compaq presario C502us ram question

recently i bought this laptop http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Compaq-Presario-15-4-Widescreen-Notebook-PC-C502US/sem/rpsm/oid/169873/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
and i hear i definitely should upgrade the ram to at least 1gig. i really want to be able to use Reason 3.0 and play counter strike source on it but so far with only 512 ram i can only play cs , and reason 3.0 runs relatively ok on vista. Could you guys suggest a few ram upgrades that would be compatible with my computer. I'm looking to add another 1gig of ram or another 512. the laptop came with one 512. so if possible could someone suggest what the best buy for me would be. I really don't want to spend more than like 75 so suggestions for a 1g or 512g ram for my laptop would be great. with added ram could i play cs source? im also looking for a case for this laptop to, not to carry in backpack or anything preferable a small one , suggestions welcome : ). thanks!

 

Gaming on an integrated graphics card means that performance won't always be the highest. More RAM will help, and an increase to 1 Gb or more will help all applications, particularly on Vista. Any reputable brands such as G. Skill, Corsair and Kingston will be fine. The type of RAm you will be looking for is 200 pin, SODIMM DDR2 running at a speed of 533 or 667 MHz. You should be able to get a 1 GB modules for about $70. Since you have 512 MB at the moment, it is likely that your notebook has two 256 MB modules inside it. That means, if you buy a $70, 1 GB module, you will have 1.256 GB, and you will have a spare 256 MB module, since you must remove one, to install the larger density.

Bear in mind, that RAM will not be answer to everything. When you do upgrade, that is probably as fast as the notebook will go in terms of gaming, because of the integrated graphics.

 

1. it has one 512 MB module. thanks for the help just wondering, could someone please give me a link to a 1gig memory card for 70 like the brand you suggested that would work with my laptop, that'd be really great. : )

do you think with around 1.5gb of ram on this machine It'll be able to play counter strike source possibly or doom 3 relatively well?

 

Have you actually taken the cover off to see if you only have one memory module inside? Both of my laptops came with two modules. Mine is older and it had (2) 256's for 512 and my wifes newer pc has (2) 512's for 1gig. Most store bought pc's do this because it is cheaper for the manufacturer to build it this way. In any case if you plan on playing games with it the more ram the better!! I would purchase 1gig to start and get another Gig later. On board video's need all the help they can get, especially when gaming.

Leon

 

The RAM modules linked below should work fine with our notebook. Don't worry about the different frequencies, as the 667 MHz RAM will automatically clock to the same frequency as the FSB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231042

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231091

 

Well weste47, I used to advise people that as long as they switch CS:S to DX7 compatibility mode, they can game on an integrated Intel video card.

Since then, I've had a chance to see it in action, and the results weren't too pretty (literally and figuratively). You won't game so much as wince in agony.

As for the RAM addition, another gig will help you run some of the more memory intensive applications. You can find if it is memory intensive by looking at the program's system requirements, ignoring that, then looking at its recommended specs. If the recommended is 1GB, and the difference between the recommended and required is not some crazy ratio, then getting the RAM upgrade is worth it. If the recommended is 512MB, then it isn't. Getting more RAM will not help your integrated video card one bit, no matter how much of it you allocate to VRAM.

 

is the downside of having this integrated video card only playing games and like watching movies and stuff? i dont really mind that much not being able to play source, but i'de like to do music stuff on it, and play some basic games, and stuff.

 

If your definition of basic games is 2D side scroller games or cards, sure. You may even be able to do some old 3D stuff (say something from 4 years ago). Music, videos, surfing, email, etc. are all fine.

 

i think your the standards of the gma 950 a little to low, you definitely have more knowledge on computers than i do, but when i did have my laptop (before the hardrive crapped out and i had to send it in to hp) i had regular counter strike installed with the 512 ram still and it ran perfect but that is more than 4 years old : p.

i'm wondering would you guys suggest me allocating some of my ram memory to the video ram or whatever once i add the 1gig of ram?

also is it possable to buy a graphics card for this computer? or is that not possible with this integrated gma 950.

 

Counterstrike was released June 19, 1999, making it about 8 years old which is why you're running it perfectly.

You cannot upgrade the gma 950, althought there is an external graphics card option available through the Asus XG Station.

 

how come you said getting more ram and allocating more to the VRAM won't help gaming or anything? i thought it made it faster or somthing? what exactly would adding to vram help? because if its worth it should i add a little more once i get this ram upgrade?

also last question : p, does the integrated video card matter that much if i'm not doing games and nothing more than basic video watching?

 

I just bought the Compaq 502 also. We bought a 1 G memory stick to add (a ton of people to me that with vista this would help it run faster). I got it at circuit city for $70 (it had a lot of rebates, regularly $159). Now my question is how do I add this myself?

Kristy

 

There is a limit to how mch extra graphics performance can be obtained by allocating more RAM to the graphics card. Intergrated graphics cards are not very powerful, so they can't handle a hige amount of graphics RAM, as it would result in inefficiency, and would cap off the total performance. If your integrated graphcs is sharing more than 64 MB, then it will not help graphics performance by using more RAM, and then allowing the graphics to access more of it.

The graphics used will make no difference to the performance of watching a movie. Practically any graphics card will deal with movies and video on the notebook.

 

ah ok so basically not having a great graphics card only effects gaming and stuff.

 

In your situaion, yes. In others, where the graphics card is very powerful, and a weak processor has been coupled to it, the performance would be limited by the processor. This case doesn't appear often though, as the standard processor that are bundled in with most notebooks are sutible for even the fastest of graphics cards.

 

hey so im not sure if you answered this sorry , just wondering will these both work on my laptop??? cuz i see one is PC2 4200 and the other one is PC2 5400. not sure if thats what you ment by frequences im not very knowledgable with this kind of stuff : P. but which one would you get if you where me out of those 2? because they are the same price and im about to buy one so just wondering which one might be slightly a teensy bit better.

 

In response to the previous question from weste, VRAM is used to hold texture data for your GPU before it is processed and pixel data can be rasterized onto your display. If your GPU just can't process that much information to begin with or lacks the hardware to do so, then allocating more RAM for it is useless. Also, dedicated VRAM is typically faster than main RAM, so you have to take that into consideration as well. Really, an integrated solution is just a "make do" tepee for gaming. If you want to do any serious 3D gaming in your house, get a dedicated card.

For the RAM you're about to buy, it will only operate as fast or as efficiently as the RAM module that came with your computer. If your 512MB RAM is operating at 533Mhz, then just get the PC2 4200 to match. If your 512MB RAM is operating at 667Mhz, then get the PC2 5400 to match. Just follow this rule and you're fine, don't worry about memory downclocking or anything like that.

 

hey im not sure what frequency my ram is at or whatever, but im going to run down to best buy or circuit city to pick up a 512 one instead of 1g since i wont be doing much gaming on it. i went to this website and this is what it said for compatability with my computer http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Presario+C502US
so if someone could help me find somthing like one of those 512 cards for my computer from best buy or circuit city that'd be great!!! thanks so much for the help. links are good if you find one or a few.