Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 or 4GB DDR2?

I have a newly-repaired E5500 right here and I'm ready to replace my desktop with it. But it runs Netflix very badly due to the RAM bottleneck. Specs are:

Intel T7250 2GHz
1GB PC2-5300
Crucial M4 64GB
GMA 4500MHD
Windows 7 Home

All I want to do is just word processing and Netflix so I don't need a beast of a laptop. Will 2GB be okay?

My old L300 with similar specs but 2GB RAM and a GMA4500M could run netflix well, just got a bit hairy when using full HD. So I'm guessing it's the RAM.

Cheers

 

Actually it getting "hairy" would be down to the DDR2 RAM, not the RAM size itself. Since the GMA uses system RAM for all its storage needs, xfer speeds for HD videos would be a major bottleneck. If you are bottlenecked by the RAM speed and not the size, increasing the capacity will not change things. You could check to see if your RAM is getting filled up by checking RAM usage when watching something on Netflix. If your RAM isn't getting full, the only thing that could help would be a new laptop.

 

Oh crud yeah, completely forgot about the GMA RAM sharing. The two sticks of unmatched non-brand rubbish are getting absolutely hammered at 90% usage just while browsing. So hopefully 2x1GB of decent quality matched RAM should fix it.

 

First and foremost, T7250 has to go. With only 2MB L2 cache and outdated Merom structure, it will struggle with most video applications.

Try replacing it with a T9300.

Secondly, 4GB of RAM should be plenty for the suggested use. I doubt that DDR2 800 vs. DDR2 667 will make any difference.

Happy upgrading.

 

Then I stand corrected.

T9400 would be my recommendation, and there's one available in the Marketplace for $20...

 

T7250 is deffo going, will be replaced with a P8600. (I didn't find a noticeable increase going from T3000 to T9300 on my old laptop, but I need all the frames I can get)

I'm tempted to just upgrade to some decent 800MHz 2x1GB dual channel sticks. Might snag some 2x2GB if I find a nice deal though.

Also, as mentioned earlier - my internet connection actually turned out to be messed up at the time. It's running a lot smoother now but still not quite there.

 

Definitely 4GB, even if it's slower 667 MHz RAM (dual channel makes up for it)! 2GB just doesn't cut it anymore, 8GB is the comfortable minimum nowadays, in my opinion. Even Firefox with 10 tabs open can use 1 whole Gigabyte...

 

It would be but remember DDR2 are expensive right now especially if you want to go 4x2=8gig that is going to cost you. So unless your doing app intensive work stay away from 4x2 for the time being unless you got the cash to burn.

 

Went for 2x2GB HP PC6400 RAM in the end. Worked a charm, never come close to maxing out physically memory now! Also changed the T7250 for a P8700. Runs Netflix 1080p no problem.

 

Cheers for updating your post with what worked for you - this will be a help for anyone with a similar question.

Glad to hear the upgrades went well. The E5500 is a pretty durable notebook, we have plenty of them where I work. They've had a pretty solid track record over the last couple of years and we don't baby them.

 

I would go with 4GB. That's the "sweet spot" for Windows 7. I had an old desktop that I used as a basic media server and it only had 2GB and just lagged and was too slow in general. It was original DDR so no way to install 4GB RAM since it only had two slots. In any case, I use 4GB with an AMD E-350 and Intel SU4100 laptops now that are used as media servers and Windows 7 and both are plenty fast. 2GB is just too little. It was plenty for XP but not 7.