256 ram v 512 ram?

[smudge]

If you were to use a PC with 256 RAM, then use a 512 RAM, would you notice a 'substantial' difference in performance. I know the latter has more memory space, but would the speed be 'that' much more noticable?

 

The PC would be for general home use, surfing & Sims games. Bearing in mind the latter would probably cost approx �200 more to buy, which would be best for this purpose? Thank you.

[ursula62]

Hi smudge

You would definitely notice the difference if you were using the PC for video intensive gaming.

But for general purposes, e.g. typing news letters / school homework / surfing the web / using a chat programme / keeping home accounts etc you wouldn't see any real difference.

With computers though, it's best to buy the highest spec one you can afford as the minute you buy these days they are virtually out of date!

[Chillum]

an extra 256 Ram would only cost �20-�30 to buy on it's own, so I don't see why it'd cost �200 more. Why not buy the one with 256 and add another 256 yourself.

[smudge]

Thanks for your replies. I realise it's best off to buy more RAM, but is was the difference in price that is off putting for her.

 

The PC in question is an HP Pavilion P4. One model is 256 RAM -160GB @ �499 & the other is 512 RAM - 160GB @ �699.

[PatTheRat]

surely the couldnt charge an extra �200 just for that ram. Is there anything else extra included with that package?

[honkytonkman]

In my experience Windows XP likes at least 512mb RAM to run at a decent pace. But these days I'd have thought that 1Gb would be about right for most things, unless you're heavily into graphics etc where you'd need at least 2Gb.

[tomd]

I think that's a little excessive. I have 512 ram and don't find this to be lacking, but if the additional ram really is all that's included for the extra �200 it's a completely unreasonable price increase. Chillum's got the prices right, and ram's not hard to install at all.

[smudge]

Thank you for all your replies.

 

My daughter is going for the first option of an HP Pavilion A740 - P4 - 160GB - 256RAM @ �499 & will upgrade if & when necessary. Apart from the RAM, the next model up doesn't offer that much more for the price, so it would be silly to do so. So thank you for that bit of advice Chillum, tomd & Chums!

[ChrisZ]

If you ever have the choice of a slightly faster CPU or extra ram ... go for the extra ram every time.

When the physical RAM is all use up, a computer temporarily swaps the oldest program or data back to hard disk by using the systems allocated swap space ... once the current operation is complete and you return to the 'old' program it then has to be recovered from the swap space to continue ... as the hard disk is a mechanical device it is much slower than the purely electrical ram ... this can slow down system performance. Sometimes even a single program requires huge amounts of ram (e.g. video editing) so sue of the swap space is un avoidable.

Also keeping your hard disk error free and defragmented will help the system performance... although please remember to do an error check and backup your data BEFORE running a defrag ... I have seen a defrag completely destroy hard disks on several occasions.

So RAM means you can load more data into an individual program (e.g. video editing) or run more programs side by side (e.g. keep your email program running while editing a document and a spreadsheet and have a graphics program running and browsing the internet etc).

[smudge]

Thanks for that info Chrisz.

[ben_wade]

When i was using 256MB ram i found that the pc had acceptable performance but not running at its full potential.  I also found that performance would gradually decrease over time.

The only way to get the performance back was to reformat about every 2 months.

I've gone to 1GB since because i played games that used upto 1GB and it is alot faster all round than 256.  Most of the time it doesn't use more  than 512MB but almost always using more than 256 so deffinatly go for 512.

512 should mean you're using electronic memory all the time and not mechanical memory therefore its alot faster and doesn't mess up whats on the hard drive which is what i suspect was my problem

[smudge]

Thanks Ben - I'll take that on board.