# Memory Upgrade

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 8:52:36

Has anyone been to crucial.com ?
They have this scanner, that will scan your system and recommend memory upgrades. Let you know what kind to buy and your maximum capacity.
Here's a question... My laptop is 2 years old and has 512 mb ram. Will an aditional 512 mb make much of a difference? Or should I go for the total max of 2gb.
Question two... Will more memory help my system fan, to not come on so much, or are the two things separate issues?
Polka Dots having a poke around. *smile*

## Post 2 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 10:52:37

More memory will definitely help your system. If you're loaded up with the max, you shouldn't need to do anything with it for a long time, so if you can afford it, go for it!
Your fan will still come on regularly, but to minimize it, try cleaning the dust out of the vents, and making sure there are no obstructions where the air moves.

## Post 3 by CallMeAl (Veteran Zoner) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 19:38:08

The more ram the better, but I will say, at least if you're running XP, that I think you'll get more of a noticeable performance boost from that first gig than you will from the seconde. That's not to say that you shouldn't go for 2 gigs, just that I think that in terms of real world performance, you'll feel the upgrade from 512 to 1 gig more than you'll feel the upgrade from1 to 2 gigs.
The other big upgrade that people often overlook which can really help performance is a 7200 RPM hard drive. Do you know how fast the drive in your laptop is? If it is 4200 or 5400 RPM, then upgrading to a 7200 RPM drive, as well as adding a couple gigs of ram would probably have you feeling like you had a brand new machine.
--Al

## Post 4 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2008 22:18:25

But a 7200RPM drive would suck more battery and run your fan more, so keep that in mind.

## Post 5 by Polka dots and Moonbeams (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 27-Feb-2008 9:08:25

Ok, well how about this? I have 512mb and one empty slot. So, what if I bought the 1gb ram stick? I should still notice quite an improvement with 1.5 right?
It's not like I'm a heavy gamer or video watcher, but there are times when my laptop seems to lag. Consistently, when I ope up adobe files. When my nod32 is updating the virus database. Also, when someone is playing a real network video game, my fan remains on through most of the playtime. Would a ram upgrade help with these things?

## Post 6 by soaring eagle (flying high again!) on Wednesday, 27-Feb-2008 11:35:48

I would make sure you don't have to match ram sticks. I have herd and I may be incorrect that if you have a 512 you add another 512. if not then add as much as you can. Personally I would go for 2 1 ram sticks, This way they will match.