Make your PC go faster by adding more memory

From Group 1, Card 1

Turbo power your PC for higher performance

This topic was featured in Group 1, Card 5. Here, you will find additional advice and links to further useful items and information on the internet…

As time goes by, you may find your PC is not the machine it once was in terms of performance. It’s easy to forget that adding new faster programs and upgrades for your existing programs will make ever greater demands on it.

Although it may seem that the only option for the PC home user is to upgrade to a new computer, this is, thankfully, not the case. Modern computers are designed in such a way that anyone can upgrade and add individual system components. So what do you upgrade and how? In terms of noticeable performance and cost, adding more memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory) as it is technically known, is the most effective upgrade you can do.

So how does RAM affect your PC’s performance? Well, every program you have open on your computer needs a memory space in which to work and this is exactly what RAM provides. If RAM becomes full then it has to borrow space from your PC’s hard disk. One way to tell if your PC has insufficient RAM is to look at the green hard drive indicator light on your PC. If it is flashing constantly, it’s a sign that your hard disk may be working as memory space for your programs, rather than doing its proper job, which is to act as storage space for your files.

Luckily, adding more RAM to your PC is quite straightforward – you simply need to place a new RAM chip into the relevant slot inside your PC. It’s easy to find out how much RAM you already have. To find out how much RAM a program needs, check its system requirements on the packaging or on its manufacturer’s website. As a rough guide, if you are using Windows XP and plan to run a couple of programs at the same time, for example, an internet browser and a word processor, your PC should have about 512MB of RAM.