How much RAM to buy

[edmarriner]

Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade the amount of RAM I have in my PC.

I'm running an old Dell dimension 5150 with XP 32 Bit as my OS.

There is 4 slots available with support of up to 4GB on the motherboard.

Currently there are 2 x 512 MB being used with the other two slots free.

I'm thinking of upgrading to 3GB of RAM as I know 32 Bit xp cant see more than 3GB.

However I want to make sure the dual channel thing is being active. ( which I believe means I have to have pairs of ram? )

So is it best to go:

Keep the current two 512's and add two 1 GBs

Take out old ram and buy 3 x 1gb

Spend the extra and get 2 x 2GB ( would be a bit of a waste of money though it seems to me as I lose 1GB)

Thanks all for your advice,

-Ed

[gta_bmx]

Actually your system should see 3.5 gigs of the 4 gigs. So I would get the 4 gigs, and plus then you can do dual-channel. What kind of RAM does your system take? If your system takes older RAM, it may cost more than the RAM for more modern systems, which is dirt cheap right now. Hardware to upgrade older systems is usually expensive, because the vendors know you're stuck with an older standard and thus they really sock it to you. Plus, they are incurring a cost to keep cranking out hardware for older standards.

[edmarriner]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Crucial.co.uk reports that my PC supports PC2-4200 and PC2-5300. (Is Crucial scan tool thing fully accurate? I don't want to buy RAM and then find it won't work)

Would this RAM fit/ be any good?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB(2x2GB)-Corsair-Value-Select-DDR2-PC2-5300(667)-240-Pin-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-5-5-5-15

It's £40 ( around $60 I believe ).

Thanks

-Ed

[therage800]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Crucial.co.uk reports that my PC supports PC2-4200 and PC2-5300. (Is Crucial scan tool thing fully accurate? I don't want to buy RAM and then find it won't work)

Would this RAM fit/ be any good?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB(2x2GB)-Corsair-Value-Select-DDR2-PC2-5300(667)-240-Pin-Non-ECC-Unbuffered-CAS-5-5-5-15

It's £40 ( around $60 I believe ).

Thanks

-Ed

I've used Crucial scan before, never had any problems... Corsair is a decent brand and that's the fastest you can use as well as the maximum. So in closing, yes, that RAM would be a good deal and a good fit.

[edmarriner]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Just a quick question;

if I kept the current two 512 sticks (both identical) in and added two 1 GB sticks (both identical) to make a total of 3 GB would the dual channel still work?

If the dual channel does not work in that configuration would it have a major affect on the performance?

I've been price hunting and it seems I could save around £20 if I bough two 1 GB which I would then be able to spend on a TV card.:rolleyes:

Thanks,

-Ed

[tehboris]

tbh, RAM is so cheap just buy all the same and replace every thing. problem solved.

[therage800]

tbh, RAM is so cheap just buy all the same and replace every thing. problem solved.

OK, you just ignored the part where he said he'd save £20.


if I kept the current two 512 sticks (both identical) in and added two 1 GB sticks (both identical) to make a total of 3 GB would the dual channel still work?

If the dual channel does not work in that configuration would it have a major affect on the performance?



The dual channel would work as the 2 1gb would be paired and the 2 512mb would be paired. Just make sure they're in the right slots (So if you're keeping the 512's then assuming they're installed properly it would be the remaining slots)

[tehboris]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146049

What's £20 any more? Additionally, that £20 ensures it will work because your not mix and matching stuff.

[computoman]

It amazes me why people need so much memory for what most people do.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

You only really need 2Gb for XP, unless you're doing something out of the ordinary.

[edmarriner]

Thanks for all your responses

I know anything more than 2GB of RAM can seem excessive but I do allot of freelance web design as well as gaming and so the extra RAM can helps things out quite a bit.

TBH, I could do with a new computer but I can't justify spending £500+ when this one is still chugging along fine - albeit not super speedy with its 4 year old P4 2.99 GHz processor.

I know £20 isn't a massive amount of money but as a 16 Yr Old Student every little helps :rolleyes:

I think it will best bet for me just to buy the 2 gigs [+ 1 gig I already have] and put the £20 saved to other things I need (headphones, TV card..)

[ArmpitOfDeath]

It's your call but the fact is that having more than 2Gb of RAM even if you think you're a power user (especially 2-D designers) is in many cases irrelevant, in that it's not going to make any difference to the speed of your machine. The real bottleneck is the P4 - I only came back to Intel with the release of the Core Duos and 5100-series Xeons because the previous generation was quite the dog.

I am actually a power user (visualisations, scientific modelling, etc) so have 8 and sometimes more on some of my desktops - but for my 'regular use' machines (and I bet my spreadsheets stress my systems far more than your web work), they are specced with 2Gb unless I'm running Vista64.

[edmarriner]

It's your call but the fact is that having more than 2Gb of RAM even if you think you're a power user (especially 2-D designers) is in many cases irrelevant, in that it's not going to make any difference to the speed of your machine. The real bottleneck is the P4 - I only came back to Intel with the release of the Core Duos and 5100-series Xeons because the previous generation was quite the dog.

I am actually a power user (visualisations, scientific modelling, etc) so have 8 and sometimes more on some of my desktops - but for my 'regular use' machines (and I bet my spreadsheets stress my systems far more than your web work), they are specced with 2Gb unless I'm running Vista64.

I totally agree about the amount of RAM people need and I understand that you don't need to have loads of ram as in most cases you don't need it. This is the same reason I haven't upgraded my computer with a new CPU or GPU as I know it works just fine and just needs a fresh install every year or so.

I also agree it wont make my PC any faster but I hoping it will help keep the speed more consistent. When I am designing a website I will often have 5 or 6 photoshop documents open as well as a coding program and a few different browsers on the go and so with my current 1GB things start respond slower. Now I'm upgrading it seems more practical to buy the two gig kit (2 x 1gb) instead of two 512 sticks. ( I can then reuse them later on in a future machine )

Thanks for all your help guys :D

It is really appreciated:)

-Ed

[therage800]

The second gb will definitely help. The third probably wont do much for Photoshop etc. because it'll be bottle necked by the CPU. It should help with gaming though... I don't blame you for wanting as much power as you can get, even if it is slightly more than you need, yet at the same time staying in budget. I don't know why people would argue that logic.

[computoman]

In an emergency, you could always increase the size of your virtual memory (aka swap file). It comes at no cost to you except for reduced disk space.

[tehboris]

In an emergency, you could always increase the size of your virtual memory (aka swap file). It comes at no cost to you except for reduced disk space.

and using virtual memory mega slows things down.

[computoman]

It probably does under windows.