Upgrade

[F15pilotX 4]

I'm thinking of getting more RAM for my pc; however, I'm not sure what that will help me with.

 

what will it improve (I'm buying 512MB here)

[Sonic 296]

What are your current system specs? How much RAM do you currently have?

 

For RAM, 1GB is what you should be aiming for. 2GB is overkill however some games are starting to demand more. If you have an older CPU and video card adding 2GB RAM won't make any difference I think.

[Azrael 0]

RAM makes some difference, but that will be (at times) undermined by other factors, like your processor, the game you're playing, and, most of all, the video card. What's your PC specs anyway? Also, 1 or 1.5 GB is good enough, 2 GB is good if you're doing video editing, animation, 3D stuff, etc. It will always depend on the overall specs of your PC and what you use your PC for... It is also advisable to use dual 512MB RAM sticks instead of just a single 1 GB stick because if you go for 1 GB stick you will have a slightly decreased CPU performance, but if you're going for alot of RAM and you have only a few slots, go for a single 1 GB stick... Be careful what brands you buy though. There are RAM stick brands that are incompatible with others, like Kingston and another brand (I don't know the name), they didn't work, and my PC crashed a few times for no apparent reason.

[F15pilotX 4]

What are your current system specs? How much RAM do you currently have?

 

For RAM, 1GB is what you should be aiming for. 2GB is overkill however some games are starting to demand more. If you have an older CPU and video card adding 2GB RAM won't make any difference I think.

I got it now...I already had 512MB, AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8ghz) and geforce 6600, 256MB, and bought 512MB more, so it works very nicely now

 

I guess I'll have to save up for a new PC in a year or two

[TheBlackOut 7]

With all that I'd just save up and buy a new PC a couple months after Vista comes out. The first patch will come out for Vista, DX 10 will start to surface more and more, AMD's Am3 or whatever is coming, Intel is bound to have something...

 

Right now I'd sit tight. I wish I did.

[BWare 0]

The Intel Conroe processor has hit the market, and it is BLOWING amd away. It's unbelievable... their $300 model Core Duo is outperforming the $1,200 FX62!

[Guest Rabbit]

I want to upgrade from 512mb to 1gb, what do you think it would cost in general terms to buy? And, well, I have 2 256 sticks, so, should I change those out to one 512 stick, or what?

 

Here are my options, I don't know what works. I use my computer for C&C gaming, and Video Making.

 

Preferred:

 

2 old 256 sticks, 1 new 512 stick (Does this actually work?)

 

2 old 256 sticks, 2 new 256 sticks

 

 

Other option:

 

Get rid of 2 old 256 sticks and

 

buy 2 512 stick, or

 

buy 1 1GB stick.

 

 

I'd rather stick with the very first option up there, but, I'm unsure if it works. What do you all think I should do?

[Riparius 0]

Buy 2 new 512 sticks.

Read it somewhere that having 2 equal sticks of ram is better, it distributes workload equally or sth like that.

 

The 1st option should work, but if the ram you have is old (clock speed is low) then it will slow the new ram down.

 

For example-> you have:

 

a 256 stick, clock speed=100Mhz

a 256 stick, clock speed=125Mhz

and a 512 stick, clock speed=400Mhz

 

then the total clock will be about 208Mhz

 

That isn't that good, is it?

[Azrael 0]

Well, yes, but there are advantages to single sticks, like space and total amount of RAM...

[Sonic 296]

The type of RAM you get depends on your motherboard. Find out if your motherboard supports dual channel mode. Most do these days.

Dual-channel architecture DDR SDRAM describes a motherboard technology that effectively doubles data throughput from RAM to the memory controller. Dual Channel-enabled memory controllers utilize two 64-bit data channels, resulting in a total bandwidth of 128 bits, to move data from RAM to the CPU.

 

In order to achieve this, the DDR SDRAM memory modules must be installed into matching memory slots, which are usually color coded on the motherboard. Each memory module in each slot should be identical to the one in its matching slot. It's also possible to use similar memory sticks from different manufacturers or different production series as long they are of the same size, specification, the same number of memory chips and internal organization. However, several motherboard manufacturers only support configurations where a "matched pair" of modules are used. For this reason, most memory manufacturers now sell "kits" of matched pair DIMMs.

If your motherboard does supports dual channel mode its best to get 2 sticks of the same brand ram with matching timings.

 

In my current motherboard that supports dual channel I have 2x512 sticks of DDR400 installed. Giving me a total of 1 GB operating in dual channel mode.

 

As I said before 1 GB is what you need (or more if you think you need it). Anything less than 1 GB or RAM is no good these days.

 

Before your buy consult your motherboard users manual. If you nolonger have it check your motherboard manufacturers website, the usually offer downloadable PDF versions of them.

[Guest Rabbit]

Yeah, I just got the computer last december, so, I'd expect the RAM to have a higher clock speed, but, I suppose, if it's 2 x 512 I need, then it's 2 x 512 I shall get. Hell, when I think about it, I didn't even take into account how many slots I have in the computer anyway. Looking at it from the outside, it looks like I indeed only have 2 slots.

 

Here's a question... what about 768mb?

[F15pilotX 4]

I want to upgrade from 512mb to 1gb, what do you think it would cost in general terms to buy? And, well, I have 2 256 sticks, so, should I change those out to one 512 stick, or what?

 

Here are my options, I don't know what works. I use my computer for C&C gaming, and Video Making.

 

Preferred:

 

2 old 256 sticks, 1 new 512 stick (Does this actually work?)

 

2 old 256 sticks, 2 new 256 sticks

 

 

Other option:

 

Get rid of 2 old 256 sticks and

 

buy 2 512 stick, or

 

buy 1 1GB stick.

 

 

I'd rather stick with the very first option up there, but, I'm unsure if it works. What do you all think I should do?

Well, for one thing, what kind of memory are the old sticks, and what are the kinds your motherboard can handle (i.e. PC 3200, 2700, etc... DDR 400 is the same as 3200 :wink: you can usually find that out pretty easliy on google)

[TheBlackOut 7]

The Intel Conroe processor has hit the market, and it is BLOWING amd away. It's unbelievable... their $300 model Core Duo is outperforming the $1,200 FX62!

 

Not actually blowing AMD away, performance wise... Maybe. But against AM2's price range and AM2 mobos going to support AM3 its a hard choice.

 

Again, I'd sit tight, get a new computer around February (Around when C&C 3 comes out and Vista should hopefully already be out) and be happy.

[BWare 0]

Given what you JUST quoted, I'd say that, yes, they are BLOWING them away

 

But yeah, there are some major revolutions going on in that market. I'm planning on upgrading in a couple months or so.... will DEFINITELY wait patiently for the dust to settle. When it does, there will be some GREAT procs out there for a bargain. Patience is a good strategy now, or you will likely regret whatever you do. Good stuff people

 

I for one am sick of my cpu bottleneck. My AMD Athlon 4000, OCd about 9 percent, just can't keep up with new stuff like HDR lighting. I get laggy framerates despite the power of the rest of my system.

[F15pilotX 4]

I know what you mean...XP 2200 here :lol: decent, but definitely not what would be ideal :wink:

[BWare 0]

I've been looking into an upgrade to a Core 2 Duo system (the 6600 most likely), but am really bummed out because it pretty much requires DDR2 memory.... and I've invested into expensive twin gig sticks of DDR memory for both of my systems. The 300 bucks necessary for new RAM is going to be holding me back for a looooong time, and I'll be stuck with my Athlon 64 4000, chugging away and trying to handle HDR lighting

[TheBlackOut 7]

Poor baby.

[F15pilotX 4]

:haha:

 

next time, get a better processor

 

[Guest Jamie T]

I got 5 gb ram orso and 2 tb harddrive wOOt

[TheBlackOut 7]

I got 5 gb ram orso and 2 tb harddrive wOOt

 

You're a liar, w00t.

[BWare 0]

2 tb hard drive's don't exist... the largest single hard drive on the market now is 750 gb.

 

5 gigs of ram is possible, but very unlikely and uncommon (they usually work in pairs- 4 or 6)... especially with this clown :roll: