RAM Upgrade Advice Please

[Chessmaster]

I have recently purchased a second hand Acer Aspire 3000 laptop nice and cheap. Not a great machine, but so cheap I couldn't resist. The first thing I did was format and put on Ubuntu (and wow, the speed improvement over XP was amazing!).

Thing is, it only has 256MB of RAM. What do you recommend I should upgrade to in terms of additional RAM?

Points to note:

Usage = wireless web surfing, music playing (as well as over network), word processing, watching the odd movie.

Type of RAM = DDR 333. Does this at all make a difference speed wise and hence I should try to max it out?

Maximum RAM possible = 2 GB.

What you think I should do? I am leaning towards 1GB more, but looking at other posts it seems that people don't tend to really use more than half to 2/3rds a gig.

Any suggestions?

[SuperSon!c]

I have recently purchased a second hand Acer Aspire 3000 laptop nice and cheap. Not a great machine, but so cheap I couldn't resist. The first thing I did was format and put on Ubuntu (and wow, the speed improvement over XP was amazing!).



that's not really a fair comparison considering XP was someone else's USED OS and you just installed a brand new one. of course it's going to be faster.

as far as your RAM is concerned - right now RAM is dirt cheap. get as much as you can and go brand name, not some other junk. go the full 2GB because you may try things that will need it (Virtual machines for example).

[mips]

If you can get 2GB then get 2GB.

You need PC2700 SDRAM (DDR333) 200pin SO-DIMM ram.

PC3200 (DDR400) will also work so if you get two stick you might as well get two matching ones.

My PC3200 1GB stick is being mailed today so hopefully I have 1.256GB by the weekend :)

[Chessmaster]

Hi thanks for the advice.


If you can get 2GB then get 2GB.

You need PC2700 SDRAM (DDR333) 200pin SO-DIMM ram.

PC3200 (DDR400) will also work so if you get two stick you might as well get two matching ones.

My PC3200 1GB stick is being mailed today so hopefully I have 1.256GB by the weekend :)

Does that mean that you cannot mix RAM types? I have two RAM slots so does that mean that I cannot have some DDR400 RAM with a DDR333, but you can have two of the same.

Cheers

[mips]

Hi thanks for the advice.



Does that mean that you cannot mix RAM types? I have two RAM slots so does that mean that I cannot have some DDR400 RAM with a DDR333, but you can have two of the same.

Cheers

From personal experience you can have both. The ram will however be clocked at the lower 333mhz speed and not 400mhz. If your laptop allows you to change your ram clock speed and you are getting two sticks then go for 400mhz. Mixing ram speeds in this scenario will be fine as the 400mhz ram can be clocked at the lower 333mhz of your existing ram.

I will have the exact same scenario. My laptop has 2x256mb 333mhz sticks in it already, I'm replacing the one with a 1GB 400mhz stick which works fine. Done it before. Sometimes it's also easier or cheaper to find 400mhz ram.

[aaaantoine]

The following link will tell you what you need to know as far as prices go for an Aspire 3000.

http://www.memoryx.net/acas30nome3.html

Looks like DDR is a lot more expensive than DDR2. :( That said, you can get two 512MB DIMMs for $60 from them. You can probably find cheaper if you scour a bit.

[SunnyRabbiera]

get a kingston if you need brand advice, I got a kingston in my compy and she cooks :D

[lswest]

I have recently purchased a second hand Acer Aspire 3000 laptop nice and cheap. Not a great machine, but so cheap I couldn't resist. The first thing I did was format and put on Ubuntu (and wow, the speed improvement over XP was amazing!).

Thing is, it only has 256MB of RAM. What do you recommend I should upgrade to in terms of additional RAM?

Points to note:

Usage = wireless web surfing, music playing (as well as over network), word processing, watching the odd movie.

Type of RAM = DDR 333. Does this at all make a difference speed wise and hence I should try to max it out?

Maximum RAM possible = 2 GB.

What you think I should do? I am leaning towards 1GB more, but looking at other posts it seems that people don't tend to really use more than half to 2/3rds a gig.

Any suggestions?

i have a PC with DDR 333 RAM and i am fine with 1GB of it for Ubuntu 8.04 and i recommend Kingston too, it's pretty reliable. Also, both my ram sticks (2x512) are 333MHz, and really, i don't see a reason to get faster RAM.

[funrider]

why u need more memory on that machine? if you feel lagging when using some apps, try to find out if this was a memory or cpu issue.

ddr is too expensive now comparing to ddr2. i'd rather spend the money on a nice headphone as the only add-on for the laptop.

[Chessmaster]

Hey all, thanks for the advice. Got quite a good deal for 1GB of Hynix RAM with lifetime warranty and my laptop is running faster and smoother than before.


why u need more memory on that machine? if you feel lagging when using some apps, try to find out if this was a memory or cpu issue.

ddr is too expensive now comparing to ddr2. i'd rather spend the money on a nice headphone as the only add-on for the laptop.

Before memory upgrade, the computer was using Swap quite heavily. I realise I don't have the fasted CPU but memory was dragging it down. Now it doesn't even touch the swap since upgrade.

Already have some nice headphones (Sennheiser) - but thanks for the suggestion.

[mips]

Hey all, thanks for the advice. Got quite a good deal for 1GB of Hynix RAM with lifetime warranty and my laptop is running faster and smoother than before.

Before memory upgrade, the computer was using Swap quite heavily. I realise I don't have the fasted CPU but memory was dragging it down. Now it doesn't even touch the swap since upgrade.


Glad to hear things are running better for you. I also got my 1GB laptop ram last Thursday so now I have 1.256GB which is cool.