Ram

[PartisanUSA]

Hey all, Im looking to upgrade to 2 GHz of RAM, I currently have 512, I was wondering if anyone could tell me a good source to buy whatever I need to, and tell me what I have to do as I have never done this before.

Edit: Also, i currently have a NVIDIA GeForce Fx 5200 128 MB, and Im looknig to upgrade that as well to a 256 MB, what is a good video card that has a reasonable price?

THanks a lot,
Partisan

[Shaun]

Well, RAM is more complicated than simply the amount of it, for example is it DDR or DDR2 RAM that you want?
What latency RAM do you want? How much sticks and overall amount does your Mobo support?
And on the GPU, the FX5200 is pretty crappy, so you are right in wanting to upgrade it, but is your mobo PCIe or AGP? And what CPU do you have?
Whats your bduget?

[PartisanUSA]

I have a 4800C Dell 2.8 P4 setup, and I have no idea about the RAM with the DDR or DDR2 or any of that stuff, same for the PCIe or AGP.

[Shaun]

Well you had better check that out first before you upgrade, and a P4 isnt exactly brilliant either for games, so an upgrade there is quite important.

[PartisanUSA]

Any idea where I go to figure that stuff out?

[Shaun]

Yes, download CPU-Z

[PartisanUSA]

I have a DDR, which is better, a DDR or a DDR 2?

I have an APG v3

What do you mean by "How much sticks and overall amount does your Mobo support?"

And whats the best graphics card I can get in the 200$ range?

[Arakorn]

You checked the wrong AGP, it is not the speed, it is the version. But if it's 3 you should be able to get a AGP 8X. A 7600GT would probably be good, and they come in under 200€/$. DDR 2 is newer, so get regular DDR. And I bet your MoBo can support 3 DDR's at least, so you could get one gig and a half gig.

[krazykarl]

if you do not know what kind of ram you have, you can either find out what type and speed you need and buy it, or just take it into a shop and they will tell you, install it and then you can pay them.

[PartisanUSA]

how much do you think it would come to for them to install another 1.5 gigs of RAM and the GeForce 7600?

I know the GeForce is about 200

[Arakorn]

Are you buying a 7600 GT or GS? GT is the better, Gs is the more budget. I have a GS btw...

[AlfonsoVIII]

Also, check the number of RAM slots, so you do not buy RAM you cannot fit. Hopefully your Dell is not one of the models that you have to buy their RAM and such, I hate working of Dell computers.

[krazykarl]

you will most likely have to scrapp your existing ram, and get 2 1gb sticks.

[PartisanUSA]

How do I figure out how many slots I have?
For the CPU-Z thing, it says for the channel # is is dual, so I probably only have two.
ALso, how much does a 1gb stick go for?

[krazykarl]

you will either have 2 or 4 in a dual chanel board, meaning your RAM must be installed in pairs. RAM prices vary depending on how low latency, type and speed of the memory.

[Incinerate_IV]

2 gigs of ram vs 1 gig make no difference at all. Just get another 512 stick and use the rest on a good graphics card, at least that way you can get a pretty noticeable difference.

[krazykarl]

2 gigs of ram vs 1 gig make no difference at all. Just get another 512 stick and use the rest on a good graphics card, at least that way you can get a pretty noticeable difference.

For most people probably not, but I noticed a nice difference. Mainly because at some points my sys uses just over 1 gb, and the extra gb means that the system practically never hits the page file. The big spot this comes into play is if you are downloading large (legal) files on bittorrent and trying to play games at the same time.

[PartisanUSA]

really? 2 gigs vs 1 wont make a difference, why is that?

And my budget for a graphics card is around 300, what would be a good bet?

[Incinerate_IV]

I noticed a pretty big difference when I upgraded from 512mb to 1 gig, but when I upgraded to 2 gigs I was pretty dissappointed. A better graphics card is a much better choice since you can actually feel the difference. He is upgrading his PC for gaming.

I download stuff on bittorrent while playing games at the same time too, and 2 gigs don't help much. Bittorrent don't use that much memory.

[krazykarl]

I noticed a pretty big difference when I upgraded from 512mb to 1 gig, but when I upgraded to 2 gigs I was pretty dissappointed. A better graphics card is a much better choice since you can actually feel the difference. He is upgrading his PC for gaming.

I download stuff on bittorrent while playing games at the same time too, and 2 gigs don't help much. Bittorrent don't use that much memory.

What client do you use? I am using the built in one in opera, and it chews around 200mb when dloading 4 or 5 things. Add that to the stupid logitech bluetooth crap I have to run for my kbrd+mouse, the general windows stuff ~250mb and the ~400mb running RTW (modded) and a couple of other things. and im over 1gb.