Increasing RAM?

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madmardle

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Ken
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Having decided to upgrade my laptop to Windows 7 following advise on here, I have been giving some thought to increasing the RAM. At the moment it has 3GB installed, (1x2GB and 1x1GB) the maximum according to a Crucial scan is 8GB. As I intend to do away with my old PC, on which my scanner and printer are linked and use the laptop instead, ( I have a tablet for general surfing) the main thing I will be doing is basic editing with Elements 10. My question is what amount of Ram do I need, will 3GB be enough, would I even notice a difference if I changed the 1GB to a 2 giving me 4 in total, or should I push the boat out and go for the 8GB maximum, or some where in between ? I think I have read somewhere that there may be issues with trying to run 8GB with a 32 bit system, which is what my laptop is.
Simple answers would be welcomed as I am not that computer literate.
Cheers,
Ken
 
If you are running a 32bit Windows OS then there is no point in upgrading your RAM as the system can only see about 3GB even if you have more installed so it would be a waste of money.
 
you need a 64 bit O/S to use more than 4gb RAM.
 
If you do increase the RAM and using 2 chips make sure they are a matching pair.
 
As above yep you need 64bit W7 but you are really should skip W7 and go to W10 if your laptop will support it.
W7 is allready in end of life and W10 would run better than W7 as it is more efficient.

what hard drive do you have, is this a good time for a cheap SSD also.
 
I understood windows 7 would be supported until 2020
 
Fwiw i'd be tempted to install a suitable sized SSD, upgrade the ram to what your pocket can stand (ideally 8gb) and put a fresh copy of W7 64bit on the new SSD. Your machine will feel completely different assuming you have a standard hdd installed already.
 
If you changed the RAM from 3GB to 4GB, you will get two small gains - the first will be that your limit of 3GB available will change to approx 3.2 to 3.5GB available (due to 32bit OS) the second minor gain is that if you go to 4GB of RAM that consists of a matched pair of sticks then the RAM will operate in Dual Channel mode rather than the current Single Channel mode that its in.

To be honest, for how cheap RAM is I would up it to 4 anyway just for the extra bandwidth.

After that you could look at other options mentioned above e.g SSD drive etc
 
as @stupar says ram is so cheap for sure but I would go 8gb second hand on ebay and then if you really want to go W7 then the 64 bit version with a cheap SSD.

Ram about £30 ebuyer doing cheap Toshiba SSD 256gb for £48,
 
Don't forget the graphics card as well. If it isn't a discrete card with its own memory it will also grab some of that memory available.

I would upgrade ram, 64 bit OS and SSD. Or just get something else ;)
 
i know 3gb by todays standard is bare minimum but presumably you've identified the RAM as the area that the system is struggling with?

if so then as said, add more ram (and pref a SSD), backup your files, download W10 64bit onto a USB installer stick, format and rebuild (you cannot upgrade 32bit to 64bit).
 
Thanks everybody, that's a fantastic response and apart from saving me money has given me a lot to think about, I'll need to wise up about SSD's, and I'll check if my laptop can support W10. Thanks again.
Ken
 
One last question guys,
What size SSD would you recommend, and is there a way of finding out if my 7 year old Compaq laptop can accept one?
Ken
 
madmardle said:
One last question guys,
What size SSD would you recommend, and is there a way of finding out if my 7 year old Compaq laptop can accept one?
Ken
Click to expand...


It will accept one but I would question the sense of upgrading a 7 year old laptop (unless it was a seriously top end one at the time) when you can get a new one that will knock spots off it for not tooooo much more than the cost of an SSD, some RAM and W10.
 
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2^32 = 4G

I doubt 32 bit windows can address more than 4GB RAM, if you're then sharing that with video cards, editing may struggle.
Dell outlet will sell you a returns laptop for 170 which you can then add some RAM to.
 
madmardle said:
One last question guys,
What size SSD would you recommend, and is there a way of finding out if my 7 year old Compaq laptop can accept one?
Ken
Click to expand...

To answer your question - size will be dependant on the amount of applications you want to have the benefit of the SSD and whether or not you intend to use the SSD for storage of media too.
A common setup is to use the SSD for apps only and use an external HD for storing media and documents etc.

Your laptop will accept an SSD (standard 2.5" size) but your your current laptop might only be SATA II (3Gbs) so if you were to buy a SATA III SSD (6Gbs) you wont get the benefit of the extra bandwith but you will still get a performance boost over a conventional mechanical HD.
 
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