RAM speed (pc2100/2700) qusetion

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97tbird

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Greetings !!

I currently have 512MB+128MB (608MB)DDR 266(PC2100)SDRAM on my Compaq Presario. Homepage says I can go up to 1GB...so I'm thinking of yanking out the 128MB (oem) and plugging in another 512MB there, to get upto 1024MB total. would this make a difference? is it worth the $35.00?

ALSO: I notice that DDR333(PC2700) RAM is cheaper than PC2100 RAM (probably because they don't make much pc2100 anymore...). AFAIK, DDR ram is backwards compatible. so If i get a PC2700 ram stick, will it work in my system OK? (the other existing 512MB is PC2100, which is the suggected/recomended speed)

Thanks a bunc
smile.gif
 
Yeah, rule of thumb is that you can go backwards, not forwards. That is, PC2100 would not work in a computer requiring 2700, but 2700 should work fine in your 2100 PC. Like uconn said, it'll just run at a slower rate.

About performance, the gain you'll see depends on how much RAM you're actually using. Right click the taskbar and bring up the Task Manager (this assumes you're not using Win 9x). Look at the Commit Charge at the bottom right of the window. If the first number is <= your physical RAM, you don't really need more memory. Check this when you're using the the computer fairly heavily. The second number of the Commit Charge is physical RAM + swap space, so don't pay too much attention to it. The first number, compared to your actual RAM, is what you're interested in.
 
I don't think it will help much if you're running Win95/98 but would probably be a benefit if you have WinXP. 95/98 weren't the best at utilizing memory.
 
Win 95/98 has a big problem running more than 512mg of memory. It cant assign addresses properly and will sometimes just not see anymore than 512mg, no matter what you put in it. XP does not have that limitation.

I run 1.5gig of memory in my computer. The speed increase when i went from 512mb to 1gig was very noticeable. When I upped it to 1.5gig, the only change was it loaded very large programs a tad faster. I think 1 gig is the sweet spot for winxp.

Also if your computer is slow, turn off all those things running in the task bar. And check for spyware. Spybot, adaware, and A square are good programs for that.

Dan
 
quote:
I've noticed a 25% increase in speed soley by adding a second, identical DIMM to allow DDR to do it's thing. Well worth the $$ IMO.
Click to expand...
But IIRC, this only applies if your motherboard supports a dual-channel configuration.
 
Thanks guys.

I'm using WinXP (home ed), and use Adaware, and Spybot.

Matt-S:
Thanks for the commit-charge tip.
I checked it just now, with 3 tabs in FF open, winamp running, and another browser open, but idle...I don't think this is the heaviest use I put the pc thru (think of AVG scanning, things being downloaded etc).

anyway, with that situation, the commit charge (1st number) IS smaller than the pysical RAM I have now, but I wonder if it was bigger/smaller or = to my phys. RAM BEFORE I went from 128MB to 640MB (actually 604MB usable, 'cause on-board video "steals" some RAM), which made a huge difference in speed(i didn't know to check it then).

I guess I'll just swap out the existing 128MB with a 512MB anyway, which would get me 1024MB, and see what happens...(I hear the hard-drive churning a lot sometimes, which somebosy told me is a sign that the pc can use some more RAM..i don't know if that's true or not..)

wonder what I can do with the oem Compaq 128MB RAM card which I won't be suing anymore...any ideas?

[ January 31, 2006, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: 97tbird ]
 
quote:
wonder what I can do with the oem Compaq 128MB RAM card which I won't be suing anymore...any ideas?
Click to expand...
At my job I have an entire box of those same 128MB Compaq RAM chips after upgrading many older Compaq computers.

I find it ironic that something that was so "in demand" just a few years ago, has little to no purpose nor value now.
 
depends what you use your pc for, if you use a lot of programs at once, photoshop, video editing, etc you will notice and need it... yes t's backward compatible
 
yeah, I use JASC painshop sometimes and it's a HUGE memory hog.
I just tested the commit charge again with that paintshop open, AVG running and all else in the previous post running...things slowed down considerably, enough that i could notice. printing something would probably slow it down a bit more...
 
If you're planning on keeping that PC for some time, I'd say $35 is worth it to do this upgrade.

I'm actually thinking of doing the same, although notebook RAM is a bit more expensive than that.
 
also consider rebooting more often if you dont do it all that much right now. i try to at least once a day, varies depending on what i am doing.
 
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