how much diff more ram makes

[fookum]

i was wondering how much of a different upgrading from 512 to a gig will make? should i just buy another 512 ram stick or buy a whole gig stick?

on a side note ... what is a normal cpu temperature?

 

[kiwiguy]

Without knowing anything about your PC or Windows version, you actually ask the impossible...

But generally speaking, and assuming Windows XP, very little in the way of programs will use above 512.

I have 1 GB fitted, and right now (with several applications open) over half is free.
The latest (2003) version of Office will use it, earlier versions will not.

No such thing as a "normal" CPU temp really, you must take your room temperature as a starting point. Room temperatures can vary from (say) 10°C to 30° so if the CPU was running 25° above room temp, its a wide difference to begin with.

Mine runs about 20° - 25° above room temp, but the "on board sensors" are often wildly inaccurate as well. Can be 10° out.

 

[dobbelina]

Today i upgraded my memory from 256 to 512, it made a lot off difference !!!
However i'm not sure about the 512 to 1 gig "jump".
(planned upgrade for the future)
Before the upgrade my wm-ware was awfully slow, no more of that now

 

[golferbob]

it will make a difference but it will depend on what you are doing.

 

[brite750]

download and install Everest Home, while running your normal set of tasks, open Everest and look under "motherboard" then "memory" see what your Physical memory utilization is, if its up in the 75% range you could probably benifit from the ram upgrade
oh, and just buy a 512 stick to add to your existing, however if your mobo/cpu supports a faster speed than you have then you may want to consider getting a gig or 2x512 of the faster ram, ie if your mobo/cpu is 333fsb you will want at least PC2700 DDR333, if 400fsb, you will want PC3200 DDR400, etc.

Also, dont know what you have now?, again Everst Home, "motherbord" "SPD", under memory speed

 

[JohnWill]

Running XP, the "sweet spot" is 512mb for most users. Upgrading beyond that will yield much smaller performance increases unless you are in the small minority that actually run applications that require large amounts of memory.