View Full Version : is it worth it to buy more ram?
matt198992
10-25-2007, 10:41 PM
well, i have a 512 total ram in my hp pavilion zv5346us laptop, a quarter of which is take up to run the computer. so i have about 330 ram free. i love to play games though and sometimes they run really slow. i have been doing some research and from what i can tell, its not the video card that slows things down, its the amount of ram. for instance, tomb raider anniversary takes 512mb RAM to play, and i have EXACTLY that much, so it runs choppy and slow. i currently have 2 256 mb ram cards in my laptop with 0 slots free. each slot can hold up to 1gb ram each, totalling to 2gb. it currently has 2 ddr pc2700 ram cards in it. from what i can tell from ebay and amazon and all is that if i want to max it out to 2gb, it will cost about $110. i DO have the money if i wanted to buy them and im thinking i do. my laptop will most likely accompany me for many more years, since this is my last year in high school and do plan to go to college; dont have the money to buy a brand new one and would cost much less to upgrade this one.
so if anyone is really good at computers, can you tell me if it IS really worth the $110 to buy the 2gb ram? i think if i buy ram, i will spring for the most while i do still have the money (and dont blow it on something else xD).
your opinions? (if you dont know what ram is, please do not bother posting "i dont know" =/ )
save your money for the new PT collecters edition set. it'll be worth it.
matt198992
10-25-2007, 10:52 PM
xD
nah. i have extra money. last birthday was a good one xD
anyway, about ram please? not PT =(
blue_moon
10-26-2007, 12:08 AM
Yes, RAM is always good, but just get 1 GB. It works fine. 2 GB is a REAL lot, yiu probably will just waste your money.
Pyrobellum
10-26-2007, 01:03 AM
1 gigs works fairly well, but I can't help but wonder if Halo PC would play with good framerate if I upgraded to 2 gigs... I think 1 gig should do you unless you plan on leaving 5+ processor-intensive programs at all times. However, If you can upgrade to 2 gigs now, it will save you some trouble later down the road, especially when games start to require a over a gig of ram. Starcraft 2 is estimated to require 1 gig of ram to play. Imagine games a few years from now.
Zwaken
10-26-2007, 01:03 AM
well, i have a 512 total ram in my hp pavilion zv5346us laptop, a quarter of which is take up to run the computer. so i have about 330 ram free. i love to play games though and sometimes they run really slow. i have been doing some research and from what i can tell, its not the video card that slows things down, its the amount of ram. for instance, tomb raider anniversary takes 512mb RAM to play, and i have EXACTLY that much, so it runs choppy and slow. i currently have 2 256 mb ram cards in my laptop with 0 slots free. each slot can hold up to 1gb ram each, totalling to 2gb. it currently has 2 ddr pc2700 ram cards in it. from what i can tell from ebay and amazon and all is that if i want to max it out to 2gb, it will cost about $110. i DO have the money if i wanted to buy them and im thinking i do. my laptop will most likely accompany me for many more years, since this is my last year in high school and do plan to go to college; dont have the money to buy a brand new one and would cost much less to upgrade this one.
so if anyone is really good at computers, can you tell me if it IS really worth the $110 to buy the 2gb ram? i think if i buy ram, i will spring for the most while i do still have the money (and dont blow it on something else xD).
your opinions? (if you dont know what ram is, please do not bother posting "i dont know" =/ )
Do you have XP or Vista? It may not sound like it matters, but it does.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 01:42 AM
i have XP
Samail
10-26-2007, 02:36 AM
In most cases, bigger is better. I'm running off of 700-some RAM. I have a good video card, but it's not running very well. My brother has 1GB of RAM, and his is a monster. Runs DOOM 3 on high easily.
DOOM 3 is my benchmark test for ALL computer performance. :) (Video, speed, sound, etc.)
matt198992
10-26-2007, 02:47 AM
lol. im THINKING i want to spring for two gig, but then i wont have too much left over for a computer game or two....
idk...
You only need one gig.
but size isn't the only thing, ram is measured ing grades of speed and type as well.
First of all, Most ram today is ddr2. You need laptop ddr2, obviously.
(I can't remember but that might be called DDR3 but any hoo)
you need to know the speed in megahertz:
the absolute lowest around right now is 400 MHrtz, lower than that is total crap, but the lowest one's most stores sell right now is 512. You can get a I gig stick of 512 for about forty bucks at a retail stare. Multiply that 1.5-2X to get the laptop price. so i would expect to see laptop 512 1 gig's runnin at about 60-80 dollars depending on where you shop. of course online may be cheaper.
other common grades include
600 MHrtz
and
800 MHrtz
I have two 1 gig 800's in my PC, cost me 75 bucks a pop, for a laptop you might be out of your price range, bbut you could find one cheap.
MHrtz does matter.
and like I said you only need One gig.
If you do decide to upgrade your memory with faster stuff, you'll have to take out both of your older sticks, in order to get the extra speed from the one new stick.
Samail
10-26-2007, 01:42 PM
In most cases, bigger is better. I'm running off of 700-some RAM. I have a good video card, but it's not running very well. My brother has 1GB of RAM, and his is a monster. Runs DOOM 3 on high easily.
DOOM 3 is my benchmark test for ALL computer performance. :) (Video, speed, sound, etc.)
Sorry, forgot to mention that with the system of mine, it's not running nearly as well as it should. So there's something to ponder over.
And yes, there are many many factors for system performance. Skix's info should be useful.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 03:05 PM
okay. maybe i will just spring for a one gig 600 or 800 mhrtz card instead of 2. that way i have that one and free slot if/when i decide to buy the second one. but i will make about half my money back selling the two cards i have in it right now, so thats not bad either. if you think a 1gig will be more than enough, i will go for that then; but i would rather have the highest speed. as i said, im big into games and PC games are getting much more detailed (catching up with ps3 graphics xD), so i think i would go for the 800mhrtz if i can find one. that way i have enough left over for a pc game or two xD. i have $180 total that is burning a hole in my pocket and i think upgrading my computer is a good investment, as i will have it through college.
on a side note... my hard drive is 37.2 GB, how much would it cost to add more storage space on a laptop? space is getting scarce on my compy =(
edit
thanks for warning me about the speeds btw...i wouldnt have noticed that. there are many 333mhrtz cards on google and all. lol. i guess the better the card, the harder it is to find x(
i cant seem to find ANY 800mhz ddr pc2700 ram cards. all i see are 333mhzs (DDR333) if you know a site that sells them, please post?
Pyrobellum
10-26-2007, 03:14 PM
Your best bet (least expensive) is probably an external hard drive. I'm unfamiliar with upgrading memory capacity, but I'm looking at an external hard drive. Mainly for movies, as that's the prime thing taking up space, but for you you might be able to simply install stuff on your external hard drive if you are willing to have that plugged in while you're gaming.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 03:32 PM
yeah...i have been looking at them too...lol. outta my price range atm. =P
XRaiderV1
10-26-2007, 06:04 PM
internal drives are always a good investment, my internal 160gb hard drive cost only $80.
have no clue on the price of internal laptop drives, mine's a desktop model.
blue_moon
10-26-2007, 07:52 PM
I have a 250 GB external hard drive that works well, only $80.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 08:02 PM
skix, i have 2 256mb 333ghz ram cards in my computer atm and i cant find any DDR pc2700 1gb cards with over 333mhz. so i think i will just go with that.
Zwaken
10-26-2007, 09:48 PM
i have XP
Then you're good. You dont need to upgrade at all.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 10:07 PM
Then you're good. You dont need to upgrade at all.
uhh....yea i do. i have tried tomb raider aniversery on it and it is slow as hell. what does windows xp have to do with anything? that doesnt mean its a super fast computer and can play great games.... =/
skix, if you have time, could you help me out with tomb raider anniversary? i dont know what exactly my computer needs to handle it. i believe it said it need 512 mb ram, so that could be a main reason...but could it be my graphics card as well? =/
blue_moon
10-26-2007, 10:09 PM
Yeah, buy between 512 MB of ram to 1 GB. Anywhere in that range is good enough. I have only 1 GB and I can run a lot of games at once.
matt198992
10-26-2007, 10:58 PM
lol. okay then. i will get a one gig card then pretty soon...
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