What is the use of an Extra 256MB of RAM

Karanislove · 29-05-2006, 02:22 AM

I bought a new stick of 256MB RAM........I inserted it into my computer...I booted it up......I can see it in my system properties but it doesnt increase the speed at all. Everthing seems to be at same speed... I have total of 512MB of RAM....
As per megamaced suggested in one thread, I have increased my Virtual Memory double the amount of RAM but no use........... Anybody, who can expain me if there is any changes that I need to do in my BIOS or something.

megamaced · 29-05-2006, 01:28 AM

You will be able to open up more applications at the same time with no hit on performance

Karanislove · 29-05-2006, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mega

You will be able to open up more applications at the same time with no hit on performance

So, you mean there is no speed increament on the opening up of programs? It will not increase the startup of windows? It will not increase the speed of accessing files? The only thing it will do is letting me use more parallel programs......

pelvis_3 · 29-05-2006, 06:45 AM

No, adding more RAM will increase performance in all areas, not just mutli-tasking. How much you add plus what speed and timings it uses will also determine the performance increase.
Also, it will most likely make a neglible difference if your hard drive is heavily fragmented or is old and losing it's fitness. You should take these things into consideration.

izzy007 · 29-05-2006, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karanislove

I bought a new stick of 256MB RAM........I inserted it into my computer...I booted it up......I can see it in my system properties but it doesnt increase the speed at all. Everthing seems to be at same speed... I have total of 512MB of RAM....
As per megamaced suggested in one thread, I have increased my Virtual Memory double the amount of RAM but no use........... Anybody, who can expain me if there is any changes that I need to do in my BIOS or something.

really it depends on wat sort of things u do on ur comp nd how many and wat programs or services u open.use. my comp had 128mb nd it was proppa slow nd kept on scanning da hard drive because wen it ran out of space on da ram, it wrote it temporarily to da hard drvie nd wen i added another 512mb, i cud see a noticeable performance increse but much less den wat i had expected but programs opened faster nd i cud open many programs aswell as play game.

Addis · 29-05-2006, 10:05 AM

Yep, the RAM increase will actually increase the speed of your system, although it may be hard to notice. But to put things into perspective, have you ever tried running XP with 128mb of RAM? Its not a pretty sight, when you do it with 256mb the extra breathing space has a big impact.

With your system, XP will have enough RAM for itself, while at the same time if you open a large application (even firefox is a bit heavy on RAM) then you will find your PC is not swapping as much to the hard drive (in windows however, it does this a bit no matter how much RAM you have).

Big B · 29-05-2006, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by izzy007

really it depends on wat sort of things u do on ur comp nd how many and wat programs or services u open.use. my comp had 128mb nd it was proppa slow nd kept on scanning da hard drive because wen it ran out of space on da ram, it wrote it temporarily to da hard drvie nd wen i added another 512mb, i cud see a noticeable performance increse but much less den wat i had expected but programs opened faster nd i cud open many programs aswell as play game.

Exactly. For a few years, 512MB has worked fine. It's only been recently that I've felt the need to bump this up. For daily tasks, 512MB is fine, however, I've really noticed the jump to 1GB in gaming. Things are a lot smoother there. Some people are doing 2GB, but I think the vast majority of people will still be fine at 512MB-1GB. If you've got some high-end SLI/Crossfire box and want to game at 1600x1200, then the higher ram amounts are going to help. If you don't, you can still do quite a bit with a mid-range box.

Addis · 29-05-2006, 03:02 PM

"640k ought to be enough for anybody"

UnSeEn · 29-05-2006, 05:07 PM

Only just recently I've found that RAM is very important. I'm at private school, and my desktop with 1 GB RAM is at home. I'm stuck with my crappy Dell Latitude D610, which only has 512 Mb RAM and a poor video card (Radeon x300). I NOTICE the difference big time, believe me. I can leave my desktop on for days, play so many games one after the other, and not suffer at all. On a bad day with my laptop, I can get one game out of it before the RAM is nearly drained and I need to reboot (or use handy RAM management programs). It's bad...Oblivion on my laptop completely drains it dry. It seems to make a huge difference..

Karanislove · 29-05-2006, 09:05 PM

First of all thanks to all of you for replying,
In relation to my RAM, I was expecting some sort of increment in the speed of programs......like opening up a new program....even when I press start button, I have to wait for the same amount of time as I was wating before on 256MB. I am using Dell Dimension4400, which is 1.8GHz. I have only 20GB of HDD. I am only using nearly 5-6 GB of my HDD because I think, more the HDD space is full, less the computer speed will be.
The only difference I can see on my computer is increase in the internet speed, I dont know how but my internet speed is increased now after adding an extra stick of RAM.

megamaced · 29-05-2006, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karanislove

I am only using nearly 5-6 GB of my HDD because I think, more the HDD space is full, less the computer speed will be.

Are you talking about file fragmentation? Fragmentation will happen regardless of the amount of data on the hard drive. Doesn't matter whether there's only 50MB or 80GB of data

Just remember to defragment the hard drive once a month. Defragmentation will give an extra performance boost and take away some of the strain put on a hard drive.

Karanislove · 29-05-2006, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mega

Just remember to defragment the hard drive once a month. Defragmentation will give an extra performance boost and take away some of the strain put on a hard drive.

I have an external Drive of 40GB. DO I have to defrag that as well coz most of the times, its attached to my computer.......?

megamaced · 30-05-2006, 12:02 AM

Well that depends whether your external hard drive is a pendrive or not?

Theres no point defragmenting a pendrive. Although it is possible, the end result won't be noticeable.

If your external hard drive is an essential part of your computer then I'd recommend you defragment it. Especially if it holds your Operating System or My Documents folder.

What file system are you using?

FAT16 - Fragments very badly. I'd recommend a defragment twice a month
FAT32 - Slightly better then FAT16, but it still fragments all over the place.
NTFS - Fragments larger files, although not as bad as FAT

Linux Filesystems? They don't fragment

Karanislove · 30-05-2006, 12:25 AM

"NTFS - Fragments larger files, although not as bad as FAT" on both and my external HDD is fujitshu laptop 40 HDD.

megamaced · 30-05-2006, 12:41 PM

In that case, you should defragment all of your hard drives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by megamaced

Just remember to defragment the hard drive once a month

Let me rephrase that:

It really depends how you use your computer. If you are the kind of person who is always downloading stuff and installing/uninstalling programs then you should defragment once a month.
However if you only use your computer to browse the internet and play occassional videos and music, you only need to defragment twice a year.

29-05-2006, 02:22 AM	#1 (permalink) Top
Karanislove It's D Grav80 Of Luv Join Date: Feb 2006 Age: 23 Male Posts: 3,460 Times Helpful: 160 My Mood: Cool Status: Offline My Computer	What is the use of an Extra 256MB of RAM I bought a new stick of 256MB RAM........I inserted it into my computer...I booted it up......I can see it in my system properties but it doesnt increase the speed at all. Everthing seems to be at same speed... I have total of 512MB of RAM.... As per megamaced suggested in one thread, I have increased my Virtual Memory double the amount of RAM but no use........... Anybody, who can expain me if there is any changes that I need to do in my BIOS or something. __________________ __________________________________________________ ___ Troubleshoot a Dead/Unbootable PC / Microsoft Events Viewer Troubleshoot Printer / Most Common Home Audio Problems_

29-05-2006, 01:28 AM	#2 (permalink) Top
megamaced Geek Geek Geek! Join Date: Nov 2005 Age: 24 Male Posts: 3,466 Times Helpful: 352 My Mood: Fine Status: Offline My Computer	You will be able to open up more applications at the same time with no hit on performance __________________ "A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

29-05-2006, 06:45 AM	#4 (permalink) Top
pelvis_3 HWF Member For Life Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 22 Male Posts: 2,336 Times Helpful: 265 My Mood: Happy Status: Offline My Computer	No, adding more RAM will increase performance in all areas, not just mutli-tasking. How much you add plus what speed and timings it uses will also determine the performance increase. Also, it will most likely make a neglible difference if your hard drive is heavily fragmented or is old and losing it's fitness. You should take these things into consideration. __________________ Adopt an unanswered thread. \| Who's Online \| vB Code Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them! Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have!

29-05-2006, 10:05 AM	#6 (permalink) Top
Addis The King Join Date: Jan 2004 Age: 18 Male Posts: 5,255 Times Helpful: 403 My Mood: Drunk Status: Offline My Computer	Yep, the RAM increase will actually increase the speed of your system, although it may be hard to notice. But to put things into perspective, have you ever tried running XP with 128mb of RAM? Its not a pretty sight, when you do it with 256mb the extra breathing space has a big impact. With your system, XP will have enough RAM for itself, while at the same time if you open a large application (even firefox is a bit heavy on RAM) then you will find your PC is not swapping as much to the hard drive (in windows however, it does this a bit no matter how much RAM you have). __________________ Never trust a program you don't have the source code for. My website \| Powerful Desktop Linux \| Linux for human beings \| Linux for power users \| Linux for ricers

29-05-2006, 03:02 PM	#8 (permalink) Top
Addis The King Join Date: Jan 2004 Age: 18 Male Posts: 5,255 Times Helpful: 403 My Mood: Drunk Status: Offline My Computer	"640k ought to be enough for anybody" __________________ Never trust a program you don't have the source code for. My website \| Powerful Desktop Linux \| Linux for human beings \| Linux for power users \| Linux for ricers

29-05-2006, 05:07 PM	#9 (permalink) Top
UnSeEn Mayor McCheese Join Date: Jan 2006 Age: 19 Male Posts: 284 Times Helpful: 9 My Mood: Cynical Status: Offline	Only just recently I've found that RAM is very important. I'm at private school, and my desktop with 1 GB RAM is at home. I'm stuck with my crappy Dell Latitude D610, which only has 512 Mb RAM and a poor video card (Radeon x300). I NOTICE the difference big time, believe me. I can leave my desktop on for days, play so many games one after the other, and not suffer at all. On a bad day with my laptop, I can get one game out of it before the RAM is nearly drained and I need to reboot (or use handy RAM management programs). It's bad...Oblivion on my laptop completely drains it dry. It seems to make a huge difference.. __________________ An inside joke...Exfoliate might find this amusing.

29-05-2006, 09:05 PM	#10 (permalink) Top
Karanislove It's D Grav80 Of Luv Join Date: Jan 2006 Age: 23 Male Posts: 3,460 Times Helpful: 160 My Mood: Cool Status: Offline My Computer	First of all thanks to all of you for replying, In relation to my RAM, I was expecting some sort of increment in the speed of programs......like opening up a new program....even when I press start button, I have to wait for the same amount of time as I was wating before on 256MB. I am using Dell Dimension4400, which is 1.8GHz. I have only 20GB of HDD. I am only using nearly 5-6 GB of my HDD because I think, more the HDD space is full, less the computer speed will be. The only difference I can see on my computer is increase in the internet speed, I dont know how but my internet speed is increased now after adding an extra stick of RAM. __________________ __________________________________________________ ___ Troubleshoot a Dead/Unbootable PC / Microsoft Events Viewer Troubleshoot Printer / Most Common Home Audio Problems_

30-05-2006, 12:02 AM	#13 (permalink) Top
megamaced Geek Geek Geek! Join Date: Nov 2005 Age: 24 Male Posts: 3,466 Times Helpful: 352 My Mood: Fine Status: Offline My Computer	Well that depends whether your external hard drive is a pendrive or not? Theres no point defragmenting a pendrive. Although it is possible, the end result won't be noticeable. If your external hard drive is an essential part of your computer then I'd recommend you defragment it. Especially if it holds your Operating System or My Documents folder. What file system are you using? FAT16 - Fragments very badly. I'd recommend a defragment twice a month FAT32 - Slightly better then FAT16, but it still fragments all over the place. NTFS - Fragments larger files, although not as bad as FAT Linux Filesystems? They don't fragment __________________ "A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows". ~Linus Torvalds

30-05-2006, 12:25 AM	#14 (permalink) Top
Karanislove It's D Grav80 Of Luv Join Date: Jan 2006 Age: 23 Male Posts: 3,460 Times Helpful: 160 My Mood: Cool Status: Offline My Computer	"NTFS - Fragments larger files, although not as bad as FAT" on both and my external HDD is fujitshu laptop 40 HDD. __________________ __________________________________________________ ___ Troubleshoot a Dead/Unbootable PC / Microsoft Events Viewer Troubleshoot Printer / Most Common Home Audio Problems_

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