Purchasing memory sticks--need help. (operating system, icon, Microsoft, device)

[kazyn]

Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes

Sorry but the advice to re-use your 6 yr old 512 sticks is penny wise and pound foolish.

Those sticks are so well used they are bound to be the "weak link" in your system not to mention they will not want to play nice with newer memory. Yes, you can reuse the old memory but why bother? They have paid for themselves so retire them.

Bite the bullet and do it right.....all new memory or don't waste your time. Better to buy a whole new computer to be done with it.

Allow me to suggest that you call the good folk's at Crucial to get their help to set up a full package deal just for your needs and computing needs.

I'm sorry, but you're talking out of your hind end.

RAM doesn't magically slow down over time, his 6 year old sticks will be the same speed as the new ones. They're both going to be clocked at the same frequency and will be near the same latencies (depending on which end of the spectrum he buys the new ones, nothing to do with age).

Stop talking, please.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by Grandpa Pipes

Sorry but the advice to re-use your 6 yr old 512 sticks is penny wise and pound foolish.

Those sticks are so well used they are bound to be the "weak link" in your system not to mention they will not want to play nice with newer memory. Yes, you can reuse the old memory but why bother? They have paid for themselves so retire them.

Bite the bullet and do it right.....all new memory or don't waste your time. Better to buy a whole new computer to be done with it.

Allow me to suggest that you call the good folk's at Crucial to get their help to set up a full package deal just for your needs and computing needs.

That is a old wives tale, and wrong.

If you were talking about a hard drive I would agree with you, but on an integrated circuit like memory the more proven it is and still completely reliable.

Nor is "newer" memory better, as the motherboard requires very specific spec's on memory. As long as it meets the standard required by the mother board, performance will be optimal for the system.

The worst possible advise anyone can give is blatantly wrong advise, and you have done exactly that. If you don't know, put a sock in it

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

No, just buy the 2 - 1Gig, and use the 2 500K already installed.

Install the 2 new sticks in the same slots as the current sticks, they install your current sticks in the now empty slots.

Originally Posted by kazyn

I'm sorry, but you're talking out of your hind end.

RAM doesn't magically slow down over time, his 6 year old sticks will be the same speed as the new ones. They're both going to be clocked at the same frequency and will be near the same latencies (depending on which end of the spectrum he buys the new ones, nothing to do with age).

Stop talking, please.

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

That is a old wives tale, and wrong.

If you were talking about a hard drive I would agree with you, but on an integrated circuit like memory the more proven it is and still completely reliable.

Nor is "newer" memory better, as the motherboard requires very specific spec's on memory. As long as it meets the standard required by the mother board, performance will be optimal for the system.

The worst possible advise anyone can give is blatantly wrong advise, and you have done exactly that. If you don't know, put a sock in it

These posters gave you the correct advice. Don't buy what you don't need or can't use. Buy the low cost way to meet your needs (in this case, it is indeed 2 X 1GB) so you don't waste money on a system you plan to replace in a couple of years.

Crucial is solid and reliable.

[irman]

Originally Posted by virgo

I don't want to buy a new computer until Windows XP Service Pack 3 Support terminates in April 2014.

After you do follow the correct suggestions,
then just use your computer until it physically quits on you.
It seems, you do not have any other *severe* problems,
altho I wonder why 1 Gb was not enough for what you were doing now.
Just me ... wondering ...
2014 is still a long time away from today, and even after that,
there is really no need to replace anything, *just because*.

If it works to your satisfaction, stick with what you have.
Who knows, that machine, if you stay away from *strange* websites,
use a good set of Anti virus and malware programmes,
you will have good use of that machine for a very long time !

By the time your computer gives up for whatever reason,
who knows what will be available by then ?
In your case, no need to jump on the *latest and greatest* bandwagon !

Originally Posted by virgo

My system is still fast, to me. I notice lag time when booting up and when loading Internet pages with a million different advertisers or when Google is doing some special doodle.

What you may try is to download CCleaner from Piriform, and let it *clean* your machine.
Slow boot up is usually caused by all those *other* sub routines, temporary files,
and whatever else left by web visits.
It may work for you and you may be happy again.

CCleaner - Download

If you decide to try this (before you buy more memory),
and feel uncomfortable on what to do, ask again here on this forum.

Case in point (as an illustration)
Some machines, start to run really bad and slow.
Often a complete wipe clean and clean install,
will make that same machine like it is a brand new machine.
My wife's computer is the machine which our grand kids use to *play* games (that come with XP !).
The trouble with that is when they get old enough,
they figure out how to download and install their *own choice of games* ...
One day, the machine just bogged down so much, It was awful !.
I found out that they installed some game like John Deere something.
I ended up doing a clean re-install,
creating an account with Grandma as the *user*, a *guest* account, and *me* as the *administrator* !!!
This causes a lock down on installing anything by the *user* or the *guest*.
(you can set up the opening screen as required for the *guest account*)
Result ..., one of the grandsons is now mad at me ...
Uhuh !!! Oh well ... , but no more funny stuff going on on her machine !
BTW, her machine is 8 years old.

[kazyn]

In Ccleaner, make sure to go to the "startup items" area and turn off things you don't need. Adobe updater, itunes updater, any kind of quick launch or assisted launch, etc.

[SuperSparkle928]

Originally Posted by kazyn

I'm sorry, but you're talking out of your hind end.

RAM doesn't magically slow down over time, his 6 year old sticks will be the same speed as the new ones. They're both going to be clocked at the same frequency and will be near the same latencies (depending on which end of the spectrum he buys the new ones, nothing to do with age).

Stop talking, please.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Kazyn, for bringing some common sense into this thread.

Memory 'slows down' as much as light does when it travels too far in space.

To be fair, GP is good to give me a chuckle, though if I start hearing about alchemy, it will get stale.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by mensaguy

These posters gave you the correct advice. Don't buy what you don't need or can't use. Buy the low cost way to meet your needs (in this case, it is indeed 2 X 1GB) so you don't waste money on a system you plan to replace in a couple of years.

Crucial is solid and reliable.

Since your system is old, and uses DDR2 memory, you'll find that your cost per GB is higher than for DDR3 memory, which is in wide use now. Don't spend unnecessarily on upgrades that have limited or no benefit.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

Since your system is old, and uses DDR2 memory, you'll find that your cost per GB is higher than for DDR3 memory, which is in wide use now. Don't spend unnecessarily on upgrades that have limited or no benefit.

They are trying to get rid of older stuff, example; a quick search shows that 2 sticks of 1-GB DDR2 RAM for $26 from Kingstone is available. What the OP needs is probably comparable.

OBTW, going from 1 to 3 Gig will have a lot of benefit, and will be noticeable the first time she boots the system. RAM upgrades have always been the best "bang for the buck" when upgrading an entry level system.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

OBTW, going from 1 to 3 Gig will have a lot of benefit, and will be noticeable the first time she boots the system. RAM upgrades have always been the best "bang for the buck" when upgrading an entry level system.

I didn't mean to suggest that it wasn't. I only wanted to point out that there is a point of diminishing returns with any upgrade, and when those upgrades are more costly because the components are outdated, the point where you're better off putting the money towards a new system comes sooner.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by virgo

I notice lag time when booting up and when loading Internet pages with a million different advertisers or when Google is doing some special doodle.

I wholly agree with using Ccleaner I use it often to keep the trash off my computers.

TurcoLoco has a link to a site where he goes over using it in this forum somewhere.

Found it. http://www.city-data.com/forum/23322746-post4.html

Here are some videos about using it. http://www.city-data.com/forum/20778157-post21.html

If you're getting a lot of ads and you use Firefox as a browser (recommended) then you can install Adblock to stop them. You can also install NoScript to help with junk.

If you don't use Firefox you can download it here.

As always you can ask questions about these here if you need help.

In Ccleaner you can send the list of startup programs to a text file, which means you can copy/paste it here so we can help you decide what programs you don't need at startup. The neat thing is that you don't delete them, you just disable them, so if you find you need one then you just enable it again.

You can send the list of installed programs to a text file as well so it can be copied/pasted here if you want help.

On both screens the button is at the lower left for copying to a text file.