Advice on memory upgrade

Hi,

I've been reading the Vista/XP/Win 7 debate on here and realised that I'm running Vista Home Premium on a PC with 1gb of RAM - which is slow/infuriating/about to go out the window..........................

but will upgrading my RAM to 3gb make a substantial difference to the performance of the pc with this system?

I don't want to upgrade to Win 7 if £25 worth of memory would make my life bearable again!!

I'd appreciate anyone's view on this.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil

This is great link to find the right RAM for pc/laptop , just pick the manufacturer and model number it will work out rest for you.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/

RAM upgrade will definitly improve your pc performance, 1GB in not enough for Vista. I had 1GB on my laptop, upgraded to 2 GB now and its all good , no slowness anymore.

When you replace RAM, make sure power off and wire unplug, take ram off, push powe button few time, put the RAM in, it should be properly seated otherwise you will hear few beeps at startup.

Any problem give me shout plz

Regards

Omer

I believe RAM is more for multi tasking, when switching between running lots of programs. word, powerpoint, photshop, etc

In regard to Windows 7. I imagine getting off Vista would be a good idea and getting over to 7, although 8 is on the way this year I believe.

You RAM may also need to be upgraded in pairs, in which case go for 4GB, but it wont really speed it up as such.

Long answer short...Yes

Vista on 1gb was a nightmare when I set up my friends Laptop. I couldn't get a memory upgrade in it quick enough!

As Chris says, 1Gb is a nightmare. If you have '64-bit Vista', shove as much in as you can (at least 4gb). If you have 32-bit Vista, also known as just  'Vista', then 3Gb is as far as you should go as that is all the RAM Vista can see.

As to changing to a later version of Windows, try the memory upgrade first and only change if it is still slow.  

Windows 7 or 8? 7 is a rehash of Vista but is more efficient. I've run a preview of Windows 8 and I'm not sure yet - it's trying to be too many things for too many devices, but we'll see what the final version looks like

Some sound advice here, yes even going from 1GB to 2GB would make a difference! 

You will definetly notice the difference going from 1GB - 3GB, and the PC will seem a lot more responsive.

You could go to 4GB of Ram, which is the sweet spot for Vista, but unless your running the 64Bit version of Vista you will only see and be able to use 3GB.

Hi

All of the above is correct especially the 32 bit limit. No sense in throwing good money away on memory that wouldn't be used.

One other thing that should be borne in mind is that computers are kind of like cars. As soon as you start to use them, the performance degrades. Just a little, bit by bit. Eventually you take the car into the garage and it comes back out working better. The car then starts to degrade little by little, bit by bit until the next service. So it is with computers.

Usually I recommend that every 18 months / 2 years, back up all your data (and I do mean all your data, not just the contents of My Documents), ensure that you know where all your software, settings (e.g. e-mail) and licence numbers are and make sure that they are all available. Then format your hard disk, reload Windows and bring up to date, reload anti virus software and bring up to date, load Adobe Acrobat, Java etc. Load your software and bring up to date and, finally, restore your data. You will ts up. So much is loaded that is unnecessarynotice a great improvement.

A short term fix is to clear out the Temp folder. That often helps too. Also, see what is being loaded behind the scenes when the computer starts. So much is loaded that you could do without but takes up resources. This is a scary bit if you aren't sure what you are doing. In this case, your local friendly computer shop can help or, if you let me know, I can connect remotely and press the buttons for you.

Gary

640kb ought to be enough for anyone

Love Gary's anaolgy here, wish the 'rebuilt' my car at every service :-)

Thank you for the compliment Lee. I like to keep things simple.

I have just read the post and I remember now why I don't like using the lap top. Clearly my hand brushed against the touch plate and the cursor went askew. Apologies if it was difficult to read in the third paragraph. I was just commenting on the amount of software that is loaded in the background and continually drags the computer down. reventing some of the software from loading helps to speed things up.

Gary

If you decide against upgrading to W7, make sure that your Vista install is up-to-date with the latest Service Pack (run Windows Update from the Start menu, it'll check automatically). MS fixed several niggling performance issues with the Service Packs.

And for what it's worth, I agree about the RAM upgrade, 32-bit: go for 3 GB, 64-bit: go for 4+.

Thanks everyone for the advice, all greatly received and so far it seems to be the right thing to do. 

I've got the 32-bit version so will stick with 3gb, in a 512/512/1gb/1gb configuration (not 3 x 1gb). Will that be OK?

Vista is updated with the latest SP's so I'm hopeful.

I'll let you know how i get on as it may help anyone with the same problem to know how well this might work!

Thanks again everyone.

Phil

My first computer had 256 bytes of RAM...

Sinclair Mk 14, 1977 - A bargain at £39.95! (£39.95 in 1977 = £324.00 today!)

Love it!!!  It was Bill Gates who said it I think!  You must be a year or two older than me, my first was a ZX81, 48k i think!

That was my first one too! I had a wooden case for it and spent ages playing lunar lander on the Hex display. Just had to enter all the machine code back in every time I turned it back on. Happy days......