Add memeory or new compauter?

DaveH

DaveH

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
12,249
We have an old .5G of mem, 2.5 GHz pentium 4 that's a bit sluggish bringing up applications. At work I got a new duo core, 2G of mem machine that's much faster. Now I want to upgrade the home machine.

It is worth adding memory with that processor, to speed it up. Or should we just get a new machine?

Our use is pretty much limited to browsing, word processing, etc. No gaming to speak of.

Thanks
 
I've considered going linux for a while, but other members of the household would likely not be pleased.
 
Memory is cheap and will help speed things up. I added a gig of ram to a friend with a similar computer as yours for under $40.

But you should try some clean up first.

Install and use an antivirus tool. I expect you are but make sure it's up to date and running all the time. A neighbor of mine just assumed the Norton that came on their computer was running and protecting them without realizing it was just a three-month demo. Tons of viruses and spyware to clean off of that system. It worked much better afterwards.

Axe spyware. If you're not running a spyware defense program, you should be. Ad-Aware and Spybot are both free and together make a pretty good defense. Download them both from a reputable site (www.download.com), update them and run them. Don't forget the immunize function in Spybot as well. Also get Spywareblaster. This program blocks certain tracking cookies and sites in both IE and Firefox and helps protect your computer while you're surfing. None of these programs run automatically. You should run them all once a week to get the latest updates and kill anything that snuck through.

Add a firewall. The windows firewall is not particularly good. For simplicity, Zonealarm is good and available in a free version. Download.com should have it, but you can find it at www.zonelab.com. You'll have to dig a bit though to find the free version.

Kill the craplets. Is your tray full of icons that you don't know what they do? They're probably sucking resources out of your computer performance. This is trickier, but is recoverable. Download Startup Control Panel. http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,7976-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html This installs another tool in your Control Panel. It has a bunch of tabs for different locations where programs put startup functions. Browse through those and clear the checkboxes for non-critical apps. Dump things like quicktime, scanners, cameras, music services, If you uncheck anything critical you can always reset the check mark and reboot. All those programs still work just fine when you start them, but you don't have the overhead of them running all the time.

Disable useless services. This is trickier and depends on what services you need. I kill MS messenger on mine for instance. There are guides to this in different magazines and websites. I use a magazine and while they have started a free PDF archive of past issues, it's not complete yet and I can't recommend a specific alternative as I haven't used any of them.

For a computer that old, you might also consider a simple form of Linux. Ubuntu installs easily and is pretty quick, better than XP on older hardware I think.

Phil
 
Before you do anything, find out what is loading up in your start menu. You also might be surprised as to what is hogging present memory. If Adobe is there, kill it in the start up. There are several free programs out there that make it easy to see what is there and check or uncheck boxes next to the programs to allow or disallow in startup.I use Startup Control Panel 2.8 by Mike Lin

google it then download, see what is there, it makes it easy to modify startup programs.

Good Luck
James
 
Systems are so cheap these days, if your computer is more than 4-5 years old, I would buy new. Check out slickdeals.net. Tons of computer deals, many including flat panel monitors. I've seen some Dell systems go for $350 +/- in the past few months, with free shipping. If you're in a state that Dell doesn't have a store in, no tax. I bought a system for my business a few months back and got a heck of a deal. If you're not in a hurry, keep checking on slickdeals every day, and you'll see what I mean.

Ron
 
For what you are doing with it the computer you have should be fine but do think you should add more memory but your biggest problems are probably what phatch suggested viruses and Mal-ware.
 
Install and use an antivirus tool. I expect you are but make sure it's up to date and running all the time.
Click to expand...
Having that stuff running constantly in the background can slow down a computer, even bring a slower machine to it's knees.

Kill the craplets. Dump things like quicktime, scanners, cameras, music services, If you uncheck anything critical you can always reset the check mark and reboot.
Click to expand...
That'll make a huge diffence, and free up a lot of memory and system resources.

The windows firewall is not particularly good. For simplicity, Zonealarm is good and available in a free version.
Click to expand...
That's a great program, one of the few things I allow to run constantly. Once installed, you can disable the Windows XP (that's your operating system?) firewall.

install ubuntu linux for free-
Click to expand...
There are so many computer functions not available to Linux, but it's fun to play with if you're so inclined. I would recommend adding a second hard drive ($44) and setting up a dual-boot system. It's easier than it sounds, and that method would not require any changes at all to your current drive's partitions.

We have an old .5G of mem, 2.5 GHz pentium 4 that's a bit sluggish bringing up applications. At work I got a new duo core, 2G of mem machine that's much faster. Now I want to upgrade the home machine.

It is worth adding memory with that processor, to speed it up. Or should we just get a new machine?

Our use is pretty much limited to browsing, word processing, etc. No gaming to speak of.
Click to expand...
I expect the primary difference between the two computers is the processor. You can check out the CPU comparison charts at Tom's Hardware to see the performance differences side-by-side.

Something else that makes a great difference, having real sound and graphics cards instead of the onboard/integrated junk. Other things are the hard drive, motherboard FSB, graphic settings, and amount of peripherals attached.

If the main issue is programs being slow to start, I think that is something that more memory might improve. I run 2GB on my own computer, and just recommended 1GB to some folks who have similar computer needs as you.
Keep in mind that with most modern motherboards, the memory will perform best if installed in matched pairs.

But you might be able to 'fix' the computer you have first, without actually installing any new memory. The amount of applications and drivers loaded at boot, the number of programs running in the background, bloated cache temp and backup folders, etc. If you haven't reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows lately, your computer simply isn't running like did when new.

I just made a quicky parts price list for my partents-in-laws who are considering a new computer. They have the same computing needs as you, and are ~really~ tight. I came up with $486 to build a new computer re-using their existing monitor, keyboard, printer, etc. I can post or e-mail the specs if you're interested.

My own computer was $2000 for parts, but I admit to going overboard. :D
 
If you do decide to add memory, READ your computer MANUAL. You need to know what kind and speed of memory to buy. Don't waste money buying memory faster than you already have as your PC will run at the speed of the slowest installed memory. Your manual will tell you these details. You need to know if your system is set up for DUAL CHANNEL RAM. It probably is, which means you should buy matched SIMMs and install them in the right slots.

Your manual will inform you about those issues.

But if you're lazy, and who isn't. go to www.crucial.com. They have a memory scanner there that will analyze your computer and recommend options based on the memory they sell. Click the Scan my System button. It runs natively in IE, but if you run Firefox, you'll have to download an applet and run it on your computer. The applet will ask for internet access from your firewall if you're running a good firewall. Allow it. You don't have to buy Crucial memory of course, but read what it says about the type and configuration of your memory and write it down for when you go shopping. Crucial does make quality memory though.
 
Another thing I thought of is defraging your hard disk. That can help your boot times also. You can get a trial version of Perfect Disk to use for 30 days it is the best I have found as it also defrags your system files.
 
One more thing. Like Bob W above, I built my own comuter this year and spent over $2000 as well. I have three disks, one each for XP, Vista, and Ubuntu linux.

Vista is a dog. It's a resource pig, it's slower than XP on the same hardware doing the same things. I can't stand the new MS Office interface. It's also way overpriced.

If you get a new PC, I can't recommend Vista in any form or way. Let them patch it a bunch more and fix the problems. Until then, stick with XP.

When better DX10 hardware is available and the games are using the DX10 features well, then I'll have a reason to use Vista. It's literally been months since I booted Vista on my PC. XP and Linux usually get some boot time everyday.

Phil
 
If building a new computer, you can buy the OEM version of XP Home for $90 at NewEgg. That's what I'm recommending for the in-laws.
 
Thanks for the tips. We've pretty much are on top of ad-ware. disk defrag, cleaning off unused and stupid crap. Yes, I'll avoid Vista.

Yeah it's the few seconds it takes to bring an app up, or when you do something and it takes several seconds to think.
 
Yeah it's the few seconds it takes to bring an app up, or when you do something and it takes several seconds to think.
Click to expand...
That sure sounds like memory not being available.

Considering the very low price of standard (not high-performance) RAM these days, give it a try before building an entirely different computer.

Don't know what brand of RAM your computer has now, but I'm a big fan of the "Kingston Value RAM" for everyday computers. A gigabyte of RAM (2 matched chips of 512MB each) will cost about $30. Two gigabytes (1GB x 2) costs $60. Depending on they type of RAM your motherboard uses of course.
 
I recently decided to go with 1g of ram from 128M instead of buying a new PC.

The difference is really big, I feel like I got a new PC anyway.

I also went to Ubuntu and that made it even faster.
 
Adding more RAM will help if you normally keep several apps open at once (surfing the net, playing music and IMing all at the same time). But I don't think you'll get of a real speed boost unless you go with a faster processor. I've seen lots of decent off-the-shelf budget PCs in the $500 range with dual core AMD, 64 bit processors, 2 gig of ram and about 2.8ghz processor speed. 400 and 500 GB hard drives are becoming common place too.

I'll agree that vista is a resource hog, especially on the graphics processor side of things if you're running the aero GUI. XP seems to me more reliable for the time being.

On the Linux side I'm prone to Fedora Core but Ubuntu is the most popular distro right now and well maintained by the community. Relatively easy install too with most hardware configurations I understand.

I'd do the new PC and dual boot Vista/Ubuntu so you can bounce back and forth if needed. Or use the old box for learning Ubuntu or other Linux distros. That is, if you think you're nerd enough to handle it.
 
I'm supposed to drop by a computer place tomorrow to get some quotes.
Click to expand...
If you're a budget-minded person like myself, you can add the RAM yourself. Doesn't require any tools, takes about thirty seconds, and it requires no "fiddling" with the operating system or software.
 
Get rid of that POS and buy something with a sticker that says Quad Core and that has a minimum of 2G RAM that would easily be upgradeable to 4G or that already has 4G. Don't throw good money after bad. Dive in headfirst. :thumbup:
 
the difference between 512MB and 1.5-2GB is HUGE

a new computer is nice, but unless you are editing video or playing high end games the old one should run fine with more RAM
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top