problems with RAM memory upgrade

I recently upgraded my Dell Inspiron 1520 from 2mb to 4mb of RAM.

There is no noticeable improvement in performance. My BIOS now says "Memory available is less than the memory installed."

My performance monitor says my CPU is running at 90% and RAM is running at 25%.

My system is very clean and does not have much of anything running in the background. I am constantly cleaning an removing old stuff. I have very little but the basics in my start up programs.

I use this PC for MS Office programs, email, and internet. No gaming.

Anyone have any thoughts as to why the full memory upgrade is not being used?

Thanks,

Rob Caldwell

 

If you have a 32 bit version of windows you can only use about 3 gigs of ram, even if you have more installed. If you want to use more ram you need a 64 bit version.
But since you only use 25% of your ram, I don't think that will be necesary.

Personnaly, I didn't notice any difference either when upgrading from 2 to 3 gigs of ram (I thought it would improve my gaming experience but ram hardly affects games). Only siw boots a litle bit faster, but thats all I noticed.

 

Is it possible to upgrade from 32 bits to 64? If so, how is this done?

Thanks,

Rob Caldwell

 

You need to find 64bit install media. As long as it's the same version of Windows (ie Basic, Home Premium, Business, etc) as the one you currently have, you should be able to use a generic disk and activate it with the key on your laptop's CoA.

 

I think a much better question is why you have 90% CPU utilization. That is very abnormal. In your situation you should be near 0% cpu.

The fact that you are only using 25% of ram is good. It means your system has more ram than your programs need. If you upgrade to 64 bit and add more ram, that percentage will only decrease.