RAM for desktop PC

I know this doesn't really belong to a notebook-related forum, but since there are a lot of experts around here, I'll give it a shot.

I am tempted to upgrade my desktop PC RAM from 2GB (4x 512MB) to a 4GB (2x 2GB) kit. The spec sheet of my PC is as follows:

- AMD Athlon X2 6000+ 3.0 GHz processor
- MSI K9N Neo-F motherboard
- 4x 512MB 800MHz GeIL Value RAM
- ATI Radeon HD4850 512MB graphics card
- Western Digital 250GB (16MB cache, 7200 RPM) hard disk
- Creative Audigy 2 ZS audio card

So, if you would be in my shoes, what (if anything) would you upgrade? And if so, what make and model would you choose? I was aiming for new RAM because the computer tends to lag and I think it's partially because of the fact that there are 4 sticks instead of 2.

Thanks!

 

the RAM, the HDD, perhaps start saving for an Intel X48 Mobo and Intel CPU, or get one of the new Phenom X4 II

 

What OS?

My first thought is something is causing it to lag (process). Find out what is causing it to lag, as you should have plenty of resources unless you are multitasking heavily and running out of memory. Is the HDD activity light on constantly? That is a sign of something, it could be windows indexing, background scanner (av or defrag perhaps), or you are using the pagefile excessively. If it's the pagefile issue, then you should get more ram. The other 2 can be disabled.
First upgrade I would do is RAM (since it is dirt cheap), and then a newer hard drive, something like the WD 640 if the Velociraptor or an SSD is out of the price range.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, but I went through the tips & tricks tutorial here on this forum and I've disabled indexing, all the unnecessary processes and done a few other tricks, so I don't think that's the problem. The catch is that sometimes the computer won't boot at all and then I have to take out 1 or 2 sticks of RAM and reset the BIOS, then put them back in and it works for a while. That's why I suspect that it would be faster with only 2 (larger) sticks of RAM.

Which RAM do you think it's worth buying? I should point out that the motherboard speed limit is 800MHz (i.e. PC-6400).

I should also say that 250GB is enough on that computer for me and since it is 7200RPM fast and has 16MB cache, do you think there's a big difference in performance with the newer (similarly spec-ed) drives? The velociraptor is too expensive for me.

 

may as well just buy DDR2-800.
You sound like you have more issues than just having 4 modules, it sounds like there may be an incompatibility or bad ram or something the like. having 4 modules should not stop a system from booting properly.

Yes, the newer drives have denser platters so faster transfer rates. The 640GB black caviar's also have larger cache. Access times, i can't say how much of a difference or even who is faster.

You can find 150GB Raptors used pretty cheap and they are snappy.

 

Please start a new thread over at DTR. Thank you.

Thread closed.