Ram suggestions

[kav]

I appoligize for this question, I am very new to this site and have been trying to do as much reading as possible.

I currently have a Dell Dimensions 4550C desktop. It has a Pentium 4 2.4GHz (if I recall correctly) and has served us quite well. Recently we have noticed that the computer seems to be slower and bogging down when running multiple applications. I have already minimized startup applications and keep ontop of viruses/spywear/adwear.

Basically I want to upgrade our ram. We currently only have 256 DIMM DDR PC2100, with one free slot. What would you guys suggest, keeping in mind that my specs stated that I have a max capacity of 1Gig RAM, and would like to minimize cost as much as possible. Oh yeah I am in Canada too ..

Thanks so much.

[Apoptosis]

First office welcome to the forums and let's see if we can help you out here.

I would personally suggest adding one 512mb module to your system. Your current system will not be able to run Windows Visata that well, so down the road a complete upgrade will be needed.

You are currently running PC-2100, but you might as well buy PC-2700 or PC-3200 as it is cheaper and has more head room. Here are some suggestions:

Kingston ValueRAM PC-3200 512mb - $38.65 Shipped

Cosair ValueSelect PC-2700 512MB -$42.60 Shipped

OCZ Value Series PC-2700 512MB - $46.14

In terms of pricing you can't beat the Kingston PC-3200 (DDR400) memory at $38.65. That is dirt cheap. You can always use faster memory in your current system it will just run at PC-2100 speeds.

If you are a gamer I'd get two 512mb modules for a total of 1GB. If you are a casual user I'd get a single 512mb module and keep the 256mb you already have.

[kav]

Thanks for the great reply!!

I checked out those sites but some won't ship to Canada.
I just found a Samsung 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory stick from a local seller for $54CND. ( http://robotnik.com/product.php?product ... bestseller ) - What do yo think?

Also asides from the actual install, does anything else need to be done setting wise to finish the install of this new memory?

Thanks again.

[Apoptosis]

In Canada a good retailer is NCIX.com, but it doesn't sound like the samsung memory is at a bad price for 512mb.

[zachig]

Yeah, it sounds like a very good price for 512MB Samsung DDR memory.

If you have the budget, I would throw away (or sell) the 256MB sticks and put instead 2 sticks of 512MB each.