How much RAM?

I'm helping my dad upgrade the family's computer. Right now they're at 512MB for RAM. They don't run anything that needs a lot, just a few games, but they usually leave 3 or 4 people logged in and just switch users. So this means they have 3 or 4 instances of everything running and then they complain about it being slow.

My question is should I tell him to buy a full gig to make it 1.5GB of RAM or just an extra 512MB?

best to go for 1.5 if they dont know how to log off.

That's what I thought. Just need to convince my dad to spend $100ish rather than $60ish. They also need another hard drive and the monitor is getting more blurry every day.

Cha-ching

Yeah, try and get a flatscreen dell monitor if your looking for a new, relatively good quality cheap monitor. And yeah I' might even say just getting high quality 256mb RAM cards (forget the name of them) instead of 1 gig if your parent's aren't looking to spend alot on the upgrades.
That would definatly be sufficient enough imo.

[quotee34cee079a="TigerShark"]Yeah, try and get a flatscreen dell monitor if your looking for a new, relatively good quality cheap monitor. And yeah I' might even say just getting high quality 256mb RAM cards (forget the name of them) instead of 1 gig if your parent's aren't looking to spend alot on the upgrades.
That would definatly be sufficient enough imo.[/quotee34cee079a]

256mb chips is a good way to regrettably fill up your slots. You will be kicking yourself later when its not enough and your slots are all filled so you have to basically throw money away.

[quote9972e25d37="JOSHBOX"][quote9972e25d37="TigerShark"]Yeah, try and get a flatscreen dell monitor if your looking for a new, relatively good quality cheap monitor. And yeah I' might even say just getting high quality 256mb RAM cards (forget the name of them) instead of 1 gig if your parent's aren't looking to spend alot on the upgrades.
That would definatly be sufficient enough imo.[/quote9972e25d37]

256mb chips is a good way to regrettably fill up your slots. You will be kicking yourself later when its not enough and your slots are all filled so you have to basically throw money away.[/quote9972e25d37]

Not really, he said he isn't looking for pure gaming speed, for his purposes, two [b9972e25d37]HIGH END[/b9972e25d37] chips will do the trick. You underestimate high end 256mb ram sticks. You may have forgotten how much speed they actually give if your used to upgrading RAM by gigs...but for normal computer usage it would suffice and more. Plus its cheaper.

I think that HIGH END chips being better is a misconception. The difference between a Corsair XMS and a Patriot or whatever brand is that Corsair is better for overclocking, that is it.

[quotecc48f6e483="TigerShark"][quotecc48f6e483="JOSHBOX"][quotecc48f6e483="TigerShark"]Yeah, try and get a flatscreen dell monitor if your looking for a new, relatively good quality cheap monitor. And yeah I' might even say just getting high quality 256mb RAM cards (forget the name of them) instead of 1 gig if your parent's aren't looking to spend alot on the upgrades.
That would definatly be sufficient enough imo.[/quotecc48f6e483]

256mb chips is a good way to regrettably fill up your slots. You will be kicking yourself later when its not enough and your slots are all filled so you have to basically throw money away.[/quotecc48f6e483]

Not really, he said he isn't looking for pure gaming speed, for his purposes, two [bcc48f6e483]HIGH END[/bcc48f6e483] chips will do the trick. You underestimate high end 256mb ram sticks. You may have forgotten how much speed they actually give if your used to upgrading RAM by gigs...but for normal computer usage it would suffice and more. Plus its cheaper.[/quotecc48f6e483]

if you knew as much about computers as you want to think you do you would know that your ram will only run as fast as the weakest link. so investing in high end sticks of 256 mb would not serve him unless he removed the 512 currently in there.

[quote184a245acc="JOSHBOX"][quote184a245acc="TigerShark"]Yeah, try and get a flatscreen
Not really, he said he isn't looking for pure gaming speed, for his purposes, two [b184a245acc]HIGH END[/b184a245acc] chips will do the trick. You underestimate high end 256mb ram sticks. You may have forgotten how much speed they actually give if your used to upgrading RAM by gigs...but for normal computer usage it would suffice and more. Plus its cheaper.[/quote184a245acc]

if you knew as much about computers as you want to think you do you would know that your ram will only run as fast as the weakest link. so investing in high end sticks of 256 mb would not serve him unless he removed the 512 currently in there.[/quote184a245acc]

Reading this the first time, it seemed that you were confusing bus clock rate and capacity. However, I re-read and realize that you had it right, but it was stated in a confusing way. )

On that note, I agree...if you buy high-end 256 sticks, and they run on a high bus clock rate (the MHz), then it's wasted because the 512, no doubt, runs at a slower rate. Sure, you have 1 gig capacity, but you wasted $$ on high end sticks that have a high bus clock rate that are still running at the slower speed.

If (mobo == dual channel){
buy(2 x 512mb ram chips);
throwAway(old ram);
}
else{
buy(1x512mb ram chip);
keep(old ram);
}


If the CPU is AMD and it is socket 939 or AM2 then it has dual channel. If it is AMD and it is socket 754 it doesn't.

If it is intel I have no idea but watch out for DDR2 if it is the AM2 or intel.

The memory it has right now is single channel 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM.

I ran everest to double check what the MB could support. I didn't realize that it supports up to PC3200 and it does support dual channel. So, Allen, taking your advice I'm thinking of going with something like this.

http//www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145480[]http//www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145480