RAM Upgrade and Effects?

[Laura]

Alright, so my computer only recognizes 2GB of memory as Crucial.com stated, at 1GB now(32 bit, Windows Vista Home Premium, HP). I now have of hard drive to act as if it were memory. I also have 1800MB on a flash drive to act as memory. Since all three of these add up to over 2GB, do they actually do anything? At that, I wanted to buy a 2GB RAM card, would it have any effect at all while running these "act as RAM" items?

 

 

 

Also, is there anyway to upgrade a graphics card on a laptop? If not, on a desktop?

[sloter]

A little confused on what your asking. If you are trying to ask if adding ram to your machine will effect your data. The answer is now. Also your graphics card on your laptop is pry soldered onto the mother board and would be a pain to change. A desktop can be easily changed though.

[OldJoe]

You might as well get another 1gb or 2gb stick to the machine with vista premium, i'd go insane with just 1gb on it.

[Laura]

A little confused on what your asking. If you are trying to ask if adding ram to your machine will effect your data. The answer is now. Also your graphics card on your laptop is pry soldered onto the mother board and would be a pain to change. A desktop can be easily changed though.

 

Like, my hard drive has, maybe 1000MBs to act as RAM. The Flash Drive acts as 1800MBs. This with my 1GB would be over 2GB, which is the max it says my computer can take. So buying a new, 2GB RAM stick will have little or no effect?

 

 

 

You might as well get another 1gb or 2gb stick to the machine with vista premium, i'd go insane with just 1gb on it.

 

I am going insane. But I thought it best to ask if buying one would effect my system since I have all those items acting as RAM. Don't wanna waste 60 bucks. :?

[OldJoe]

A little confused on what your asking. If you are trying to ask if adding ram to your machine will effect your data. The answer is now. Also your graphics card on your laptop is pry soldered onto the mother board and would be a pain to change. A desktop can be easily changed though.

 

Like, my hard drive has, maybe 1000MBs to act as RAM. The Flash Drive acts as 1800MBs. This with my 1GB would be over 2GB, which is the max it says my computer can take. So buying a new, 2GB RAM stick will have little or no effect?

 

 

 

You might as well get another 1gb or 2gb stick to the machine with vista premium, i'd go insane with just 1gb on it.

 

I am going insane. But I thought it best to ask if buying one would effect my system since I have all those items acting as RAM. Don't wanna waste 60 bucks. :?

 

 

 

Uh, i know ready-boost with usb memories... But using space on a hd as ram? Never heard this lol.

 

 

 

Using ready-boost gives a little bit of boost, but not much. Comparing it to putting in a 2nd ram stick, the difference between ready-boost and actual ram is huge. If i don't remember wrong, i think i remember Clare saying that ready-boost also uses a bit of CPU power. (if you mean read-boost. otherwise give me a link or explain to me what your are talking about, do you mean an external usb-hard drive as ram?.. i don't get it).

 

Buying a ram stick (1gb should be enough if don't use many applications at once .. etc), for 40$ or so=worth it.

[sloter]

A little confused on what your asking. If you are trying to ask if adding ram to your machine will effect your data. The answer is now. Also your graphics card on your laptop is pry soldered onto the mother board and would be a pain to change. A desktop can be easily changed though.

 

Like, my hard drive has, maybe 1000MBs to act as RAM. The Flash Drive acts as 1800MBs. This with my 1GB would be over 2GB, which is the max it says my computer can take. So buying a new, 2GB RAM stick will have little or no effect?

 

 

 

You might as well get another 1gb or 2gb stick to the machine with vista premium, i'd go insane with just 1gb on it.

 

I am going insane. But I thought it best to ask if buying one would effect my system since I have all those items acting as RAM. Don't wanna waste 60 bucks. :?

 

 

 

Uh, i know ready-boost with usb memories... But using space on a hd as ram? Never heard this lol.

 

 

 

Using ready-boost gives a little bit of boost, but not much. Comparing it to putting in a 2nd ram stick, the difference between ready-boost and actual ram is huge. If i don't remember wrong, i think i remember Clare saying that ready-boost also uses a bit of CPU power. (if you mean read-boost. otherwise give me a link or explain to me what your are talking about, do you mean an external usb-hard drive as ram?.. i don't get it).

 

Buying a ram stick (1gb should be enough if don't use many applications at once .. etc), for 40$ or so=worth it.

 

She could be talking about paged files. Even still i would never use my hard drive as ram if there is a way to do it.

[Laura]

A little confused on what your asking. If you are trying to ask if adding ram to your machine will effect your data. The answer is now. Also your graphics card on your laptop is pry soldered onto the mother board and would be a pain to change. A desktop can be easily changed though.

 

Like, my hard drive has, maybe 1000MBs to act as RAM. The Flash Drive acts as 1800MBs. This with my 1GB would be over 2GB, which is the max it says my computer can take. So buying a new, 2GB RAM stick will have little or no effect?

 

 

 

You might as well get another 1gb or 2gb stick to the machine with vista premium, i'd go insane with just 1gb on it.

 

I am going insane. But I thought it best to ask if buying one would effect my system since I have all those items acting as RAM. Don't wanna waste 60 bucks. :?

 

 

 

Uh, i know ready-boost with usb memories... But using space on a hd as ram? Never heard this lol.

 

 

 

Using ready-boost gives a little bit of boost, but not much. Comparing it to putting in a 2nd ram stick, the difference between ready-boost and actual ram is huge. If i don't remember wrong, i think i remember Clare saying that ready-boost also uses a bit of CPU power. (if you mean read-boost. otherwise give me a link or explain to me what your are talking about, do you mean an external usb-hard drive as ram?.. i don't get it).

 

Buying a ram stick (1gb should be enough if don't use many applications at once .. etc), for 40$ or so=worth it.

 

She could be talking about paged files. Even still i would never use my hard drive as ram if there is a way to do it.

 

I think it is paged files, yes. And an external USB stick, acting as RAM. So an upgrade to 2GB would be worth it, as the USB and paged files add minimal difference?

[urbestfreind]

Buy the stick, totally worth it. I got one for my laptop (and to the one poster, it's not soldered or anything. Installing laptop ram is pretty much the same as installing ram on a desktop) finally, and it's a definate improvement..I was running XP Pro with 512 and added a 1gb stick, and everything runs faster (including WoW, which I can now play comfortably, with little lag, where before I was lucky if I hit 10fps).

 

 

 

I've used readyboost on my grandfather's computer, and the performance boost is decent, but it doesn't come close to what you can do with a regular stick. Also, since ReadyBoost is based on how much ram you have (1:1 to 2.5:1 Ratio), you will not only be upping your system ram to 3GB, but you'll also be able to use up to 4GB more (the max for ReadyBoost), giving you 7GB of RAM (well, not really, due to readyboost not being as fast as normal RAM, but the point stands). So the boost is two-fold, and definately worth the price, and even more so that you use Vista Premium.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Using anything other than a RAM stick will not perform the same as a RAM stick. Simple as that -- your paging file can let your machine store memory, but it doesn't mean that it's even quick. The read/write times on your hard disk don't even register with the speeds of RAM. Same goes with USB.

 

 

 

If you want the performance of RAM, then get the RAM stick. Paging file is not even remotely close to RAM.

 

 

 

By the by, you can't update the video card on a laptop, but if you know what type of video card you can fit into your tower, you can go right on ahead.

[Laura]

Ok, thanks, that pretty much answers my questions.