Computer memory - what difference does more memory make to performance?

[MollieO]

Hopefully a simple question to answer but not one I know. If I increase computer memory from 512MB to 2GB what difference will I notice? Computer is used for email, internet shopping, watching BBC Iplayer and word processing.

Huge amounts of memory is needed for huge applications for eg. Photoshop or cs5. Not much memory is required for browsing web or word processing maybe 1gb would be enough unless you're planning to install bigger software in the future or games. HTH!

I'd say it depends not so much on which individual applications but on how you use your PC. If you (for example) have been working on a document, need to browse the web for some information, but also like to have music playing using Spotify, then go for a minimum of 1 GB, perhaps 2 GB would be better.

I have used Windows XP with various PCs and with memory sizes of from 256 MB to 2 GB, and as I tend to multi task, the lower amounts of memory were quite limiting unless using just a single application.

If you are using Windows 7, I believe the minimum recommended is 1 GB but if you can increase to 2 GB without it breaking the bank, go for it.

One of my clients (on my recommendation) bought a 2 GB RAM PC on Ebay for 100 pounds + 12.50 delivery. System works a treat and he finds it much faster than his older Dell PC which had 512 MB installed. He wanted it to run Windows XP 9for familiarity) and is very happy with the result.

Thx for that. It is a computer for my mum. It only cost £25 and came with XP Professional. I think it would be worthwhile to increase the memory if it will help it work a bit faster.

If your Mum is more likely to do one thing at a time, there;s probably no need to upgrade the RAM.

I have "pushed" 256 MB XP machines with dozens of browser tabs open (200+ did slow it down, and I counted them as I was closing them!) plus text editor, MS-DOS window, plus other applications, but it was still fast enough for web browsing and being pushed really hard compared with what your Mum might do.

If browsing is slow, check internet connection, consider switch to Opera or Chrome or Firefox and check against viruses or malware, eg download AVG Free at free.avg.com and visit housecall.trendmicro.com (32 Bit option) for a free online scan (you need to download their application but Trend Micro has been running for years.

Check the downloads section of www.savemybutt.com for other anti-virus options from time to time, and so you can examine your Mum's machine, remotely (if you live some way apart) install the software from www.LogMeIn.com so you can check her PC from your own.

Thx NetworkGuy. I've installed Firefox and Norton for her. I doubt that she would do more than one thing at a time. It will be quite a feat for her to get online in the first place. She's in her 70s and hasn't really used a computer for the last 15 years (since she retired). She has taken a course at the local daycare centre and will do some more once I've got everything working for her (monitor arriving this week and I need to sort out Broadband for her).

I have a desktop that I've set up for me that has 1MB memory but can take 4MB. Will probably upgrade as I do tend to multitask. The laptop you kindly advised me on has died but fortunately I managed to back up everything so nothing lost.

I did the same to my mum's laptop last year. 512MB to 2GB, running Windows XP. The difference was very noticeable.

512MB used to be plenty for an Windows XP machine but applications like web browsers are getting bigger every year.Then there are all the add-ons for the browsers. The BBC iplayer uses adobe flash and flash can take up huge amounts of memory.

The other thing to remember is that even if the applications won't use all 2GB at once the rest won't go to waste. Windows will use it as a disk cache so stuff it often needs to read off the disk will be copied into the spare memory and so be much faster to access. That alone can make a big difference to performance.

If you can do the upgrade for less than £50 I think it would be money well spent. Have a look at Crucial Memory and Kingston. Most PC memory is pretty cheap.

Thx Tony. I think I will do the upgrade. I had a look at the Kingston link and there are two types of 1GB memory listed - 400mhz and 533mhz. Does it make a difference which one I get? Do I need to check the MHz on the computer to work out which one or is one just faster than the other and it is therefore a question of preference?

Yes the 533mhz is faster than the 400mhz. I think Kingston's memory configurator won't show you anything that's too slow for your PC so the 400mhz should be fine.

If you've overclocked the PC so the processor and everything runs faster than standard then you will need the faster memory to keep up. But that's unlikely.

If you want to post the make and model of the PC I'll ask a major techie geek friend of mine to check.

Thx Tony. I've got two - one I'm giving to my mum and one I'm sorting out for myself.

The one I'm giving to my mum is with the 512mb memory and is a Dell Optiplex SX280 Ultra Small Form Factor. According to the spec its memory is 400 MHZ DDR II.

The other one is a Dell Optiplex GX620 Ultra Small Form Factor. The memory on that is 1GB 533MHZ NON-ECC DDRII which I'm going to upgrade to 4GB.