Is this a worthwhile RAM upgrade?

techead

techead

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Running windows 7 x64

got 4GB (2 x 2GB) of this..

TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX PC2-6400 4GB Kit 4-4-4-12 240pin DIMM

Is it going to be worthwhile putting in another kit making it 8GB ?

:confused:

decided not to upgrade my PC... gonna buy SSD and some more RAM (perhaps)
 
What applications are you running? Also check how much memory is being used when your running something. I've heard Win 7's memory management is a lot better than Vista's - but thats only what I hear - I'm not running Win 7. So check that out and if you have loads of free memory don't bother and rather spend your money on something more useful.
 
You should try Linux - at the moment only using 550MB Memory:) It uses on average about half the amount at any given time than Windows. And it's faster and looks prettier:)
 
It's simple - browse around on the linux forum here at MyBB - I still don't get it why people spend R1000-R3000 on Windows, when you can download a selection of different Linux distributions for free. I understand if you are using Microsoft-specific software (that doesn't run well on WINE) and Adobe applications, Windows games, etc. But if you use your computer to browse the internet, do business, watch video's and listen to music - you can save yourself a bunch of cash by not using windows. And there is always a dual boot option!

EDIT: Sorry for changing the topic like this and hi-jacking this thread, but I just get so worked up!:)
 
I upgraded from 4gb of ddr1333 to 8gb 2 weeks ago and notice a massive increase in performance, especially when Windows loads the desktop and all applications and starting up games from Steam etc.

Worthwhile investment imo.
 
bradrap said:
I upgraded from 4gb of ddr1333 to 8gb 2 weeks ago and notice a massive increase in performance, especially when Windows loads the desktop and all applications and starting up games from Steam etc.

Worthwhile investment imo.
Click to expand...


+1

You can never have enough RAM
 
HTC_guy said:
you can also download different windows versions online for free

:p
Click to expand...

Ye, I suppose - but you will probably have to use those cracks that are loaded with trojans and then have to update your anti-virus software every freegan day, but wait - I don't need an antivirus on linux:)
 
Yes you it will be a worthwhile upgrade. Reason being you can disable your pagefile.sys, which causes a bottleneck in your PC as it will read/write data to your hard drive.
 
You don't need antivirus because only a handful of people use linux, what's the point of making a virus for linux if it will only affect 1 out of 10000 pc users :p
 
What about drivers and stuff for linux? I was keen on installing it on my laptop but the problem of getting drivers and program compatibility put me off
 
I've never had any major problems with drivers on linux (only my sound card, which is a 8 channel recording interface, with really bad software support). Everything installs when you set it up and if you have some random problem there are thousands of people out there who will be able to help you (online forums).

What are the specs on your laptop? I will be able to tell you if you may run in to problems. The new Ubuntu is really quick and supports older systems very well too.
 
I'v got an Acer 7630G, core 2 duo at 2ghz, 4 gig ram, onboard nvidia graphics.
 
There is always a very easy way to check if everything is working - download the latest version of Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download - write yourself a live cd and boot from the live cd without installing. This will load ubuntu with all the drivers and you can see if you have issues with something. You wont have issues with sound or graphics - these chipsets are well supported in linux.
 
Yeah good idea.. I'v got a live OpenSUSE version of linux... How is it compared to the much publicized ubuntu?
 
HTC_guy said:
Running windows 7 x64

got 4GB (2 x 2GB) of this..

TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX PC2-6400 4GB Kit 4-4-4-12 240pin DIMM

Is it going to be worthwhile putting in another kit making it 8GB ?

:confused:

decided not to upgrade my PC... gonna buy SSD and some more RAM (perhaps)
Click to expand...

From your Picture I would not waste money buying more RAM. Extra RAM will only increase performance if your system is paging due to insufficient RAM. With Windows 7 you cannot disable the Page file; and even if you do it will not significantly improve performance (if it increases performance at all).

Anyway, from your pic you can see that you have four gigs of RAM installed, almost two gigs available and almost one gig free.

Available RAM is RAM that has been written to, but is currently not actively used, i.e. available for an application to use if necessary. Free RAM has no useful information in it and can also be used. So you essentially have almost 3 gigs of free RAM.

A better way to tell if you need more RAM is to download process explorer from sysinternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx. Run it and select View > System Info. This will bring up a task manager interface similar to WinXP (which was better IMHO).

Look at the Commit Charge (K) info. Commit charge is a combination of RAM and paging file. Limit is the most memory (RAM and pagefile) that your system can see. Current is the current usage (RAM and pagefile). Peak is the highest amount of memory used since your PC was started, again RAM and virtual memory.

If the Peak Commit Charge is lower than your physical RAM, then putting in more RAM will not help your PC at all (since your PC has never used up all available RAM)....
 
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