Should I upgrade?

jmedina

jmedina

New Member
I currently have a desktop(the one in my sig). I am planning to upgrade the RAM. As you see it is running 512 MB. If I upgrade it to 1 GB do you think I would see a dramatic increase in power? When I start it up now it loads the desktop and it takes about 1 Minute for programs to load. Would this decrease the loading time?
 
Increasing the available ram generally helps when you have many startup items. You should notice some improvement just from the upgrade right away. In XP's boot.ini file you can also lower the time delay from 15-30 seconds down to as low as 2 seconds to see a faster load time as well as using the msconfig utility to disable any unnecessary startup items.
 
Yeah, more RAM is always good! It will definately increase your loading time, I mean speed. :P

It also depends on the processor. What processor are you runnnnning?
 
I have a Pentium D. It runs pretty smoothly for the most part. It is just the startup time. When I first got the computer I thought 512 MB would be fine. But, I am starting to use it more often and adding more programs.
 
With prices on memory falling you would see a large leap moving upto a pair of 1gb dimms there as well as seeing a more stable OS. Windows will always take a certain amount of time to load no matter how much memory you throw into the mix. That's simply the sit back and wait for everything to finish loading dilemna no matter what version is installed.

When XP first came out it was promoted as being the fastest to load to the desktop over the older versions. Yet I can see the exact same things installed on Vista and see both versions take the exact same amount of time to boot up. Boot configurations and startup items along with an increase in memory all seem to play a role.
 
If you upgrade your ram by 512MB you will definetly see a positive effect on your systems speed.Windows will boot up faster and any programs,tasks or games that you work with will show more functionality
 
Are you running the onboard graphics or have a PCI-E card installed there? There are a few things to consider for actually seeing any real perfomance boost on the HP model. A good 2gb of memory would serve well along with a faster cpu and a separate video card over using the onboard gpu.

Even when upgrading from 1 to 2gb of memory on an old Socket A build here that saw a larger gain and smoother operating system. That system first saw 1gb as well as seeing the cpu swapped out twice for a larger leap performance wise along with the 3 video cards tried out.
 
No, It is just used for basic internet and e-mail. But, I noticed that I demand a little more then that. I am still considering the upgrade.
 
If you are simply web surfing without any large games or apps being run along with planning a new build sometime in the near future the quick increase with a second 512mb will still help to see results. When the amount of new startups were seen from installing new programs then you have the option to disable those from automatically loading up along with Windows or adding more memory.

Even when still running 98 I ended with more then 512mb total installed if the system saw a larger capacity on the older builds. Prior to the last case 1gb was the normal for several prior to that. For plans of seeing the system kept running even after the new build is seen 1 or 2gb is still a good option there.
 
Do the RAM upgrade. I see over a dozen a week like that and it's amazing the difference the extra 512 makes. RAM is where the computer stores the information as the CPU uses it. The more it can store in RAM, to a point (depending on the OS), the less it has to go back and forth to the drive.

Going back and forth to the drive is what takes all the time and slows the computer down as it dumps programs to make room for new ones, etc.

The problem, of course, is when you get too much RAM and the computer bogs down trying to manage it. There is a point where too much gets beyond what the computer can comfortably manage.
 
That would be most likely seen with those rushing to throw 4gb of memory in regardless of which edition of Windows. Even with Vista running here 2gb is generally quite adequate once all of the "eye candy" is taken off the startup list.
 
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