Another computer memory question

[lakelover]

I have a Dell Dimension L800r witn a Pentium 3 that currently has 256M memory. I do a fair amount of Photoshop work, and other graphics processing. <br /><br />I've had the computer for about 5 years, and upgraded to the 256 from 128 a few years ago. When I did that, I did notice a significant speed increase. Do the computer gurus here think that an upgrade to 512M would give me a similarly noticeable increase in speed? I'm running Wondows 98SE, and 512 is the max for my machine. Do you think it would be worth it?

 

[notinbig]

Re: Another computer memory question

Should be cheap for a computer of that age. What type is your RAM? PC1300...etc... It will be noticeable, why not new motherboard? Get an upgrade kit.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Another computer memory question

Originally posted by notinbig:<br /> Should be cheap for a computer of that age. What type is your RAM? PC1300...etc... It will be noticeable, why not new motherboard? Get an upgrade kit.

Memory type is: SDRAM, PC133, Non-Parity, Unbuffered<br /><br />I don't know much about computer innards, so am not too confident messing around inside them.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Another computer memory question

I see that the Dell has two slots; presumably you have two 128MB sticks in there now? So upgrading to 512MB would involve purchasing 2 256MB sticks and installing them, then tossing the two 128MB sticks. If you could get them cheap enough (try ebay), I would say go for it. You will need to stick to PC133 RAM though. But I think your money would be better spent on a newer faster hard drive, or saving for a newer computer.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Another computer memory question

photoediting is a memory hog... you will notice the jump to 512<br /><br />I put a gig in a machine once.... very often mem usage was in the 300 range.... NEVER hit 512...<br />to actually use the entire gig of memory, I ahd to create an image in photoshop that several FEET in width and then drop a color.... took the computer 5 minutes to process it all, but I finally used the memory.<br /><br />....promptly took out the one stick of 512 and sold it.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Another computer memory question

Yes, you'll definately notice the difference. PC133 memory is DIRT cheap on ebay. I've literally got a few hundred pounds of it, and it's not worth my time to test and sell it on ebay.

 

[skeeterboy]

Re: Another computer memory question

sorry to hear you have a PC for photo-editing<br /> Im running a G4 for my graphic design applications like photoshop, illus, quark ex, etc on a G4 and i have 842 megs and wish i have atleast 1 gig. If memory is so cheap get the most you can afford it can only help ya know? might want to look into ramjet.com they are pretty cheap. Good luck

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Another computer memory question

I don't know if you folks checked, but that computer came standard with a 10GB 5400rpm hard drive. Doing photo-editing without enough ram can be a pain, but photo-editing on a small, slow, and old hard drive is definitely worse.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Another computer memory question

Originally posted by Paul Moir:<br /> I don't know if you folks checked, but that computer came standard with a 10GB 5400rpm hard drive. Doing photo-editing without enough ram can be a pain, but photo-editing on a small, slow, and old hard drive is definitely worse.

My hard drive is an optional 20 GB @ 5400 RPM..?? I don't know the speed of current hard drives..

 

[skeeterboy]

Re: Another computer memory question

7200 should be standard in HDs now and 10000 would be really nice.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Another computer memory question

zmoz.... several hundred pounds? ..... pc100 machines are all that still runs at my house if the donations are flowing Magic 8ball says: "t-shirts are to be traded in your future."

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Another computer memory question

I couldn't figure out which brand you've got, but generally speaking the typical 20GB drives aren't bad at all speed-wise. I was thinking you had a clunky old 10 or 9.1GB drive in there, with little free space (which leads to rapid fragmentation).<br />You should be getting read-rates in the high 20MB/s range which matches the rest of your computer well. RPMS don't matter as much as drive manufacturers make them out to be.

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Another computer memory question

I agree with Paul. Typically, I'm big into adding memory as a quick, cheap, good upgrade for computers but your system is a little on the old side. There is a point where you have to decide if it's worth it to put more memory into an old computer, or bite the bullet and plunk down the cash for a new machine. <br /><br />If your monitor is still good, you could replace that computer with a much faster one for $400 or $500. That computer probably would include a hard drive that is at least 60 gigs and a CD Burner.<br /><br />Most of the time, the cheap computers skimp on memory, so, be prepaired to spend a few extra bucks on bumping up the RAM. I wouldn't be happy with less than 512 MB, but would shoot for 1GB to be really happy.<br /><br />Good luck!

 

[TELMANMN]

Re: Another computer memory question

For basic word processing your 5 year old comp. is ok. If you do graphics and photos proc. then I would just buy/or build a new system. Even the newest cheap ones with 512mb would be better but if you want good graphics get 1gb plus you would get the newre XP oper. system which is head and shoulders above 98. <br /> I have as a third comp. a 430mhz amd PIII which I have upgraded to xp, a 80gb harddrive, agp video 32mb radeon etc. just so my son can have something to get on the internet with. <br /> Between my P4 2.8 with 1GB and a 256 AGP card etc. it is like a sprinter and a snail.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Another computer memory question

Thanks everyone for all the input!

 

[Mercury140-I6]

Re: Another computer memory question

Keep in mind that with Windows 98SE, you are limited to 750MB of RAM, doesn't matter if the Motherboard will support 2GB, 98 won't see it.<br /><br />Hope this helps.<br /><br />Craig

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Another computer memory question

512MB max on that system as well. It's a hardware limitation.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Another computer memory question

Another question..I defrag about once per week and this helps quite a bit with the speed. I also know that I have some bad hard disk areas after running scandisk, but I've known about this for quite some time. <br /><br />Lately, I've been getting more error messages, general protection faults etc. Also the "System is dangerously low on resources" messages, and I end up having to restart more frequently. Earlier this week, MS Word 2000 wouldn't start except by launching it through MS Works, which I have really never done before, I've always used shortcuts created through Explorer for winword.exe. I have no idea why it wouldn't start using winword.exe, but would through MS Works. I ended up having to uninstall and re-install Word,and now it works fine. Also will start from a shortcut created through Explorer, like it used to.<br /><br />Do you think these messages are related to the bad disk areas, or do I just have too many programs on the computer? <br /><br />Come to think of it, my son recently installed some DOS-based games from our old (REAL old) computer, and the problems happened shortly after this. Related or coincidence??<br /><br />Thanks.

 

[rwise]

Re: Another computer memory question

sound like its (past) time for a new hard drive! here the IT department removes (locks the user out) the defrag from use, they say it "kills the hard drive if done to often" still I like to run it at least once a month on my unit/s. the errors could well be from a failing hard drive. do you keep a count of the bad places to see if they are growing?

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Another computer memory question

Now I think I've heard everything. Personally, I think running defrag is good because it'll turn up defective hard drives - and often safely. <br /><br />It sure sounds like that HD is filled up. Like I indicated in my previous post when they get past about 80% full fragmentation goes up exponentially. It's a basic trait of the FAT 'best fit' allocation method for anyone who cares. <br />When fragementation gets really bad, defraging helps a lot. There's two possible cures for this condition - either get a larger hard drive or start removing stuff from the one you have. If you want to do the latter, first run a scandisk on drive C:. Then, removing programs or very large files (like pictures) is the way to go. Deleting emails & text documents won't get you anywhere. To get an idea about what space you have left, double click on 'My Computer', then right-click on your C: drive icon and go to 'Properties'. You'll get a nice pie-graph showing you used and free space.<br /><br />If you're thinking about a new drive, here's a few ideas. Open up a msdos window and type 'chkdsk'. If it reports _any_ bad sectors, it's time for a new drive. Also, generally I think it's a bad idea to run your old hard drive with a new one rather than retire it. Your old one is at the end of it's life and can become unreliable - if it's a Fujitsu you've been running on borrowed time. It's probably louder than your new drive too. A good reason for keeping it is that it gives you a place to back up information to. Either way, have all your data transfered to your new drive and have it made C:. <br />Check out the Western Digitals with the 3 year warranty - very quiet and very reliable.