how can i tell whether my machine will benefit from a memory addition and video card upgrade

[msim]

I have a Pentium 4 2.53GHz, Asus MoBo. 1GB of RAM. 32MB AGP card.
I do have several applications open at once, including memory hungry photo
editing applications.

I am not happy with my machine's speed. Is there a way for me to tell
whether I will benefit from adding more RAM and upgrading the video card?
Any clues? Thank you!

 

[kony]

I have a Pentium 4 2.53GHz, Asus MoBo. 1GB of RAM. 32MB AGP card.
I do have several applications open at once, including memory hungry photo
editing applications.

Task Manager- peak memory utilization reading is needed.

I am not happy with my machine's speed. Is there a way for me to tell
whether I will benefit from adding more RAM and upgrading the video card?
Any clues? Thank you!

You will not benefit from a video card upgrade for general
system use, including several applications, nor for photo
editing.

 

[msim]

the peak memory usage is less tha nthe memory available. however, the
machine also seems to be using page file...

and switching from one open window to another is not immediate... that is
why i think that a video card might help. but then wondering if there is a
tool that will measure the peak video memory usage just the one can see the
peak memory usage...


Thanks!

 

[kony]

the peak memory usage is less tha nthe memory available. however, the
machine also seems to be using page file...

Available is just what remains out of the total memory, but
even so, your report is an indicaton you have enough memory
providing that reading was taken after demanding uses, not
only after having rebooted the system but not yet doing
anything demanding (as would otherwise occur).

and switching from one open window to another is not immediate... that is
why i think that a video card might help. but then wondering if there is a
tool that will measure the peak video memory usage just the one can see the
peak memory usage...

Then perhaps you do have other occasions where more memory
would help. If the peak goes too high it flushes the
filecache which then needs reloaded. Note whether the HDD
activity light comes on in those cases. Also check
background applications as some thing (especially virus or
spyware) may use a lot of CPU time, so scan the system for
such things.

Switching from one window to another is not a matter of
video card speed, any card made in the past few years can
easily display fast enough that there is no perceptible lag
in 2D desktop (typical) uses.

 

[msim]

This sounds like a good idea!

I will see if my machine writes to the HDD. And then also observe the peak
usage.

Thanks for clarifying that a video card will not help for 2D graphics. I do
not play video games and neither do I do video editing.

 

[Tekmanx]

I agree with kony. The video card will not help. In reference to your
photo editing/memory usage ordeal, I suggest you opening the max amount
of images you use and checking the memory usage.

Case and Point
--------------------------
I use photoshop (Photoshop Cs2) here myself and notice that it uses, to
be exact 63.7mb of memory without any images loaded. Next I open a
1.2mb file. Quickly I notice the peak usage goes up to 90.7mb. Run a
quick mosaic filter and already I have 108.4mb in use. Now think about
this.. I'm not a professional photo editor, but I picture one to have
at least 3-5 images open at peak while editing one main image in the
foreground with tons of effect/adjustments in use. Photoshop holds all
of the different states in the history bar. I'm not too sure but I
think if you create a snapshot in the history bar after a lot of
editing and have the old edit points removed you will free up some
memory at the expense of losing those old history checkpoints. Now,
Windows Xp Pro, in my case, on idle boot uses 190mb-220mb. This is all
assuming you are using the same OS version and photo editing program
that I am. You would have.. I'm guessing 500mb-700mb in use at peak?
Let's add to the dish, say you have three browser open surfing your
favorite royalty free image site. I've seen pages use up to 100mb.. as
a matter of fact this very page (Without images!) uses about 50mb of
memory. What do we have now? I'm guessing 800mb-1024mb(Which is your
memory limit!).

Ok I didn't mean to scare you there, but this is not an every day
scenario. It just may be exactly what's going on when you take long to
swap between windows, your system is taking something off your
desk(Memory) and putting it in the drawer(HD). This I might add is too
slow for me as a geek!

End note - 'I' would upgrade to at least 1.5gb of memory.

Tekmanx

 

[msim]

Is is absolutely slower than I would like for me too. I am somewhere on the
geek border myself!

I think I should upgrade to 1.5GB. That means I should buy a 1GB memory
module. My machine uses a PC2700 DDR RAM. Let me put it this way that it
currently has two memory banks, a 512MB and a 128MB PC2700. Therefore, I
believe it is best for me match a PC2700 1GB memory bank.

Any suggestions as to where I can buy it from would be very helpful.
Obviously I would rather pay the least necessary.

I purchased a Kingston 512MB value RAM from CCity and that does not seem to
work. Good think because I should in any case be buying a 1GB bank...

 

[msim]

Given that I have had a mismatch with the Kingston RAM, I am wondering if
there is a utility which can examine my machine and tell me exactly which
RAM will work for my setup?

Thanks!

 

[msim]

Tekmanx,

Got to ask you one more question: How did you measure the exact memory that
a program uses? Is it using the Windows native process meter?

Thanks!

 

[Tekmanx]

Well with Windows Xp it's Alt+Ctrl+Del. Next you will go to "Task
Manager" and go to the "Performance" tab. By default you should have -
'Image Name', 'User Name', 'Session ID', 'CPU', 'Mem Usage'. Of course
the 'Mem Usage' column will list the amount of memory being used for
each program. You can add extra columns by going to the view menu on
the bar on top and going to "Select Columns". I would suggest you
adding "Peak Mem Usage" that way you can see not only how much memory a
program is currently using, but how much it used at it's peak.

About the type of memory, there's a nice app called "cpuz" don't know
what the 'z' stands for but go ahead and download it:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/CpuZ-Download-6980.html

Play with it, there's a memory tab that will give you your memory info,
in there you can see the model/speed of your memory. I'm using pc3200
ddr which is 400mhz. Common speeds include: pc2100, pc2700 and pc3200.
As far as I know...anything above that is experimental or of
overclockers only. Divide the number by the number eight and you get
your dram clock speed. (Ex. pc2700/8=333mhz)

Tekmanx

 

[Tekmanx]

I get my stuff from www.newegg.com. Not expensive, not cheap. Recently
I bought two sticks from them that were refurbished. One was 512mb
pc3200 kingston, the other 512mb pc2700 kinston. The first one I got
worked fine, I bought it for like.. $35 I think it was. The second
stick on the other hand failed me, the pc rebooted like 10mins after
restart. Next I ran this Memory Diagnostic Util from
Microsoft.com..check it out :

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/mtinst.exe

The stick failed like 2 of the 6 tests over and over. So I shipped it
back. I found it to be quite a saver to buy refurbished memory. RMA
memory, in my opinion is really convenient...just as good as the new
one I think, and if it fails (Rare case).. they replace it. The last
stick failed me but that won't stop me from ordering refurbished at $35
especially when the new one will cost $60+..almost double.

Tekmanx

 

[msim]

Thanks for the advice.

In the case when your memory stick did not work, did you have to pay for the
shipping back and nothing else? Or since it did not work, newegg paid for
the return shipping also?

I would not mind saving money buying refurbished memory. Next stop Newegg.

The reason I ask for the return policy etc is because the Kingston that I
purchased from CCity is supposed to work with my MoBo. However, it does not
work and their Level 1 tech support has no advice. I have been advised to
call Level 2 support tomorrow. Therefore, I worry that I might buy something
from Newegg and if it does not work will have to return etc...

 

[msim]

Also, you seem to be mixing PC2700 and PC3200. Is that an ok thing to do?

I have PC2700 currently in my machine. However, I would not mind buying
PC3200 because there seems to be more of that going around...

 

[Tekmanx]

Sorry to confuse there, the memory was for two different systems. About
the return policy, I had to pay to have it mailed back to Newegg.com.
You can pay like less than a buck to send back USPS, I sent it back
priority mail though, should be there in two days (Tuesday upcoming).

About the memory speeds and which one to get, I'm gonna make a post on
that in a bit. I got a few questions about that myself... see your
CPU's front side bus might be running at.. say 400mhz+ while memory at
333mhz(pc2700) that means your overall bus speed is at 333mhz
regardless of the fact that your cpu can serve you at a higher rate,
sorta like a bottleneck. I ended up pulling down my pc3200 speed
(400mhz) to like 350mhz and pushing my CPU FSB (AMD ahtlon 3200+) from
333mhz to 350mhz. They now run at a 1:1 ratio.

Tekmanx

 

[msim]

I will also go ahead and post some machine specs in a separate mail and ask
for advice on what I can do to speed up my machine some.
I think I can push out my purchase by another year...