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Thread: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    your CPU is fine, I have a single core 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon 3200+. so yeah, Ram for sure. its a fast and super easy upgrade!

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Mississippi
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    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    +1 RAM

    Depending on how old your box is though (the sum of all components) You may look into Dells Small Business site. Not that long ago I saw a beefy little box for under 300 bucks. Just the box minus any OS (well FreeDOS), monitor, keyboard, or mouse.
    ... in myself i am nothing exactly no thing i am only a mirror in which others see aspects of themselves and attribute the resulting concepts to me but i am also an other to my self

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Well, I built this a little less than a year ago for a science project...so it's pretty new.

    Again, RAM it is. Tomorrow, I'm gonna order 512 DDR2 SDRAM.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Whenever I'm asked this question its almost always "Upgrade the RAM".

    Most people only use a small fraction of their CPU's available abilities.

    The exception to this is when someone for example,
    does a lot of video encoding where you want as much CPU and RAM as possible for quickest results.

    For the average person the most noticeable way to improve responsiveness is to upgrade the RAM.

    This is not distro specific or even OS specific it applies equally to all.

    I hope that helps.

    Cheers.
    The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents.

    Nathaniel Borenstein

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Manila, Philippines
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    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fonon View Post
    Same as above

    I have a 1.8 Ghz Dual Core Processor, and 512 mb RAM. I was planning on adding a gig to my RAM, but I'm having doubts, and thinking of upgrading my processor to a 3.0 Dual Core processor. Any opinions?
    First of all, do you really need to upgrade anything? If you are not having problems with your hardware, then don't upgrade.

    Monitor on htop or on gnome system monitor your RAM and CPU usage if you are having problems. If you notice that you often use much of your RAM or CPU, upgrade what is not enough. I guess, you use much of your RAM.
    MacBook Air 3,1 128gb | Fujitsu Esprimo U9200 | Google Nexus One

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  6. #26
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    Feb 2007
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    Hyderabad, India
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    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Your PC is fine. Adding 1 more GB of Ram will be sweet.

  7. #27

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Quote Originally Posted by epimeteo View Post
    Desktop with 34Mb? I think you are talking about installing Ubuntu Desktop with the Alternate CD, right?
    No, I'm talking about booting an installed system from grub menu to a desktop in 27 seconds on less than 34Mb RAM. That's a 1Ghz Pentium III laptop with 2x256Mb PC133 and a 7200rpm 60Gb IDE drive.

    I had a 300Mhz Pentium II (1x256 PC133, 20Gb 5400rpm) that did the same trick in 36 seconds and only needed 17mb for the entire system. After browsing, watching movies, listening to music, etc., memory usage peaked around 96Mb.

    I just don't encourage people to spend more money on their computers unless they actually need the hardware.
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  8. #28
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    Jun 2007
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    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Quote Originally Posted by K.Mandla View Post
    I'm kind of surprised that the "add RAM" solution is so popular. Is 1Gb really necessary, except on Windows gaming systems? My machine has been running for more than two hours, surfing, playing music, sorting files, system updates, downloading, compiling -- everything a normal desktop does, and memory load is only 110Mb of 512. Boot to desktop only needs 34Mb.

    Forgive me if I missed a point, but I would look for a faster processor, if you don't actually need, and I mean need, the memory.
    Thats highly unfair: in the terms you're speaking of he already has a grossly overpowered processor, dual cores is beyond any user needs for 85-95% of the time. If he wants more performance, then its more important to give room to the already overpowered processor so it can actually start multitasking with several intensive applications at once, all of which are not only intensive on clock cycles, which he has, but on memory usage too, which he does not have.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Kuala Lumpur and London
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    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    I think most of us missed this important question before answering: What does the OP use his computer for?

    K.Mandla raises some valid points and I have to agree with him. Still, what does the OP use his computer for? Folding@home?

  10. #30

    Re: Should I upgrade my CPU or my RAM?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dimitriid View Post
    Thats highly unfair: in the terms you're speaking of he already has a grossly overpowered processor, dual cores is beyond any user needs for 85-95% of the time. If he wants more performance, then its more important to give room to the already overpowered processor so it can actually start multitasking with several intensive applications at once, all of which are not only intensive on clock cycles, which he has, but on memory usage too, which he does not have.
    You're right in that sense. I'll concede that point if I can find out what applications the OPer is using, and whether or not it's really necessary.

    If the OPer works with Blender and does 3D rendering, then I'm on board: Get more memory. If the OPer dual boots to play Oblivion then by all means -- put as much memory in there as you can.

    On the other hand, if the machine is something to type letters on, download music and send e-mails to an ailing grandmother ... no, I can't suggest spending money on memory -- or a processor, for that matter. Put the money aside for something else -- like a phone call to grandma instead.

    Sorry if I'm being a stickler on this one; I just don't like to suggest someone put more money into a computer if they don't really need it. I've seen too many people buy more memory or a bigger hard drive or something else, usually to the tune of $200 or so, because a salesman-geek at Staples told them it would make the computer "run faster." Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't, but without the need for it, I don't know that it's money well spent.

    Quote Originally Posted by aimran View Post
    Still, what does the OP use his computer for? Folding@home?
    Again, I think that's the most important point.
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