RAM Memory

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wdcav1952

wdcav1952

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OK, most who have read my posts know I am not especially bright unless I am talking about teeth. [:eek:)]

I have a Dell Dimension E521 CPU that uses Vista Home Premium. It has two RAM Memory sticks with 512MB on each stick. The memory type is DDR II SDRAM. I have two open memory slots.

My question is this: Should I buy two more 512 memory sticks, or can the machine use the additional memory if I buy two 1GB memory sticks?

Please assume I have limited understanding of computers when answering. :D

TIA,
 
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Originally posted by wdcav1952

OK, most who have read my posts know I am not especially bright unless I am talking about teeth. [:eek:)]

I have a Dell Dimension E521 CPU that uses Vista Home Premium. It has two RAM Memory sticks with 512MB on each stick. The memory type is DDR II SDRAM. I have two open memory slots.

My question is this: Should I buy two more 512 memory sticks, or can the machine use the additional memory if I buy two 1GB memory sticks?

Please assume I have limited understanding of computers when answering. :D

TIA,
Click to expand...

Call Dell. By the way, I hate it when you call me a moron. ;)

William .. Merry Christmas!:D
 
Originally posted by DocStram

Originally posted by wdcav1952

OK, most who have read my posts know I am not especially bright unless I am talking about teeth. [:eek:)]

I have a Dell Dimension E521 CPU that uses Vista Home Premium. It has two RAM Memory sticks with 512MB on each stick. The memory type is DDR II SDRAM. I have two open memory slots.

My question is this: Should I buy two more 512 memory sticks, or can the machine use the additional memory if I buy two 1GB memory sticks?

Please assume I have limited understanding of computers when answering. :D

TIA,
Click to expand...

Call Dell. By the way, I hate it when you call me a moron. ;)

William .. Merry Christmas!:D
Click to expand...

Yeah, and you worry me when you brag about your big pen blank!!! ;)

Back at you on the Merry Christmas. I will be thinking of you.
 
Cav,

What are planning on doing with your PC? Are you a gamer?

If it is only for "normal" use, you can do with adding 2 - 1 gig RAM. Even that could be an over kill for most users. In my old work, most of our servers (serving thousands of people) only have 2 Gig RAM. Of course they were not running Vista OS and I have no idea how much of a memory hog Vista is.
 
I am a minimal gamer in that I like the Tiberian Sun type of games. I have problems with the Vista system in that games are slow and lock up on occasion. FWIW, these are games made for Vista. I have heard through the grapevine that I might get an upgrade of my video card for Christmas and would like to consistently play something other than Solitaire.
 
According to Dells site, your machine should be capable of up to 4 gig.. However, I'd disagree with the previous poster. You could definately add 2 1gig chips, but don't waste money by dumping your existing 512mb ones. Going up to 3 gig should be plenty for almost anything. Put the extra money into a better video if needed.

Also - lookup on the web for tuning Vista tips. If you turn off the Aero glass feature (those semi-seethrough borders) and a couple other tweaks, your machine will speed up significantly.
 
I agree with the previous poster. Just add two 1GB sticks and upgrade your video card.

Dario,
You can't really compare server technology with Vista.
 
It is my opinion as an MCSE that the single best thing you can do for any Windows OS is to give it more memory.

I have to agree that the best bang for the buck is the two 1GB sticks.
 
Another good idea is to look at a game you would like to play. This will give you a good idea of what you need. They should have minimum requirements somewhere on the box that should include ram and video card.
 
A 1-GB stick should cost less than a hundred dollars normal price....CompUSA is going out of business and been advertising sales for a fair amount of discount on everything in the store...

...and this from the link...
DDR21 is a memory architecture that enables systems to improve performance and reduce power consumption. The amount of RAM you have determines how many programs can be executed at one time ""and how much data can be readily available to a program"". It also determines how quickly your applications perform and how many applications you can easily toggle between at one time. Simply put, the more RAM you have, the more programs you can run smoothly and simultaneously.

Everyone has to decide for themselves though exactly what their computer will be used for and balance how they want it to perform in respect to how much money they wish to invest in it.

And in my last job, workstations had 4GB RAM..not servers...

So why go to 3GB...why not just buy more 512's and have 2-GB...:)
 
Experience has informed that Microsoft Vista (ME 2007) requires a minimum of 2 gig's of RAM to operate with any efficiency. This is according to all of the computer guy's I know. I upgraded from 1 to 2 and cannot believe how much better, that is if VISTA can run better, than it did before. This does not take into account any games etc. on the hard drive.
 
Hi,

There is one big thing to consider here. Do you do it yourself or do you pay someone to install them. Vista minimum ram requirement (real life, not MS suggestion) is 2 gig. Now Vista is new, upgrade will start to flow in real quick. Many of these update will start eating your memory as it is not part of the original OS. Ever wonder why your computer is slower today that it was 2 year s ago with the same programs and OS? So if you pay someone to install, go for 4 gig right now. Else, expet to upgrade (and pay again) after Vista SP1, sometime next year.

Alfred
 
I plan to install the memory myself as that is dead easy. With the 2 512 MB sticks already installed, 2 1 gig sticks will give me 3 gig of RAM.

That brings up the following question: I have seen 1 gig RAM sticks priced from $100 to $25 apiece. Is there a difference in quality and durability? They all were DDR II SDRAM.

TIA,
 
Hi,

Basically they are the same. The difference is in the test they go thru when made. Generic will be more prone to internal error, since the quality control and tolerance when making them was less.
Kingston memory for exemple will tolerate a very very low rate of internal error or they will discard the module. This is why you pay a little more for them.
Internal error in a memory module is not necessaraly a big deal as they are almost all auto correcting but it could slow it down (million th of a seconds here !!) and with time a 512 meg could turn into a 400 meg with all the bad area flaged out.
Sometimes, this could also mean system hang more often, since a bad area could contain OS info when it crashed.
Now, i use extreme example here, generic module are not that bad, just not as reliable (in a very extended way). We don't use them for server or more critical application pc (99.5%+ uptime) but generic mermory is ok for general use.

Alfred
 
In general, there is little difference - there are less production facilities for ram than fingers on one hand.

I have heard good things about the memory4less site listed earlier.. The big key is to buy from someone with good rep in case there is a failure. Memory failure is pretty rare so durability isn't an issue. Its much more likely to be a compatibility or initial creation problem than failure down the road.

Find somewhere you trust or have heard good things about... for your machine memory4less is about middle of the road price wise.
 
When upgrading Dell and non-dell computers I have had very good luck with http://www.crucial.com/ website. Why not give the scan my computer a try.

I have had real bad luck with second "cheap" memory. Some memory would work for 3 months before failing. I had one that toasted out 1 year. There are some good s/w memory checkers out there - well worth the effort to run once you put new memory into your computer. So do you know what happens if you defrag your hard drive with bad memory? You get to reinstall from scratch.

My rule of thumb for memory is
- Windows XP - 2 GIG - 3 gig.
Windows Vista 2 Gig - 4 gig or you could buy a copy of windows XP - but joking aside
Windows Vista on a laptop will run fine with 1 gig - but the more you stuff in it the better.

Note: Windows XP can't directly use 4 gig of memory for the OS. However; the extra memory can be used for such things as ram disks. And should work fine in Linux.

I would even consider using an USB memory stick to help boost overall windows vista performance. (High speed usb2 + minimum 2 gig + fast access)

Memory speeds should all match even tho the motherboard may indicate you only have to have matched pairs. I have seen some issues with non-matched memory modules. The type of CPU and chip set on the motherboard will determine the best speed you need.

Bradbn4 - having fun in Colorado
 
What he said is true...a 32-bit O/S can address 4-GB of space,
however, what he is talking about (I think) is virtual addressing, ie, Microsoft allows only 2-GB of RAM to be used for the O/S, while the other 2-GB is for applications only.

Also, on the other hand, there is the physical memory limit....
 
One thing that has flustered me as a person called upon for opinions but not as a tech support guy - I ALWAY recommend getting MUCH more RAM than recommended. Everyone loves to go the "Cheap PC" Route and say how much cheaper their PC is than a Mac or corporate PC. AND the problems of the "CHEAP save the dollar," "Little as possible", "good enough" route is that it causes headaches down the road and need for a quicker replacement PC.

I ALWAYS recommend as much RAM and as large a HD as possible, MORE than initially thought to be needed. The few people that listen to that adage have far less problems than those that don't.

Buying minimum or "Just/Good Enough" RAM and HD is like buying a Hummer with a 10 gallon gas tank.
 
Originally posted by Blind_Squirrel

Originally posted by bradbn4

Note: Windows XP can't directly use 4 gig of memory for the OS.
Click to expand...

??? What is your source for this? According to Microsoft XP (32bit)can handle up to 4GB.

Source: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx
Click to expand...

Sources? Faulty ram between left and right ear?
When I was putting together my primary computer the research from some websites indicated there was some sort of limit between 3 gig and 4 gig. A few other sites supported this limitation, but without any hard numbers. I also checked what performance benefit would increase memory provide for each gigabyte added.

Regardless I will say for Windows XP - 2 - 4 gig is the max I would recommend. There are some sort of diminishing return on performance enhancements when expanding memory. For example - upgrade from 256 megabytes to 512 meg would yield a larger performance increase than increasing the memory from 3 gig to 4 gigabytes.

For the most part DDR2 memory is "cheap", and if I was to build a new computer I would lean towards 4 gigabytes for a dual processor x64 bit machine. For a quad processor I would install 4 gigabytes of memory. Large memory modules (over 2 gig per stick) seem to be at a monetary premium.


For non-laptop use for Vista - 4 gigabytes is what I consider a good price / performance / minimum / maximum.

If money is no object and running vista - the max that the motherboard can hold, but not to exceed 16 terabytes.

Bradbn4 - having some fun in Colorado
 
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2163
Generally speaking more computer memory is better than less. However, installing more than 2GB of RAM doesn't necessarily translate into a faster Vista desktop PC. Only a few applications may see improvement, and then the law of diminishing returns kicks in. So 2GB of RAM is generally considered the sweet spot for Windows Vista. As the operating system matures, along with supporting software, it's possible that number will climb. It's a wise move to choose a PC that can be upgraded to 4GB.
 
http://www.ramcity.com.au/support/faq/Memory Related Questions/questions/85.htm
If your PC has at least a 1Ghz CPU then by all means install Windows Vista, but don't mess around with recommended 512mb of RAM. Consider 1GB of RAM as the absolute minimum, and 2GB as the sweet spot. If you're a power user, then we recommend you seriously consider 4GB of installed RAM as a target for the maximum experience, but only if you have a modern CPU (Core Duo 1.8Ghz equivalent or higher) and graphics card (256mb on-board ram or higher).
 
oldelmer1 hit it on the head. Go to Crucial and use the system scanner tool. You don't have to buy from them but you can use the tool to see what you have/need/can use. They are good and have never failed me in my dealings with them. I work with computer repair daily and there are more memory types than you can count. You'll get the idea of what you want after looking there... I'd bet on it.
 
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