Going to upgrade RAM

[AA-12]

I'm planning on upgrading my computers RAM from 1 gig to 2 gigs, or more if possible. I need some questions answered though:

How much will another gig or more of RAM improve performance?
How can I find out how much more my computer can use?
How do I find out what kind of RAM I need?

[Klown]

What do you use your computer for?

Do you have a lot of things open at once? Play a lot of modern games?

If you only ever have a few things open at once, a RAM upgrade wont make much difference to performance.

[DJ Ducksauce]

http://www.crucial.com/

Good site for checking your RAM and how many empty slots you have.

[AA-12]

What do you use your computer for?

Do you have a lot of things open at once? Play a lot of modern games?

If you only ever have a few things open at once, a RAM upgrade wont make much difference to performance.
A lot of gaming and graphic design.

Yes, yes.

[Klown]

A lot of gaming and graphic design.

Yes, yes.
Well it should provide a noticeable improvement in speed, provided there's not some other bottleneck slowing things down such as an old GPU/CPU.

[AA-12]

Well it should provide a noticeable improvement in speed, provided there's not some other bottleneck slowing things down such as an old GPU/CPU.
I see. Currently I have a Dual Core P4 2.8 Ghz and a Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT. Shouldn't bottleneck.

[Klown]

I see. Currently I have a Dual Core P4 2.8 Ghz and a Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT. Shouldn't bottleneck.
Yeah, I would think a RAM upgrade would help you then.

[bobby__johnny]

it wouldnt hurt, thats for sure

[Pop music sucks]

I was surprised how fast BF2 maps load now.

It'll show you all the endgame stats, and once it shows the picture of the next map, I've already loaded it and all it's doing then is verifying data.

Shutting down BF2 with only a 1GB RAM took forever. Now, when I shut it off it fully ends it in under a second.

2GB RAM is really nice:cool:

[AA-12]

I was surprised how fast BF2 maps load now.

It'll show you all the endgame stats, and once it shows the picture of the next map, I've already loaded it and all it's doing then is verifying data.

Shutting down BF2 with only a 1GB RAM took forever. Now, when I shut it off it fully ends it in under a second.

2GB RAM is really nice:cool:
Sounds awesome to me. How much did it improve your FPS?

[The Musician]

I have 1/4 of what you have now and you want to double yours... :-/

[Rats!]

I have 1/4 of what you have now and you want to double yours... :-/
hey 1 more post to 10k

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

I have 1/4 of what you have now and you want to double yours... :-/
256? omg. haha. lol@u.

I have 1.5 gigs

[HazMan]

For graphic design you need a lot of RAM to make things smooth as i found with the more complex elements of Illustrator and Photoshop. At least a gig and half should suffice though. For games its more about the graphics card i am under the impression but tonnes of RAM certainly should be able to help.

[HazMan]

I have 1/4 of what you have now and you want to double yours... :-/

Its always nice to have as much as you can though, if you only have 256 Mb thats fairly inhibiting. Depends what ya wanna do, if you just want to surf the net or burn cd's it'd be fine.

[PepsiMetal]

I was surprised how fast BF2 maps load now.

It'll show you all the endgame stats, and once it shows the picture of the next map, I've already loaded it and all it's doing then is verifying data.

Shutting down BF2 with only a 1GB RAM took forever. Now, when I shut it off it fully ends it in under a second.

2GB RAM is really nice:cool:

It shuts off in few milliseconds for me with 1.5 GB ram also. It was a bitch when I only had 512 Mb though. :(

I bought a 1 GB generic stick off ebay for $40. Works great, saved $40. :)

Necronomicon, you probably have PC3200/DDR400 ram which most newer Pcs have, so just open your pc, see if there are any empty dimm slots.

Also go to your motherboard manufacturer's site, look up your model, and see the maximum supported.

Then buy it off ebay, newegg, tigerdirect, etc...

[Pop music sucks]

Sounds awesome to me. How much did it improve your FPS?If I can keep the GPU cold enough I can get up to an average of 70-80 fps in DoD:S.

Running BF2 at 1280x960@85hz is so much smoother than before. Like, when you're in any of the attack heli's and you spamshoot the water, you'll notice it'll go kinda jumpy. Now that I've got 2GB RAM, it'll only crag up when dust from explosions completely fill the screen.

[SKiLLeDcs]

Does it matter what brand you get???

I have 2 256MB DDR sticks in my PC right now.

I'd like to upgrade due to slow *** loading of CS:S.

I've been told you should always stick with 2x256mb=512mb 2x512mb=1024mb 2x1024mb = 2048mb

[AA-12]

Alright, I got a 1 gig stick of ram to put in a slot. 1 and 3 were both filled each with a 512. I tried putting the 1 gig in both 2 and 3 and it wouldn't fit in either. What's up with this?

[Phalanx]

you did buy the right RAM and you are putting it in the right way? (only fits in one way)

[AA-12]

I'm basically positive it's the right ram. Only difference is that my current ram sticks are 4300 and this is 4200. Yes, I am.

[Rats!]

make sure the tabs are open and you are aligning the notch correctly......

[Pop music sucks]

I'm basically positive it's the right ram. Only difference is that my current ram sticks are 4300 and this is 4200. Yes, I am.How about pin-wise?

[AA-12]

Got it fixed. The guy said that I had to remove some other cards around the RAM to get it in right, and that I had to push it very hard.