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Additional RAM

1K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Dianne2000 
#1 ·
Because I do a lot of recording music using my CD-RW burner and work with graphics, I'd like to add additional RAM. Currently, I have 128 MB of RAM (SDRAM) on a 700 Mhz Pentium III(and 100 BUS) with Windows 98 SE. (I made a mistake in not getting 133 BUS!)

I'm thinking of adding 256 RAM, putting it in the first slot because it's the fastest RAM, and the 128 MB RAM will be in the 2nd slot. How much RAM will I actually end up with performance-wise as a result of this combination?

I'm wondering if this will be significantly better than just adding another 128 MB of RAM? I only have 3 slots that hold 1 stick of RAM each, and I may add more RAM again in the future.

Also, what are the most reliable brands of RAM to get? Micron? Kingston?

Thanks for your comments!
 
#2 ·
Dianne2000
It wouldn't hurt to upgrade now to the 256 ram board.
I am currently running 512mb which is all windows will accept due to vcache considerations.
I probably use 284 out of my 512 under heavy load.
Always put the largest board first.
As far as best manufacturer its a horse apiece you get what you pay for.
When you buy 133's and install on a 100 bus thats all of that card it will use.
 
#3 ·
Thanks, Davey, for your advice. From the info I've been gathering, probably anything over a total of 256 MB of RAM isn't going to improve computer performance much, except perhaps for video. I use video infrequently now, but that could change in the future. Thanks again!
 
#5 ·
Hi Davey! From the info I've been gathering, others agree with you that anything over 256 RAM is pretty much a waste of money --except video may run faster. I also understand that one can overclock and tweak one's computer in various ways to increase performance. I don't feel that I'm that knowledgeable about how to do such things correctly, so I'd better stick with just adding some additional RAM. Thanks again!
 
#6 ·
Davey, 'sorry for my duplicate posts to you. It's a long story, and I haven't been able to delete my last post.

John, thank you for mentioning tigerdirect.com. I've read mixed reviews about the quality of their products, but they do have low prices compared to their competition. I think I'm going to go with Crucial for both quality and good pricing. I understand that quality of RAM is important and can vary among brands. I appreciate your trying to help! :)
 
#7 ·
If you run many applications at the same time the more ram the better. I used to work at an internet help desk and we'd have 9 programs up, running, but minimized constantly on our machines. Most of our machines had 512 RAM installed. There was a noticable difference between the machines that only had 256.
 
#11 ·
If by graphics you are talking Photoshop you need all of the RAM your board will support. I have 512Mb and could use more but the MB is limited to that. I work with fairly large images – my film scanner puts out a 30Mb image at best quality. If you work with smaller images you could get by with less, but you have to limit the history. My next MB will support more RAM.

One of the boards that is big on Photoshop had everyone run some tests. It was mostly to compare Macs with PCs, but the results were informative. Everyone downloaded the same image and ran certain filters and processes. Among the PCs the results just about directly reflected the processor speed except for the poor souls that had only 256Mb of RAM. Their results were pitiful by comparison. The newer Macs with dual processors turned in the best times as Photoshop has a lot of Mac optimization built into the Mac version.

There is no vcache limitation to the amount of RAM you can have on the computer. If you actually cache over 512Mb you can run out of memory addresses but it is easy to just limit the vcache to 512Mb. Many people with well over 512Mb have never limited the cache and never had problems – it is really hard to actually cache over 512Mb. Rebooting completely flushes the cache and doing heavy work in a program like Photoshop will flush it as well.

Crucial is good RAM. There isn’t that much price difference between PC100 and PC133 RAM, but any difference would be a waste of money for you. PC 133 is not going to run any faster and by the time you buy your next computer PC133 will be obsolete.
 
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