Sorting through the vast amount of choices you are presented when customizing your next computer can be quite an endeavor. You’re presented with numerous specifications and names of products that you’re probably not too familiar with.
The amount of memory you have in your computer can really make a difference in how your computer functions day to day. If you are building a new computer or looking to figure out what’s wrong with an old one, you might want to take the amount of memory you have into consideration.
Learning About Memory
Windows XP doesn’t tend to be a big memory hog like Windows Vista has become; but then again high memory requirements isn’t such a bad problem anymore as memory has become very affordable.
Where will you see the most benefit? When you have multiple windows open on your screen, maybe one your property search and the other your contact database, computers have a tendency to slow down. With the coming of tabbed browsing in the latest internet browsers like Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox, this effect becomes even more apparent.
The old memory standard is called DDR (double-data rate). If your computer is more than a year, you probably have this type of memory installed on your computer. Buying another batch of memory isn’t costly, and can immediately make a difference in how quickly your computer functions.
If your computer is newer, you may have the newer version of memory called DDR2. This memory is faster and roughly the same price depending on where you purchase it. Computers with the DDR memory standard are not compatible with computers with the DDR2 standard, so be sure you buy the right kind.
Contact your manufacturer or computer maker to determine what type of memory you have.
Windows XP (Home and Professional)
Windows XP really runs a lot better on 1GB+ of system memory. Most computers that I work on for agents at our office only come installed with 512mb (megabytes) of memory, which is half my recommended amount. You’ll notice those computers slugging along, decreasing the productivity of anyone using it.
My suggestion for those of with 512mb of memory installed in your computer running Windows XP is to buy another 512mb of memory.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a great looking operating system, but many will tell you that it’s requirements are quite a bit steeper than Windows XP. For this reason and through personal experience, I will recommend that you have at least 2gb of memory on a computer with Windows Vista.
How Much Memory Do I Have?
To find out how much memory you have, along with a plethora of additional information about your computer, I recommend downloading and installing some free software from Belarc.
Belarc Advisor is free personal PC audit software that will create a profile of your computer and present it back to you in an easy to read web page. After downloading the software, it will check for updates (which is fine), and then create a profile for you.
On my computer the software took about 2 minutes to generate the report, so be patient while the report is created. You will then be presented with a web page that shows you all the details of your computer.
The memory section will tell you the type of memory you have, along with how many slots you have available on your computer. In the above screenshot, you will see that I have three slots to place memory in my computer. In two of the slots, I have two 512mb memory “sticks”, which comes out to 1024mb or 1gb of memory.
If your computer does not have any additional slots, you cannot install another stick of memory without replacing the original first. Luckily, memory modules come in a variety of configurations so you can buy one module of 1gb (even 2gb!) if you wish.
Getting It Installed
I’ll assume that working on the internal guts of a computer is not your fortay, so I’ll recommend that you have a professional install your computer memory for you.
It’s actually quite easy, and I’ll recommend the following guide, How To Install Memory, to get you started if you’d like to do this on your own.
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January 29th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Your tips are really nice. Keep on writing good literature.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
With memory being so cheap now, I recommend that you have a full 2 gigs in an XP machine or Vista, and 4 gigs if you are running Vista 64 bit (the 32 bit version may not see the full 4 gigs). I had a friend working on a Vista laptop with a Celeron M processor and 512 mb of memory. The owner couldn’t figure out why the machine would lock up after going into hibernation mode…a look at the memory usage showed all physical memory in use, plus a good chunk of the page file. Memory is the cheapest upgrade you can do and the easiest. If you can afford it, get the most your machine can handle. It will run quicker and save you time and frustration!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Hi Steve, I agree windows vista is a memory hog. Got a new HP laptop a few months ago with vista and 2 gigs of memory and I almost want to say I wish I had gotten 4 gigs. On another subject though, I got the 12 cell battery and can run the laptop with the screen bright for almost 6 hours. Now that is good battery time.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I have a new Dell desktop with 4 gigs, but I can’t tell much difference over my notebook with 2 gigs. Both are running Vista. Memory is cheap now so we might as well double up!
June 6th, 2008 at 2:38 am
When a few members of my family got Vista (and thought they were so cool), they quickly found that their RAM couldn’t handle it, and immediately came running to me for advice! LOL. Anyway, this post was spot on, thanks:)
June 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I live on my computer with my business. This post stuck with me awhile back and I put in on the backburner. Finally a client of mine installed another 1.5GB on my XP. It was a great move and I can feel the difference in how brisk my computer functions, starts up, etc. Upgrade to your maximum memory asap is one of the best ways to improve your computer, switch to firefox for browsing and that’s about all I know. but those 2 make a difference in your productivity.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I have an Asus F3F notebook and I bought it with just a gb of memory. I must say that Ihad a lot of headakes before I found out that I need more memory. Vista is very nice and now I like it very much, but it needs a lot of memory to function well.