Ethernet .VS. USB and RAM question

[Guest]

#1 - I just recently got an Ethernet card from a friend. My broadband/DSL
modem has dual connect, and up till now I have been using the USB connection.
What are the advantages to using Ethernet over USB, is it faster? More Stable?

#2 - How can I find out what the max RAM my computer can handle is? So far I
have 512mb installed, and my friend gave me a 128mb stick, and I want to use
it. Is there any way of finding out? Or is the input of RAM endless?

Thanks for all your help

 

[Tim Slattery]

#1 - I just recently got an Ethernet card from a friend. My broadband/DSL
modem has dual connect, and up till now I have been using the USB connection.
What are the advantages to using Ethernet over USB, is it faster? More Stable?

Ethernet is considerably faster than USB.

#2 - How can I find out what the max RAM my computer can handle is? So far I
have 512mb installed, and my friend gave me a 128mb stick, and I want to use
it. Is there any way of finding out? Or is the input of RAM endless?

It's not endless, your motherboard will have a limit. The best way to
find out what it is is to look in the documentation that came with the
MB. If the limit is 512MB, I don't think you'll do any hard by
plugging in the extra 128MB. It probably just won't be recognized. In
any event, if you plug it in and things don't work right, just take it
back out.

 

[Al Dykes]

Ethernet is considerably faster than USB.


It's not endless, your motherboard will have a limit. The best way to
find out what it is is to look in the documentation that came with the
MB. If the limit is 512MB, I don't think you'll do any hard by
plugging in the extra 128MB. It probably just won't be recognized. In
any event, if you plug it in and things don't work right, just take it
back out.

If youv're got a USB2 connection to the broadband you probably won;t
see any speed differnce if you switch to ethernet. If you've got USB2
and it's reliable I say don't mess with it.

If it's USB1 you might see _some_ imprevement if you've got a very
fast broadband connectiom. If you've got a cheap connection (ie 256/768)
you won't see any imporvement.

512MB is more than enough memory unless you are running a game or
application that says it can use more. 512MB is fine for email,
internet explorer, and MS office.

 

[John McGaw]

#1 - I just recently got an Ethernet card from a friend. My broadband/DSL
modem has dual connect, and up till now I have been using the USB connection.
What are the advantages to using Ethernet over USB, is it faster? More Stable?

#2 - How can I find out what the max RAM my computer can handle is? So far I
have 512mb installed, and my friend gave me a 128mb stick, and I want to use
it. Is there any way of finding out? Or is the input of RAM endless?

Thanks for all your help

USB is not a network protocol/connection and to make it work at all with
a modem requires some kludging -- normally in the form of additional
software. Since ethernet is a proper network protocol/connection it will
work without any additional software. Since the software provided by
some ISPs with their modems can be intrusive and is considered by some
to be potential spyware getting rid of it will usually be for the
better. I doubt that you will see any sort of speed change since even a
fast DSL connection is not all that fast but getting rid of the ISP's
"driver" software might help stability.

As for RAM, the easiest way I know of is to check the documentation
provided by the motherboard's manufacturer. Some motherboards require
that additions, if any, be made in pairs. Others will work fine with the
addition of a single stick. Also, there are only a finite number of RAM
sockets on any MB and once all of them are filled then increasing the
total amount of RAM will require getting rid of some stick(s) and
replacing it/them with larger ones. I doubt you will see any noticeable
improvement adding 128K to 512K. I just got done going from 512K to
1024K on my main system and the change is just barely noticeable.