RSS Feeds: My Desktop PC Memory Upgrade — What Took Me So Long?
I bought my desktop PC in October of 2007. It only had a single 512 MB memory module in place and no operating system. The store I bought it from didn't carry memory modules, so I temporarily put off the memory upgrade. It has taken me more than a year and half to get around to buying more RAM, but I finally did it. A bit of a back story is in order:
The Desktop PC Purchase
I bought the PC at a store at the SM Mall in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, on October 13, 2007. The store didn't carry memory modules and there wasn't another store in the mall that did. I told myself not to worry about it because I could probably find a place in Olongapo that sold them (there are only two computer stores listed in the local phone book, but I saw two more today).
I attempted a Linux operating system install the same day, but I couldn't get the GUI to work right. The next day, I installed an OEM copy of Windows XP and used the product activation key from my dead notebook computer. Everything worked fine after I tweaked all the setting for maximum efficiency (no eye candy, a fixed-size swap file, and other memory-saving tweaks).
Daily Use of the Desktop PC
I didn't have any problems with this desktop PC. In fact, it worked like a champ from the first day I started using it. Most of the time I only had Firefox, Thunderbird, and Yahoo Instant Messenger continuously open (along with AVG Anti-Virus Free resident,). I would load Microsoft Word to do grammar checking and then close it immediately after I was done with it.
Somewhere along the line, within the last eight months, I started needing more memory. Part of it was because I started using Skype as well as the Yahoo IM and part of it was because I had more resident software running (for the optical mouse and wireless keyboard, the webcam, and other things I don't care to look for right now). It really started to hit home after I launched my online business site in December of 2008. I suddenly needed to have a spreadsheet open at the same time as the browser and the email client, while still having all the other stuff running.
About a month ago, I tweaked some Firefox settings to keep from having to restart it 10 times a day to free up memory. I also did some other adjustments. I managed to keep the PC memory usage under 512 MB most of the time, but I knew the day would come when I couldn't put up with the lack of memory anymore.
The Memory Upgrade
This morning, I hopped in the car and headed to downtown Olongapo City. I knew exactly where I was going. My son, along with a brother-in-law, tagged along. I went to DATAWORX, close to the Rizal gate to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
It took about 15 minutes, but they pulled another DDR2 SDRAM memory module of 512 MB from the stock room. It cost me 550 pesos (about USD $11.50) for a Kingston module. When I got home, I opened the PC case and found a ton of dirt waiting to be removed before I could even think of messing with the memory modules.
The new memory module fit like a glove behind the one that was already there. The whole process, after cleaning all the dust bunnies out of the case and the glue-like dust off the fan, only took about five minutes and that's because I'm getting slower as I get older.
After turning the PC back on and after Windows XP finished booting up, I changed the virtual memory setting and rebooted. Compared to what it used to do, it now screams. I have no more memory issues to contend with and I don't intend to upgrade the operating system on this particular machine… ever.
I now keep asking myself the same question over and over again: What took me so long? I blame it on um… mismanaged priorities.
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I have 2.8G processor with 1 GB Ram but it is still not enough for my needs. Even I don't use any graphic editing utility like Illustrator or Photoshop but I still need more. I think we have to have many more highly specified hardware in these days. Anyways, Good luck to you with your new RAM.
Unless you buy a PC and know what you're buying when you get it, you are almost always given less memory than you need. A memory upgrade isn't an equipment upgrade like changing motherboards or hard drives, but needs to be done more often than not.
More memory is key to making things run smooth these days. Right now my computer is running on 2GB which is the max it can take.
I never would have thought I would have needed so much but I find myself at times running two HTML editors as well as Photoshop as I work on my main site and that kills the usability and speed.
I'm going to need to upgrade to a better computer soon. I think part of the problem is I need a faster CPU as well as more memory.
Ya I have had the money, but usually blow it on games and now that my site is really improving in the ranks of google it is time to buy a new one so I can keep track of the money coming in since I have so many affiliates, but I keep putting it off. Right now though my lap top has been going strong for the past 6 months it was my dad's old one and he is a computer whiz so I should be ok for a while.
I just upgraded my RAM as well, it made a huge difference, so fast, no more lag, I got 2 sticks of 512 for $30 when Circuit City had its store closing sale. At normal price it would have cost me around $160.
I have three computers that I use regularly, my laptop (2GB – Vista), my netbook (1GB XP/W7RC1) and my server (4GB BSD). My laptop and netbbok run great with the memory resident inside of them though I did upgrade my laptop from 1GB to 2GB shortly after I purchased it. Because it came with 2×512MB sticks I ended up buying 2×1GB sticks to replace them and sold the original sticks on eBay. This resulted in my upgrade costing me only $10!
When I upgraded me server I ran into the nasty 32-bit/3.2GB memory limit. I had always heard that 32-bit had a 4GB limit but I never looked too hard into the actual limit. That is until I did the upgrade and wondered why I wasn't seeing 4GB!
I spent about an hour swapping memory sticks out looking for a bad one before I was able to find out about the 3.2GB limit.
Eventually I will upgrade my laptop and server to a 64-bit OS but as of right now I have too many programs that will not run correctly in a 64-bit environment. If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?
That's why it took me so long. It wasn't broke until I suddenly needed to run multiple programs at the same time.
Hey guys I have bought DDR3 2GB of RAM that's makes my PC performance like bullet:D
It's important to know that if you're thinking of getting 4GB of RAM there is no point unless you have Vista 64 Bit as with 32 BIT it doesn't make a difference.
This is true, it is sometimes better to just buy a new system instead of trying to upgrade old modules as its quite time consuming and you don't really save much.