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Originally Posted by EarlyPorsche
I would like to upgrade to 4gb ram to maximize the 32bit performance.
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Remember that the 4GB memory limit for a 32 bit OS is a hardware limit - based on the # of address lines on the CPU.
What does that mean? Well, basically it means that ANYTHING else in the machine that needs to map into that address space (like the BIOS, I/O space, video RAM) all has to come out of that 4GB total - and it will.
The OS can only "see" 4GB total - so a 512MB video card will knock that down to 3.5GB available to the OS immediately.
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Stock it came with 5300 DDR2 but I see that I can get 8500 DDR2. Will that make a big difference or should I just get 2 more 5300 DDR2 sticks? If I go 8500 then I would have to get 4 sticks.
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Most DDR memory is backwards compatible with slower spec memory of the same type. Much of the slower spec memory will actually run at the faster speeds. Most reputable suppliers will allow returns/exchanges.
Best practise is usually to get 4 sticks of identical memory if you can; likely won't matter for that machine - but some machines won't enable dual/quad memory buffering unless you populate the banks with identical memory.
I'd suggest you check and see what your actual memory usage is for a typical workload; if you're only using 1GB of RAM, then buying 4GB won't get you any actual speed, although it'll help the OS buffer the hard disk - but buying an SSD with the same money would be 10x faster.
Before spending any money, ensure you clean/compact the registry with CCleaner and run a decent defragger (like Defraggler, from the same folks, much better than the toy one that comes with XP) on the disk. I tell my mum to do this about every two weeks. You might be shocked how much difference this makes (and how many dumb programs open the registry 3-4 times a second looking for keys that don't exist - any inefficiency there can really hurt performance).
If you don't have any expensive, proprietary software on the machine - like all you do is web browse etc. - you can avoid all this by just blowing away XP and putting an efficient OS and a decent browser on the machine. It'll fly in comparison.