# 512 MB to 1 GB



## Le GoogelGuRu

Hi Everyone,

Would there be a large performance difference between 512 MB and 1 GB? I have 512 MB and the computer works fine with it, but I was wondering would there be a difference in the newer and high-end games if I had a 1GB stick instead of 512MB? 

Should I upgrade in terms of Vista being released soon (well, not really soon, but you know what I mean...).

So... what are your opinions on this?


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## Geoff

There would be a significant improvement in most tasks.  But it wont make much of a difference in games since anything that you play with your integrated graphics probably dont even use 512mb of  ram.


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## Le GoogelGuRu

Okay, thank you!


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## terpsjohn

i agree, making the move up to 1gig def improves the speed and performance of every day tasks.  I just did it to my shitty lenovo work laptop, but it was worth it for sure.


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## OvenMaster

I noticed a difference right away. Faster program loading, less swapfile thrashing, faster CD and DVD burns. No such thing as too much RAM.
Tom


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## terpsjohn

furthermore, i'm using a virtualization solution (Parallels Workstation), and with the big virtual hard drives, the 1gig RAM helps the performance of those VMs as well.


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## Shady

OvenMaster said:
			
		

> I noticed a difference right away. Faster program loading, less swapfile thrashing,* faster CD and DVD burns. *No such thing as too much RAM.
> Tom


what ?


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## diduknowthat

shadyi said:
			
		

> what ?



that's really not helping here...

and yes, get a gig of ram, that's pretty much the standard right now


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## APM98

> but I was wondering would there be a difference in the newer and high-end games if I had a 1GB stick instead of 512MB?



The games would load faster, lol.  Something I hate waiting for lol.


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## OvenMaster

shadyi said:
			
		

> what ?


Yes. When burning CDs, I shaved like 5 minutes off, and with DVDs, it takes around 10-15 minutes less, now that I have 1GB of RAM. See, I use Nero, and verify files after burning. When verifying, at least 600-700MB of my RAM is used. WinRam Turbo Free shows RAM usage. When I had only 512MB, there was a lot of hard drive thrashing when verifying. Now? Hardly any at all, and the entire burn/verify cycle is measurably shorter. The only thing I did was double my RAM. 

Any further questions?

Tom


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## emaN resU

OvenMaster said:
			
		

> I noticed a difference right away. Faster program loading, less swapfile thrashing, faster CD and DVD burns. No such thing as too much RAM.
> Tom



Not completely rigth.
You can indeed get to much memory in for example Windows XP: 2GB of memory can make the system unstable, then you must make some sligtly changes in BIOS. Anything over 2GB memory in windows XP would not make any difference, in some cases it would simply be to much.


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## Le GoogelGuRu

liuliuboy said:
			
		

> that's really not helping here...
> 
> and yes, get a gig of ram, that's pretty much the standard right now


I might consider that.. but I think 512mb is more of a standard for office users, and I'm kinda between office-and-gamer...


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## justinone

Hey, i have an ATI Radeon 9600XT and 1GB ram and i gotta say the desktop performance is very nice, but my games lag?!?! its very frustrating. I even broght another 1GB to see if it improves me games but i hav not yet got it. Do you think it will help?


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## OvenMaster

emaN resU said:
			
		

> Not completely rigth.
> You can indeed get to much memory in for example Windows XP: 2GB of memory can make the system unstable, then you must make some sligtly changes in BIOS. Anything over 2GB memory in windows XP would not make any difference, in some cases it would simply be to much.


Is this why XP allocates 2GB per program launched? Or why my motherboard wasn't designed to accept more than 2GB? I'll admit I'm occasionally still thinking of PCs when 256MB was considered an astronomical amount of RAM; my backup PC has just 96MB.
Tom


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## terpsjohn

I remember when I went to college and got a new Gateway desktop that has 14.3 gigs of harddisk space...wow, if I had that now I don't know what I'd do.


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## Le GoogelGuRu

I remember when you had 32MB of RAM you could run almost anything at top speed, lol!


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## Burgerbob

Look at the old rig in my sig! I could play total annihilation on that at 600*800 no problem... dont know how i did.


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## terpsjohn

ah the good ol' days.  I'm longing for my Apple IIE...


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## Geoff

justinone said:
			
		

> Hey, i have an ATI Radeon 9600XT and 1GB ram and i gotta say the desktop performance is very nice, but my games lag?!?! its very frustrating. I even broght another 1GB to see if it improves me games but i hav not yet got it. Do you think it will help?


It may improve the game very slightly, but the reason your games are laggy are because of your video card.


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## Motoxrdude

When i upgraded my comp from 512MB to 1GB didnt notice a huge performance gain. But using large applications, or many applications, you can tell significantly the performance gains.


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## ChrisDVD

I use lots of Abode pages (for homeschool) and they are quite 'delicate'. sometime the whole thing will mess up, so i had to re-open them,. lpus, sometime with my school, i have about 6-7 pages open, so you guys think i should go from 512 MB to a gig? 

Chris


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## terpsjohn

what do you guys recommend for upgrading to 1gig.  like what brand?  and is it easy to install in a laptop on my own?  could I figure it out?


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## LITHIUM

I would definetely recommend upgrading to 1 GIG of RAM! You will be able to see a huge difference in performance. I would go with some Corsair or Kingsont, IMO those are the best two brands


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## Arm_Pit3

[-0MEGA-] said:
			
		

> There would be a significant improvement in most tasks.  But it wont make much of a difference in games since anything that you play with your integrated graphics probably dont even use 512mb of  ram.


Thats not quite true, world of warcraft could, and you can play that on fairly high settings with a low video card. just without the shaders. I used to play it all the time with my MX440, and i saw a bigger inprovment wth more ram, then when i upgraded my video card. Ctrl-Alt-Dlt during a game of it and look to see how much ram is being used and you will be amazed  My sister only has 512Mb yet its useing over 600MB which means its working on vitrual ram just to work.


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## SC7

1 Gig of ram in the last two years has gone from a good idea to stay ahead, to almost neccisary.  You'll need it if you plan to go to Vista.  Even still, Xp will perform way better, as NT was utilized to use RAM higher than 512, unlike 9x based kernels.  So yes, go to the 1 gig.  I'm goin from 768 to 1 gig myself, I'm ordering some RAM tonight.


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## terpsjohn

is 1gig going to help improve my toshiba laptop that is almost 3 years old tho?


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## fade2green514

ChrisDVD said:
			
		

> I use lots of Abode pages (for homeschool) and they are quite 'delicate'. sometime the whole thing will mess up, so i had to re-open them,. lpus, sometime with my school, i have about 6-7 pages open, so you guys think i should go from 512 MB to a gig?
> 
> Chris


YES. lol
you could have a pentium 3 at 1.2ghz...
but as long as the system has enough memory, it makes it usable..
i guess my point is more memory (RAM that is...) makes a system last longer.


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## ChrisDVD

nice! i better start working this summer tho....cause i'm broke  
But soon i wint!!!!  haha
i wa slaso thinking o 2gigs, but not sure yet.....see how it is going financialy!

Chris


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## SC7

ChrisDVD said:
			
		

> nice! i better start working this summer tho....cause i'm broke
> But soon i wint!!!!  haha
> i wa slaso thinking o 2gigs, but not sure yet.....see how it is going financialy!
> 
> Chris


I only see 2 gigs as neccisary for extreme gamers and professional media editors (Photoshop, Premier), for most of us users, I don't thin 2 gigs offers really any noticable increase in performance at all.


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## ChrisDVD

o, well, i tihnk this is what i will do..... add a 512 MB stick in one slot, thus leaving one empty..in a few years, like 3 maybe, i will by a whole gig stick, and add. By that time we will need 2   
Chris


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## SC7

ChrisDVD said:
			
		

> o, well, i tihnk this is what i will do..... add a 512 MB stick in one slot, thus leaving one empty..in a few years, like 3 maybe, i will by a whole gig stick, and add. By that time we will need 2
> Chris


3 years from now won't you have a new machine, obsoleting the DDR in your current rig?


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## terpsjohn

how much does a 512MB upgrade usually cost, and where's a good place to get it?


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## Geoff

terpsjohn said:
			
		

> how much does a 512MB upgrade usually cost, and where's a good place to get it?


about $30-$35, depending on the speed and where you get it.

Newegg is the best place i think to get memory, you can get a stick of DDR400 512MB for $33.


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## fade2green514

SC7 said:
			
		

> I only see 2 gigs as neccisary for extreme gamers and professional media editors (Photoshop, Premier), for most of us users, I don't thin 2 gigs offers really any noticable increase in performance at all.


this is true as of the present...
2gb is only really utilized if you have a real lot of applications opened...
but it'll still last a LOT longer
1gb is fine though 
2gb isn't necessary, but who needs it to be necessary?? lol

btw yea its pretty cheap nowadays... payed $200 for my ram though 
i wanted a ton of super fast stuff though.. plus it normally goes for $280


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## SC7

I think the bare minimum now is 512.  256 is just plain unstable nowadays.


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## ChrisDVD

yeah, i go on my gramps' computer sometime (Acer sapire soething) it has a 256 MB RAM. i get nutss!!!!! it is so slooow! i can't barely breath. When i get back home i jsut have to cuddle my HP (512 RAM) (L) 

256 still works, but they hardly sell PCs with it anymore...
but don't you guys tihnk that in 3 years we will need 2 gigs?

Chris


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## SC7

ChrisDVD said:
			
		

> yeah, i go on my gramps' computer sometime (Acer sapire soething) it has a 256 MB RAM. i get nutss!!!!! it is so slooow! i can't barely breath. When i get back home i jsut have to cuddle my HP (512 RAM) (L)
> 
> 256 still works, but they hardly sell PCs with it anymore...
> but don't you guys tihnk that in 3 years we will need 2 gigs?
> 
> Chris


I think in 3 years, 2 gigs will become the mid range offering, not the neccesity.  And yes, 256 is so slow that it sometimes causes the system to lock up.


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## ChrisDVD

but dont you think when they had the 32 MB they thought that was pretty good?  and look now, 32 is not enough!

Chris


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## Arm_Pit3

SC7 said:
			
		

> I think in 3 years, 2 gigs will become the mid range offering, not the neccesity.  And yes, 256 is so slow that it sometimes causes the system to lock up.



256 is not to slow and to cause your system to lock up if you are doing normal things, and you dont have a bunch of crap installed on your comptuer. A clean install of windows with notheing else will ussaly get you around 98MB of memory usage. This is with windows XP which i asusme is what you wewre refering too.


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## ChrisDVD

well, what we are saying is that an 256 is a bit slow nowdays, it will be ok ofr normal stuff, but not too many people do normal stuff   lol

Chris


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## SC7

My Xp installs can't run well at all on 256.


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## Geoff

My old compaq only had 256MB ram, and it ran XP Home fine.  I was also able to play UT2004 with it.


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## SC7

[-0MEGA-] said:
			
		

> My old compaq only had 256MB ram, and it ran XP Home fine.  I was also able to play UT2004 with it.


Yes, but how well.  I'm not saying it can't be used, I'm just saying it offers performance which shouldn't be acceptable for this day and age.


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## ChrisDVD

like my gramsp still can play games....but it take a bit more time to response....256 is still ok i guess..
Chris


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## terpsjohn

do computers even come w/ 256 anymore, or is 512 the minimum?


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## eyesofvenus

I know what you are saying. My laptop only has 248MB(8MB shared with graphics  lol) and that ran XP alright i suppose, but then when i installed Service pack 2 my comp slowed right down. I think the service pack 2 require a further 30-40Mb of RAM so at this stage my comp was really starting to feel the pressure, thats when i went and made my new desktop


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## OvenMaster

terpsjohn said:
			
		

> do computers even come w/ 256 anymore, or is 512 the minimum?


Yup, cheapo boxes still do. Saw an eMachines at Wal-Mart last week (W3118) that comes with just 256MB. Some Dells do as well.
Tom


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## terpsjohn

wow, that's surprising.  ha, plus I didn't even know walmart sold computers...guess they sell everything.  i just don't understand someone's use for a 256 box.


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## ChrisDVD

Acer is the most common one with 256 i beleive.....lots of their PC are still like that. Dellm i'm not sure. HP are about 1-2 GB now  

Chris


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## SC7

My aunt just got a Dell that has 256, and it runs like crap.  She knows a little about comps, so she's gonna install 512 more for 768.  So Dell does ship with 256 ram.  It can be used for light word processing and email, maybe some media playback, but those things will be slow and painful to use at that speed.  Not to mention system startup and responsiveness times will likewise be compromised as well.


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## eyesofvenus

Dells that have celeron cpu's usually ship with 256Mb, not all of them with celeron's though. And in them PC's you usually get 80Gb hard drive, onboard sound/video, 15" monitor(sometimes CRT), DVD-ROM + CDRW


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## SC7

The lowest HDD I see shipping is 60 GB.  I don't know why they don't do 40GB, but no big deal, if they charge the same, 40's not really enough these days.


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## fade2green514

yea 256mb is about enough to play music... and windows XP.
512mb is probably minimum if you want to be productive with your pc.
i suggest 2gb though, you can disable the pf then and never run out of memory (almost never.)
i actually disabled the pf one time and it was asking for more memory while i had utorrent, itunes, aim and was playing quake 4 all at once.


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## apj101

512 if ok for moderate gaming. 2gb is overkill for all but gaming meat heads, and those who need it for dedicated tasks (you'd know if that you you).
1gb is still a heaft amount of ram.


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## terpsjohn

I had an acer aspire (thing was like green and purple) that had 256MB when I was in high school years ago.  Thing was slow.  Can't imagine using anything like it now.


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