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Ram or Memory?

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:46 am
by GoldenStrike
I'm going to upgrade my pc for better performance and im not sure if i should get more ram or disk space.

Heres my computer...
Image
857 MHz, 384 MB of Ram
Im using Gefore FX 5500


I dont want any comments saying "HAH! you computers crap!" because we all know it is ^^

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:11 am
by lukefleming1
if possible i would get a new computer, i could help you find one for like $300 new that would be better than yours, but if u really just want to upgrade, get more ram

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:15 am
by greeneye
it actually depends on what programs you are trying to run. cheapest option is indeed to upgrade your RAM. buying a new harddrive would only give you more space to work on and a larger swapfile option but it wouldnt improve its performance.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:46 am
by cpinney
yeah its at the point that the best option for you is just to get a new system entirely.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:45 pm
by MissLe2
of course the best thing is to get new system
but maybe the best you can do is more memory
memory is better than HD for performance
8) 8)

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:15 am
by GoldenStrike
I don't think I'm interested in getting a new computer. Does anyone know the price of ram? I know how much hard drives cost though.

Thanks for the reply's!

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:32 am
by Lempi
Depends really. What ram does your system take? As it's fairly old, im assuming its SD-Ram, which is no long made and as such can be hard to find and rather expensive.

But yeah, in the not-so-distant future you should upgrade your computer entirely.

EDIT: Talking of being expensive, some places online are charging $29 for 128mb, which is less than half of what you have now.
So for the price to upgrade your ram, you could probably buy a fairly decent second hand PC.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:44 am
by rek
Dump it, then burn.

Seriously, i would just get a new PC. Upgrading your current system will get you no where.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:37 pm
by pr0klobster
upgrade. 857 mhz processor with 384 megs of RAM isn't all that great anymore. Properly configured, you might get by with a barebones install of XP, but if you buy another one you can put Linux on your old one and run SRO via Wine.

Not to mention there are many decent Linux games. Look into Battle for Wesnoth, Spring (a Total Annihilation clone) and LinCity.

Plus you will have an OS much less susceptible to viruses and likely learn a lot about a different (FREE) operating system. (sudo FTW)

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:08 pm
by Disconn3cted
greeneye wrote:it actually depends on what programs you are trying to run. cheapest option is indeed to upgrade your RAM. buying a new harddrive would only give you more space to work on and a larger swapfile option but it wouldnt improve its performance.


That is false, I bought a new hard drive and it was a bigger improvement than a whole GB of RAM. Whether a new hard drive would speed up your computer or not depends on how bad the original was though.

OnT: your computer is a piece of shit, buy a new one

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:30 pm
by BlackFox898
for the price you would pay to get new RAM you could get someone elses 5 year old rig that runs twice as better, i sold my old rig for $65 which had a 1gb or ram and a 1.8GHz core, and 2 drives one was 40gb and other was 200gb. srsly upgrade.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:31 pm
by greeneye
Disconn3cted wrote:
greeneye wrote:it actually depends on what programs you are trying to run. cheapest option is indeed to upgrade your RAM. buying a new harddrive would only give you more space to work on and a larger swapfile option but it wouldnt improve its performance.


That is false, I bought a new hard drive and it was a bigger improvement than a whole GB of RAM. Whether a new hard drive would speed up your computer or not depends on how bad the original was though.

OnT: your computer is a piece of shit, buy a new one

i guess it did in your case, but check out his specs and the RAM he has. what i meant it wouldn't improve performance is that he has enough free space on his hard drive for his swap files. and he asked if he needs "more disk space", so i assumed that the 6 gig he has free, he feels is not enough. anyways, he did not post how many rpms his orig drive is, so i am assuming he was asking on basis of free space and not disk speed. thanks.

and actually he also asked not to call his pc a piece of crap...=P still i agree, best option is to completely replace everything.

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:33 am
by GoldenStrike
Wow! thanks alot for all the help. i think you guys have convinced me to get a new computer :D

Edit: I just heard about windows 7 beta and that it might run better/faster/take up less space and stuff. do you think if i put on windows seven it might work? >.<

Re: Ram or Memory?

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:17 am
by OlHybrid
BTW, I'd turn Indexing off... too much of a performance hog for the benefits it brings.
Windows 7 beta is just that, a beta, I wouldn't bother (besides, correct me if I'm wrong but there is a time limit on it, so a definite no-no for daily usage).
Assuming it's genuine, keep your XP license for your new comp (stay away from OEM brand junk and go for a custom box from your local shop, much better component quality usually), and slap something like Xubuntu on your old rig.