Upgrading from 256MB to 512MB RAM

[nissanman]

Hi all.

My parents have a Dell Dimension 2400 pc that i recently just replaced the cpu in (the 2.4 celeron i think was making the system lock up after 5 minutes of use, installed an old 1.6 p4 and its fine now)

The system only has 256mb ram and i was wondering if getting another 256mb module (ddr 333) to make 512mb ram would make much of a difference in performance. The system runs extremely slow as it has avg 8.5 running all the time. Plus it is running IE8 and MP11.

So would 512MB ram improve the performance of the computer much? Building or buying a whole new computer is not an option (i tried to tell them that that is the better way to go, they would rather keep this one). I dont think my parents would be willing to pay the extra for 1gb ram either. Bit overkill for what they do anyway (web surfing and spider solitare is all it is used for). The system is running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2.

 

[LinkedKube]

Idunno 20-30 bucks for1gig of ram could be worth it, another 256 would show a performance increasse, but nothing flashy.

 

[nissanman]

18 dollars NZD (New Zealand Dollar) for another new 256MB module. You think the performance difference would be worth that?

 

[LinkedKube]

Well the more ram you have the less work your harddrive will have to do. Do you have any friends with old computers or maybe a mom and pop computer shop somewhere you can get to that will sell you ram for dirt cheap?

 

[LookinAround]

For about 64NZD you could get 1GB ram. Now that would make a difference (if they plan on keeping computer could be worth the NZD as well) see here

 

[nissanman]

i have a friend that might be willing to sell me his old 512mb ddr400 module for around 20 dollars or so. Ill have to ask him, that will take the total amount of memory to 768mb. Providing that dell's motherboard doesnt mind running ddr333 with ddr400. Should work ok though. I know that the ddr400 will just slow down to the speed of the slowest module.

I dont think my parents would be willing to pay much more than 20 dollars. And thats for a used module. The only reason they are concidering upgrading the ram is becuase i told them itd speed the system up.

 

[LookinAround]

Well, ya know, it's not easy bringing up parents these days!
G'luck!

 

[seanc]

The bump from 256mb to 512mb should give you a noticeable bump, anything more should speed it up quite nicely.

 

[DjKraid]

If you would pay for the delivery I couyld send you one Samsung 256Mb DDR-ram card...