SillyDog701

[James]

Here's a link to my computer specs: HP Pavilion a720n Desktop PC - Product Specifications

Currently I have 512 MB of RAM. You can see for the specs (two slots) that I can upgrade to 2 GB (although I seriously doubt this... I think 1 GB is more realistic).

1. Would you advise a 512 MB upgrade to bring it to 1 GB.. or 256 MB?
2. What effect would an upgrade of this magnitude have on the computer? Would it simply mean I could have more open windows or would I experience a "faster" computer?
3. Finally, I saw from Crucial that I could save about $25 on a stick with them as opposed to purchasing it direct from HP. Here's the site. I "think" it's the correct one for my motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-LA)

Crucial recommends

[Edit by profman: Antony has banned the use of tinyurl at SillyDog due to potential misuse. Please see [sdt=6375]Do NOT post with Tiny URL, Snip URL, or similar[/sdt]. I went ahead and deleted the tinyurl addresses that were placed above and replaced them with the same links as below.]

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[James]

Not sure why the above URL's are not trustworthy, but here are the full URL's:

HP Pavilion a720n Desktop PC - Product Specifications

and

Crucial recommends

[Edit by profman: Applied BBCode to URL in this post. 8-13-2005]

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[Antony]

Here's a link to my computer specs: HP Pavilion a720n Desktop PC - Product Specifications

Currently I have 512 MB of RAM. You can see for the specs (two slots) that I can upgrade to 2 GB (although I seriously doubt this... I think 1 GB is more realistic).

It is possible to get to the 2GB. It could well be that fact that your computer was made, 1GB PC2700 RAM module was not available.

All you need to do is to buy RAM that's PC2700 (DDR-333) and 184 pins. You can get it from anywhere. My recommendation is from your local computer shops operated by Chinese guy. Ask them if those don't fit, would they replace to another model or not.

1. Would you advise a 512 MB upgrade to bring it to 1 GB.. or 256 MB?

Of course 512 MB to make it 1GB.

2. What effect would an upgrade of this magnitude have on the computer? Would it simply mean I could have more open windows or would I experience a "faster" computer?

ideally, both.

3. Finally, I saw from Crucial that I could save about $25 on a stick with them as opposed to purchasing it direct from HP. Here's the site. I "think" it's the correct one for my motherboard (ASUS A7V8X-LA)

A RAM is a RAM, as long as it's the same specification.

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[James]

Thank you, Antony. I can always depend on you and others here at SilllyDog to answer even the most basic of quesitons.

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[Mandrake]

Unless you play lots of games, or use memory intensive applications like Photoshop, you're not likely to notice the difference.

Windows XP uses ~100mb of ram on it's own. I've currently got Firefox, Itunes, Mirc, MSN Messenger, Access and Word all running (along with NOD Antivirus in the background) and I've still got 200mb of free ram. You'd need quite a few more programs open to take advantage of 1GB ram.

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[James]

Thanks, Mandrake. This is exactly the kind of information for which I was searching.

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[Antony]

James,

It is always wise to get more RAM if you can afford and if you plan to use that PC longer. Newer applications will always demand more RAM.

From my experience, I noticed a huge improvement when I jump from 768 MB of RAM to 1.25 GB of RAM (max I can go), everything is a lot smoother with more RAM. I have to admit that I usually use two or more (rather) huge applications at one time. (Word, Virtual PC, Matlab and sometimes also Photoshop Elements.)

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[James]

Okay. Bottom line here is that I can certainly afford it so I guess, why not? I think I'll order the memory stick for both mine and my wife's computers (since we're both the same). Thanks.

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