Remember Memory?

[THEpiGUY]

Okay, so I'm thinking maybe this Processor: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2905661&CatId=2328

It looks like I can add a ton of RAM with this; but as THEpiGUY aptly pointed out there's no use in paying for memory that my system won't use. So I don't want to go overboard on the memory but I also don't mind paying $50 or better to make sure I have all the memory I could possibly need. I've seen some 2GB DDR2 memory kits for around $45 and that'd be fine with me. What do you guys think?

That's an excellent processor there, you should see a dramatic difference in speed if I'm not mistaken.

And yeah, if you're fine with spending the extra money for the RAM, that'll eliminate that as limiting the speed of your computer. 2/3GB will give you plenty of headroom if you want to be safe, so it's not a bad idea at all if you're willing to spend. And by the way, 2204.7MHz is good. I'm glad you can see an improvement.

 

[hobbesent]

I really appreciate all the sound advice. Once my Xmas TD cards get here I'll be sure to get that processor. I'd go to 3 GB RAM if XP and my system will take it - what do you think? I'm also wondering -- if I go with a higher Mhz processor will I see a dramatic improvement beyond the processor I'm eying or am I good just going with that? Sorry for all the semi-redundant questions but I just want to make sure I'm getting as much as I can get without having to mess with it for awhile.

I also found out my biggest memory hog: When I load my large-formats in Photoshop MaxMem says I'm down to 12% to 15% free memory. I have a lot of these so I'm all about juicing my system up to increase its speed as much as possible.

Thanks again for all your help, particularly you THEpiGUY! Out of curiosity, what type of industry are you in, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[Cabbs]

3 Ghz in that dual core will be fine.

From what I've read, you can use 4GB with 32-bit operating systems like XP. It won't see it, but the programs you are using will take advantage of it.

 

[hobbesent]

Thanks so much cabbspapp! I'll add more memory then. I didn't know that programs can use memory even if XP doesn't recognize it so I'm glad you told me!

Once I get all this stuff and install it (which I can do, hardware-wise) will there be a lot of configuration to do or will it just start working automatically?

Thanks again guys!

 

[THEpiGUY]

It should work automatically, but I'm not sure. When I upgraded from single to dual-core, my XP installation got kinda messed up (running really slow), but there could have been other things to cause this. So there's a possibility that you'll have to reinstall/repair XP, but you probably won't have to resort to that, I was just impatient and didn't know where to turn.

And by the way, I'm just a high school student. This forum is overall pretty young. There are members far more knowledgeable than me. But I've gone through pretty much everything that you're going through now hardware-wise. I made the jump from 1 to 3GB of RAM, single to dual-core, tampered around with clock frequencies, and I had to mess with the power settings once. So this is all very familiar territory.

 

[Cabbs]

Just make sure you get the same amount of memory per slot. Like if you decide to go 4GB, get 4x1GB sticks, or 2X2 GB sticks.

Your computer should configure the new hardware automatically, like THEpicGUY said.