Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
A computer memory upgrade can be an easy and inexpensive way to imrpove system performance, but how do you know if an upgrade is called for?
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I've said it before: upgrading your computer's memory is one of the most cost effective ways of increasing its performance.
However, it's not a silver bullet. Whether or not it will actually help you depends on many things. And of course, whether or not you actually can add more memory is something we also need to look at.
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First off, I will say that 448 megabytes of RAM is pretty small for typical Windows XP system these days. I certainly wouldn't purchase a machine with less than 512. (That's likely what you actually have, the difference being memory that's used by your video adapter.)
I would actually encourage any new machines on which you plan to run Windows XP to have at least a gigabyte of RAM, if not two. My primary machines both have 4 gigabytes.
There are several reasons for my suggestions. For one thing, as I've said, RAM is cheap these days. But for another, over time Windows XP and the applications you've likely installed on it are getting larger. What was a reasonable configuration in 2002 is likely getting stressed just a little by both updates and new tools and applications that have likely been added as well.
Whether 512 megabytes, or 1, 2 or even 4 gigabytes of RAM is appropriate for you actually depends on what you do with your machine. If all you do is download pictures, then what you have may actually still be just enough - downloading and printing pictures is not a particularly memory intensive task.
But I'm betting you do a lot more with your computer than just download pictures. You probably surf the web, do email and perhaps even write documents. If you've got Microsoft Office installed and you use it regularly, for example, then yes - 512 Meg is not enough.
If after downloading those pictures you fire up an image editing program to crop, tweak or otherwise adjust them, then it's likely 512 Meg is not enough.
And if you download photos, check email, surf the web, write documents and tweak photos all at the same time (leaving all those programs open and running at once), then 512 Megabytes is almost certainly not enough.
The other limiting factor that you need to check, particularly in older machines, is how much RAM they can actually handle, as this is a physical limitation of how the computer's motherboard is designed. I checked on your particular machine's capabilities, and apparently it can handle a maximum of 2 gigabytes of RAM.
In your shoes, personally I probably wouldn't hesitate. If you plan to keep that machine for any length of time, I'd upgrade the RAM to its maximum. It's not only a cost effective way of improving performance, but it's actually a cost effective way of lengthening your computer's useful life. I checked out at Crucial.com and taking your machine to 2 Gigabytes would be less than $40 today.
While I now order all my new machines with maximum RAM, I also took the time to upgrade all of my older machines that I planed to continue using to their maximum as well.
One last counter argument: if things are working, why look at it at all? There's certainly a great temptation to upgrade, to get the latest and greatest, to see if things can be faster or better than they are. But ... if it ain't broke, why fix it? You didn't indicate that you were experiencing any problems, so even though RAM upgrades are simple and inexpensive, if there's no real reason, then why bother with whatever expense or risk?
On the other hand, if things are slow, if you see a problem, adding RAM is a reasonable first step.
Article C3732 - May 15, 2009
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
I have a 5 year old machine that I've given to my teens. I upped the RAM to 2GB and got a new direct x 10 graphics card and 320GB hard drive combined price under $200. It now does everything most people would ever need including playing some fairly demanding games. If you don't play Graphic intensive games or video editing you can skip the graphic card upgrade and get all you need out of it for a little over $100. Those three things usually have much more impact than a faster processor. And it's usually much better to replace your old ram with new ram and not just add ram as the new ram is usually faster but when combined with old ram it runs at the speed of the oldest ram you have installed.
Posted by: Mark Jacobs at May 17, 2009 9:19 AMRe: Adding Memory
I have a Compaq Presario R3000 laptop, using 512 memory. Crucial says I can add another 512 or 1Meg. I bought another 512 chip but when I opened the slot, there was only room for one chip! Can it Be? What to do? Charles
20-May-2009
If you have to ask, I would say you need the extra RAM. For one thing, programmers and web page designers just assume that you have all that memory. They have become lazy over the years, and are not concerned with the resources (i.e. memory) that their software requires. In the past, programs were designed to be compact and efficient, and efforts were made to free up the memory they used once the program was finished. These days, that seems to be at the bottom of the programmer's priority list. Considering how inexpensive RAM has become, you will only see an improvement by adding more. If you are not comfortable installing it, take your machine to a store that offers computer service and let them do it. Many of them also offer free/inexpensive system analysis, which you would likely find informative regarding future decisions.
Posted by: Stuart at May 20, 2009 10:34 AMThere is also the implied question around the phrase "& 1112 MB of virtual memory". Assuming your hard drive is not also already full, there is no reason not to up that to a much larger number... especially if you are tight on RAM! As RAM fills up, a normal part of the processing of the system is to move inactive portions of open programs to the hard disk... in that "virtual memory" area. Give the system room to store those inactive pages rather than a reason to complain that it is out of disk space. I run all my systems with at least 4GB (for some reason some installs have this as their max, and no, its not due to being a 32bit op sys, remember each process gets their own 2-3GB of private addressable memory, so a 32bit system can easilly be managing much more than 4GB of addressable virtual memory), and many with more (8-12GB).
Posted by: Nicholas Gimbrone at May 25, 2009 6:59 AM