Upgrading your memory is the one of the
cheapest ways to get a large performance
boost.
On the other hand if you all ready have an abundance of memory (say over
a gig) then memory will not solve your performance problems.
Memory comes in different forms, speeds, and sizes.
Forms - Currently in use in computers there are two DDR and
SDRAM (includes
DIMM)
Sizes - Range from 64Mb (megabyte) to 4Gb (gigabyte).
Speed - The speed of the ram installed is controlled by the main board when it
was manufactured.
Lets say you have a Pentium IV processor, you have 256 meg of ram and it is in
the DIMM form. If you have the main board installation guide it will list all
the ram types the main board supports, also listing the speeds and maximum size
for each slot. If you don't have the installation guide have two choices on
finding out what ram is installed in your computer, the easiest is to go to the
main board manufactures web site and search for the information on your main
board. Or you can open up your computer and look at the markings on the ram
itself. If you do open the case up remember
ESD will kill anything you touch if
you are not grounded.
With this information you can search the web for suppliers of third party ram.
They will have table that will list all the ram that matches the form and speed
you are looking for, just pick the size you want to upgrade to.
Quality - Quality counts. Remember buy cheap get cheap. You are doing this
yourself to save money but doing something twice costs twice as much.
