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Is it possible to get too much RAM on your computer?

I would like to upgrade an old laptop with some RAM since I can't afford a new laptop for probably another 2 years.

I currently have a 4 year old laptop with 512MB of RAM and I would like to upgrade. I have two slots available. I heard that the RAM in each slot should be the same to work properly so I am stuck buying two chips. I might as well get two 1 GB chips to get the most possible upgrade but I am wondering if it's possible to over RAM your computer if the rest of it is pretty old?

So my wonderful nerd friends...tell me?

No you can add as much as you want, it just means instead of the ram being the slowest component, or bottleneck in the system, something else will be.

Probably the CPU.

And you could just put in one 1GB stick, it wont work as well but should be enough of a upgrade if its a really old laptop.

But yeah rams cheap, why not splurge

I'll RAM you

4 year old laptop, upgrading... Does not make much sense, but if you really can't get a new one for a while, put a 1GB stick in there.

HOWEVER, 4 years old likely means PC2700 DDR, and those SODIMMs aren't particularly cheap. Older stuff tends to cost more.

Good luck finding it cheap, Margaret. You may be better off checking Craigslist for that kind of thing.


To Import: Doesn't matter how much RAM she adds, it won't be increasing speed of the RAM itself, just the capacity. Even if she added faster memory, the all memory would default to the speed of the slowest module. So yeah, the RAM would still be a slow component, but RAM is rarely the bottleneck. Even today, the DDR3 stuff is terribly poor value considering it has a very, very small lead in performance over mainstream 800MHz DDR2 modules. Memory bandwith isn't much of a problem these days for most applications.

quote:

Originally posted by Import No you can add as much as you want, it just means instead of the ram being the slowest component, or bottleneck in the system, something else will be. Probably the CPU. And you could just put in one 1GB stick, it wont work as well but should be enough of a upgrade if its a really old laptop. But yeah rams cheap, why not splurge

Sorry but all these points are wrong. Vertigo is right with everything though.

Ideally you can add 2x1GB sticks of ram which will make it two GB total, there's is a limit to how much ram you can put with a 32 bit operating system (which is like 3.2 GB). It's always better to have more RAM than less, if you have extra it's not going to increase speed or anything, it just won't be utilizing it.

The bottleneck of any computer system now is the Hard Drive, it's a mechanical moving part that can break down fairly easily. Not the CPU.

And yeah if the laptop is 4 years old, hopefully it's DDR 200-pin cause that would be the cheapest RAM for that age (About $80 a gig).

Yeah, fuck, I can't get a new laptop until I graduate which will mean that this one has to last me to write a PhD thesis. And it's so pathetically bad right now, I will have to back up format and start again with a little bit more RAM.

You do not need to replace your 4 year old laptop, just upgrade it. If you are using Windows XP, then you do not need anything more than 1GB of RAM.

I am using a 6 year old computer, with XP with 1GB of ram, and it does everything I need it to do.

Buying new computers is for suckers (seriously).

quote:

Originally posted by VERTiG0 To Import: Doesn't matter how much RAM she adds, it won't be increasing speed of the RAM itself, just the capacity. Even if she added faster memory, the all memory would default to the speed of the slowest module. So yeah, the RAM would still be a slow component, but RAM is rarely the bottleneck. Even today, the DDR3 stuff is terribly poor value considering it has a very, very small lead in performance over mainstream 800MHz DDR2 modules. Memory bandwith isn't much of a problem these days for most applications.

Yeah i think i explained myself incorrectly, it wont be the slowest in terms of speed, but she wont be running into a issue of having to little ram for a program to run efficiently, on the contrary she will probably end up with a surplus that she rarely if ever uses(If she puts in another 2GB and is only running basic office apps).

For example i have 4GB of the 800MHz DDR2 ram, i might as well have 3GB and a better CPU, as i have more ram then i normally need. (and yes i have 64bit, as much as im having difficulty explaining myself im not that daft )

quote:

Originally posted by Orko Buying new computers is for suckers (seriously).

lol. sweet!

quote:

Originally posted by Invasionmix The bottleneck of any computer system now is the Hard Drive, Not the CPU.

please elaborate.... in terms of speed of data transmission and so forth

quote:

Originally posted by jeeper_095 please elaborate.... in terms of speed of data transmission and so forth

Lol are you serious?

A CPU request is fetched in nanoseconds, HD write/read is in microseconds, I think.

quote:

Originally posted by Cosmic Fur Lol are you serious?

yes

quote:

A CPU request is fetched in nanoseconds, HD write/read is in microseconds, I think.

i see.

quote:

Originally posted by Orko Buying new computers is for suckers (seriously).

like everything, it depends on what you do. if you just do word processing and checking email, you really don't need a new comp.

id say add a least 1 GB and reinstall windows. Also, id advise to switch to the win2000 theme and turn off the extra visual stuff.

windows tends to run slower over time.

your main reason to add ram would be to minimize paging to the hard drive, which is slow. 512MB is quite small in current days. XP runs barely on 512, let alone having msn, many browser windows open, doing word docs, etc. So added ram will help multitask more. Most of the applications run on a normal desktop are not CPU intensive anyways.

RAM LOVER....

Cheapest way to increase the speed of your computer: Do a fresh install of windows.
2nd way - get more ram

If your using a 32bit processor, don't bother going above 4G.

For a 4 yr old laptop, your better off just getting a new system though. I just got a very nice new computer (desktop) for $699 - quad core, 3G ram, 720g HD, nice video card - sure, it cost a bit more than upgrading my current rig, but getting pretty solid bang for my buck.

No you can't add as much ram as you like, every motherboard has a limit, most desktop motherboards take at least 4GB, more recent motherboards take 8GB. Your laptop most likely has a limit of 1GB, or maybe 2GB. If you find your computer running too slow, buy another stick of 512MB, reinstall windows xp sp2, don't install any anti virus, turn off system restore and indexing, and set the user interface best for performance. If you don't know what I'm talking about reply here and I'll explain these in details.

i have been looking to do an upgrade to my box as well. i have a celeron 2.4GHz on a asus p4s533-x mobo with 512MB ram. when i was looking at how much ram i should upgrade to, a friend told me the best way to check how much ram i would need was to load all the programs that i would use simultaneously and check memory usage. so i had the following applications running: firefox, mirc, aim, photoshop with 25 high resolution images open and winamp playing a 750MB divx. then i pressed ctrl-alt-del once and went to the performance tab and checked physical memory usage and PF usage. in total i was using about 1300MB so i know for my next computer i will get 2GB ram (2x1024MB).

and like invasionmix said, windows xp only supports up to 3.2GB. anything over that number just goes to waste.

If you're running 32-bit windows (which is almost a sure thing on a 4-year-old machine) then the OS can't physically use more than about 3 GB - the actual amount depends on your specific rig. Up to 4 GB of "stuff" can be addressed, but that "stuff" includes things other than RAM, so you don't get all of that.

If you're running XP or Vista x64 then there's no practical limit (theoretically it's 16.7 million TB).

Long story short, don't bother putting in more than 2 GB.

i am using XP Pro.

I'd say it probably has a 2GB limit, but you should be certain before you make your purchase.

What kind of laptop is it?
If it's a Dell, what's the service tag?
Otherwise, what's the model and SN?

Those answers will help you find out, via the OEM's website, what capacity the motherboard will accept, as well as what kind of RAM was originally installed.

Crucial.com also has a nice utility for determining this.

And D-Nut is correctamundo - non 64-bit Window OS = 3GB max. But again, you probably have a 2GB max in that mofo.

Chi-nizzle - check the mobo manual and max it out. Any hi-res image work will definitely benefit from 3GB RAM, if your board will take it.

quote:

Originally posted by DigitalMP Chi-nizzle - check the mobo manual and max it out. Any hi-res image work will definitely benefit from 3GB RAM, if your board will take it.

theres no point for me to max it out because i plan on using xp with sp3. no vista for me. 2gb ram is more than enough for me. i dont do that much with photoshop anyway. hell, i barely even know how to use it. lol.

quote:

Originally posted by DigitalMP If it's a Dell, what's the service tag? Otherwise, what's the model and SN?

Don't post the service tag and SN online.

quote:

Originally posted by DigitalMP Crucial.com also has a nice utility for determining this.

Very easy! Def be sure to check our crucial.com and have it scan ur system.

It'll tell u ur max capacity, how much u current have, and the type you need.

Couldnt be simpler, Margs.

Yes since only some OS only recognize so much ram and the motherboard maybe outdated

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