increase pc performance

Hi Guys

Im wanting to increase my pc performance, my system spec is below in my sig.

my system runs using SATA/IDE drives my WinXP boot is under SATA and my Linux is under IDE, i use winxp as my main os and only develop in blitzmax under linux.

i think that adding 2GB of ram should increase the performance, would it? as you see i only have 512MB or should i buy a new AGP graphics card for increased performance?

what would you suggest extra ram or better graphics card.

kev

A better graphics card will increase graphics performance, more memory at the fastest frequency the motherboard can handle will boost everything.

Out of the two - you simply have to increase the RAM for an overall increase in performance.

512MB is simply to little.

Check your mobo - see how best to upgrade. How many slots do you have? Is the RAM a single module?

Another vote for more memory.

so it looks like a memory upgrade is overall the best option. my memory consists of two 128 sticks both runing in dual memory module mode?(might not be the correct term).

i have 4 slots in all im sure the 2 memory sticks are PC3200(DDR 400) from my motherboad manual these are the highest other memory are PC2700/PC2100 these would run at 333 and 266. i think my next upgrade should be the graphics card.

*EDIT after reading this i might of not made my self clear? ie. memory upgrade first then graphics card.
kev

You should have at least 2gb these days. You can buy 4gb for around £70.

Win XP runs good on 512 MB. But from my experience, when using apps, your better off having more than 512. I have 1 GB and it seems to be cool.

I disable Paging for windows, since i have enough memory to do without it. I get a performance boost from that. Dodgy if you run lots of stuff that eats memory up quick. Photoshop is a killer :D

will winxp use the full 4gb though, i heard that only vista will make full use of all system ram. right now i have no desire to buy vista.

kev

I have 2GB with XP. However 1GB will be okay - you should get an improvement with 1GB. I have no main use for more than 2GB.

No, it'll use somewhere between 3 and 3.5 max. You'll probably cease to notice any performance improvement beyond 2 though.


Actually, it isn't really an issue of XP/Vista. It's an issue of whether your OS is the 32bit or 64bit version. Since most people are using the 32 bit versions - because good 64 bit drivers are few and far between - most people won't be able to use a full 4GB.

Nothing to do with which OS you're running, but whether it's 32 or 64 bit. A 32 bit OS will not be able to access all 4GB of RAM, because any other hardware that requires addressable memory space will take it from your RAM. So that nice 256MB graphics card you have? Well, you're straight down to 3.75GB of RAM. And it's not just graphics cards that take up memory space. Best to use no more than 2GB on a 32 bit system.

EDIT - Dam, Gabriel beat me to it.

Most likely -- but it depends a bit on what you actually do to see how much of a difference it would make. For a quick indication, use your comptuer for a few hours under 'normal use'.
Then, open Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) and go to the 'performance' tab.

You see a couple of stats regarding your memory usage there:
Commit charge (K)
total: <number> (How much RAM and bytes in your swap file are currently in use)
limit: <number> (How much memory is available total: physical RAM + max. swapfile size)
peak: <number> (Since you started windows, this number indicates the maximum amount of info that used at any given time)

For example, on my computer it currently shows 1371312 under peak. That means that at its peak, I used 1.37GB of memory. I have 2GB, so adding more would have made absolutely no difference this session. Looking at your peak value after extended use (and do open multiple programs like you would normally do!) could help you assess how much memory you actually would use.



It's not a Vista/XP limitation, but 32/64 bit. 2^32 is 4294967296. the address space available to a 32-bit OS is a maximum of 4.2 billion addresses. RAM takes up addressing space, but so do other hardware devices, uncluding PCI slots -- even empty ones. 4GB of RAM would take up all possible addresses, so the computer wouldn't be able to talk to any other hardware components. Because of that, you typically get about 3.25GB memory visible to a 32-bit OS, even if you insert more. (From what I've seen you can end up with anywhere bewtween 3GB and 3.75GB, but 3.25 appears typical)

So: With 32-bit XP and 32-bit vista you won't be able to use the full 4GB, buth with XP 64 bit or Vista 64 bit you can. If you don't like Vista, then the 64-bit version of XP will also give you access to the full 4GB. (Be aware that driver support is very mediocre for 64-bit XP, so if you consider upgrading, make sure that you have 64-bit XP drivers for your motherboard/videocard/soundcard/printer/scanner/webcam/etc.)

thanks for all the information guys, i have decided that two 1GB memory sticks will be my next purchase.

thanks again
kev

Is this really a requirement? Can't you use 32 bit vista drivers on 64 bit Vista? The reason I ask this is because I have Netgear wireless USB ADSL which only has 32 bit vista drivers ... does this mean it won't work in Vista 64?

Depending on your motherboard xp32 will see up to 3.7gb; can be as low as 2.8 though on a poor mobo.