what does more memory do

[everclear]

i'm thinking about purchasing memory for my computer but what would i get out of it.

[Teknophobia]

Depends on what you've already got, what OS, what applications you're running. But in general, if your system is relying on too much 'virtual memory' whereby your OS is swapping your memory for hard drive space so it can free up more memory for another app, then a memory upgrade would certainly speed things up.

TEk

[JPnyc]

It's allows more programs to be stored in memory for quick and easy retrieval, making use faster. As Tek said, virtual memory is the swapping of data from the RAM to the harddisc, to free up ram. However it then takes longer to retrieve since harddrives are slower than RAM. So the more RAM you have, the faster your machine will appear to be.

[everclear]

Thanks alot you answered my question

[greengoose1]

Increasing memory and increasing the speed of hard drives are two of the easiest things to do with the best results.

[JPnyc]

Alternatively, and only attempt this if you really know what you're doing, but MOST new pcs have a plethora of things running at startup that really aren't needed at all. They all use memory, to some degree or other. I had an old slow pc that I kept "usable" by running a mere 4 things at startup, because I didn't have the speed or memory to spare. However I don't recommend that much of an extreme

[Welshjim]

And as Teknophobia has said, the amount of RAM you need is very much dependent on the Operating System. And even more so if you plan to use two operating systems (like one on a Virtual PC). I would not buy less than 1GB nowadays and probably 2GB if you plan on any expansion. I cannot remember what MS suggests will be needed for Vista, but you can probably double or triple their recommendation for a properly running system.

[jmtjet]

If your operating system happens to be Windows 98 384 mb is about all your system will be able to utilize. If my memory is correct, anything over that will actually slow the computer down.

[Train]

If your operating system happens to be Windows 98 384 mb is about all your system will be able to utilize. If my memory is correct, anything over that will actually slow the computer down.

384MB is optimum. 512 will cause a few programs to start slowing down a few seconds. There are trick that will allow to ue more than 512, but notworth the expense to buy the ram.