk and re-install Windows from scratch. It's amazing how much this speeds up a computer after 2 or 3 years. Windows just gets more and more corrupted, slower and slower, but it happens gradually so you don't notice it.

Answer 5

No it will not get much faster if you add more RAM.
Your computer is about seven years old, ancient.
You are overdue for a new one.


The Pentium III was introduced on February 26, 1999.
The Pentium 4 was introduced on November 20, 2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_3

Answer 6

Will it help, Yes.

But
Your better off saving your money for a new computer. A computer this old is going to be using older parts, parts which are not made anymore, which means they will be more expensive than modern parts, the cost of ram has gone down recently for DDR and DDR2, but older ram like yours has continued to rise in cost. If you know someone willing to sell some to you for dirt cheap do it, but otherwise dont waste your money to get it, save the money for a better machine.

Answer 7

Yes, it should go faster if you have at least 512mb or more. But there are many factors involved. If your system has a lot of things loading into memory, then a memory increase will be noticable. If not, then it could just be that the processor is slower than what you'd like.

Answer 8

Ok three issues:

1. the spped at whic a web page loads does not directly relate to the speed of the proc but with the speed at which you are connected to the net..Check at what spped this HIGH SPEED internet are you geting connected/

2.the multiples of a RAM should always be 128,256,512,1GBetc., and never 384..the load on the RAm that has higher capacity increases if any other muiltiples of RAMare installed significantly decreasing the performance of the proc.

3.adding a RAM on your board wold increase the procs capability to process more things at a iven time ...this would ultimately increase the systems performance on the whole


CHEERS!!!

Answer 9

It's not really worth adding any more RAM. Bumping up to, say, a full gig of RAM might help somewhat but you're still going to be bottlenecked by your CPU.

Answer 10

adding more ram will indeed make your computer faster but since your processor is slow, the increase might not be very dramatic.