Until the middle of last year, I had been working on a 400 MHz computer since 1999. Finally, memory and processing constraints forced me to upgrade the system. I picked up a nice 1.8 GHz processor, motherboard and box for around $100, then added 512 Mb memory. I also got around to installing the 80 Gb hard drive that I'd picked up for a song 3 months before, but had been too lazy to install. Oh, and my mother bought me a high end video card for my birthday. Total cost(to me) for the upgrade: about $200-$250. Not too shabby.

Anyway, this article provides you with some risk/reward insight should you get the hankering to rev up your PC. Excerpt:

You can never be too rich, too smart, or have too much RAM--especially if you run Windows XP. Before you consider any other upgrade, make sure your system is packing at least 512MB of system RAM--and even more if you do things like play games or work with digital images and video. Unlike many upgrades, additional system RAM affects virtually every aspect of PC performance. Windows will load faster, applications will pop up quicker, and everything from gaming to media playback will run more smoothly.

The good news is, RAM is cheap. You can pick up a full gigabyte of fast DDR SDRAM for less than $200, and 512MB modules can be had for less than $100. The bad news? RAM is confusing. There are many types of system memory, from RAMBUS modules used in early Pentium 4 systems, to the DDR and DDR2 SDRAM favored in AMD systems and contemporary Pentium-based PCs. Check your documentation carefully to make sure the RAM you buy is a proper match for what's in your system. In fact, if you are adding RAM to what's already in your PC, it's a good idea to use memory from the same vendor so you can reduce the chance of a conflict.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 04:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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