Question about RAM upgradation......

Hi everyone

I m currently using compaq CQ40-330 TU laptop with windows 7 64 bit OS. it has 2 gb DDRII RAM. but now i m feeling a bit slow and want to upgrade RAM to say 4 gb.

Anything i should keep in mind while making this change... i hv very little knowledge in this hardware field so need help from u guys.


Thanks in advance

 

my advice would be to use the tool at www.crucial.com (USA) or www.crucial.com/uk (united kingdom) to see what upgrade options are avaliable.

I had a quick search and found out that laptop supports up to 8gb of memory.

 

Thanks everyone

the two links are really usefull. one last question i wanted to increase my HDD to 500 GB ( currently its 160 GB). now instead of increasing the RAM if i change my OS to windows 7 32 bit ( now its win7 64 bit). will my system run smooth. Is this a good idea considering i dont do heavy work on this laptop.

waiting for your opinion

with regards
gautam

 

Chances are that a 32 bit will require less ressources than 64 bit so , yes your system ought to run smoother with a 32 bit O.S. .
However , performance will in general depend on many factors.
Notebooks does in general perform poorer than "stationary PCs" because they have a lot of power considerations to make, so for example the notebook harddrive will, at this point, most often perform poorer. But if you put in a high quality Solid State Disc Drive (more expensive) that ought to boost performance.
If you got performance problems then see if there is any of the modern Windows "eye candy" that you could possibly turn off. Also some "security suites" can be a terrible strain on especially some notebooks, so in general everything that you got running on your computer in form of "back ground proccesses" will drag performance down, so check in general how much you got running on your PC (and check if it is needed).
I am not suggesting that you ought to for example turn of your security software but only that you do not have more things running than necessary and that you find (test) which security software (that will do the job) with least impact on general performance...

(P.S. , How much a RAM upgrade will help is in general a question of how "RAM hungry" your system really is)

 

I would go for the RAM upgrade and keep the 64-bit version

 

By the way....
H.P. (Compaq) also offers this : Improving the Performance of Your Computer Compaq Presario CQ40-330TU Notebook PC , where they give advice on how to in general improving performance.

 

Let's pretend that I'm a "newbie" and knows nothing about computers and that "gautam7" could "downgrade" from 64 Bit to 32 Bit for free , could you then be so kind as to educate me ?
If "gautam7" is not going to use the PC for any "heavy lifting" and the PC is never going to get better than the "Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2Ghz)" (see tab "specs) CPU it got (2 MB cache) , then why the "high horse" stick to your 64 ?
Is there any significant advantages, others than those already known (like e.g. the breaking of the memory and drive size barriers), with 64 Bit Windows 7 contra 32 Bit Windows 7, that would make the 64 Bit Windows 7 better than the 32 Bit Windows 7 ? .
I knows that I am old fashioned , no need to tell me that , I also knows and understands that people are forced to upgrade to newer Windows (such as "7") to gain access to uilizing newer technologies, I am however not aware that there exists "advantages only" with respect to "upgrading" from a 32 Bit Windows O.S. to a 64 Bit Windows O.S.
(?)
just curious as to the seemingly "general attitude"/"consensus" here.....

 

Thank you very much for the answer that, in my opinion , were not as negative as one might have imagined and in fact quite explanatory as to your recommendations.
I reasoned otherwise :
The machine might not have been delivered in India (forum "handle" "gautam7" let me to believe that "gautam7" were Indian , as well as the type of machine) with a Windows O.S. because in "Indian cafegadgets.com's decription" of the machine (tab : specifications) it says that it is delivered with "Free DOS".
Also : though "gautam7" profess little knowledge with respect to "this hardware field" in the initial post then that is not the same as not understanding the installation of an O.S. .
Though I can understand and respect your maxims, then I guess we basically handle these situations in different ways.
I had to do over many years with very many people that understood very little about computers and software and with people of varying degrees of "learning curves". But as I told my beloved mother the first time I put a computer on the table in front of her, and she hardly dared touch the mouse not to speak of turning on the computer by pushing the button, then after I had taken a backup then there were very little apart from she hurting the computer physically that could not be fixed easily and within a very short time by me restoring the PC from the backup (ofcourse I used very good quality backup software only). In this "way" I have helped many over their "fears" over computers and "what if" . Even most of the least knowledgeable mostly can be "trained" to restore from a backup (some of them by instructions from a piece of paper) , it is however very nice after god knows how many problems with god knows how many computers then when the phone rings one may just tell people to restore from their backup and not bother me. Ofcourse adept "pupils" "worthy" of the time further instructions take will then soon learn a lot about handling computers and be able to do most things themselves because they are no longer afraid of the software "per se".... Sad thing is though that people seldom understand how their minds works so once they are "flying" they generally think that they learned it themselves....

In this case however then "gautam7" suggests by own accord an eventual re-install with another O.S. which suggest that the person knows how to install an O.S. or knows someone that can do it.
Of course, in case of any doubts then suggesting that they take a backup of the existing installation, by using a high quality backup program, that they may easily revert to their prior installation, is always a good idea.
In fact , I always recommend at least two such backups, firstly of the basic Windows installation with drivers, ecetera... and secondly when they are finished installing their computer as they want it , this way no problem if something goes haywire, or someone needs to revert to a former installation

 

Thanks for ur opinion guys and sorry for the delay

@ Fiat lux thanks for pointing out about RAM hungriness of the system. i thought about that too but in my present situation with 2 gb DDR 2 RAM and windows 7 64 bit my system uses about 32-35 percentage of RAM when i m doing nothing. its quite normal so i thought my software ( includind security software like Avast, MBAM free, SAS free spywareblaster free and winpatrol plus) and back ground service are not putting much pressure.

@ JR viejo if truth be told i dont need the computing power of 64 bit, all my work will fit easilly in 32 bit OS. i m only sticking to the 64 bit version because think ( may be i m wrong) that 64 bit versions r more resistant to virus attack than the 32 bit OS. IMO if i move to xp then it will be a downgrade. but from 64 to 32 bit wasn"t a downgrade.

I hv also thought about buying the external HDD but canceled this idea mainly because it comes with a USB 2.0 interface not SATA so the data transfer rate in my opinion will be very very slow, in my 4 gb pendrive the transfer rate is only around 5mbps. thats why i want to go for a internal HDD replacement with SATA and 7200 rpm.


ok now HDD replacement is not a big problem but surely RAM replacement is because the RAM have to be exact same in nature. HDD dont hv such a problem so i m reluctant to go for a RAM upgradation.


MY only concern rt now is when my 500 HDD will gradually fill up then will my system with the combination of win 7 32 bit OS and 2 GB DDR 2 RAM become slow or unstable. If the answer is yes then i think i hv no choice but to upgrade the RAM as well.


again waiting for your valuable opinion

With regards
Gautam7

 

@Fiat_Lux

Since the OP said that his PC felt "a little Slow", I have a feeling that gautam7 would gain more speed by adding more RAM than downgrading to a 32-bit version, even if it's free.

And IMO you don't need to be a techie person to upgrade the RAM, since the RAM is usually quite easy to reach inside a notebook.

To the OP: What do you usually use your PC for? Do you play a lot of Games etc.. Or just surfing the web...?
If you do play a lot of Games and do other heavy tasks then 4GB of RAM is really the best way to go.

 

@ Swex

I dont play game this laptop is just for websurfing, my office rellated work ( MS office is sufficient for that), movie waching etc

 

@ "SweX"

If you read my posts I don't think that you will find anything contradicting your thinking more RAM would be nice......
In fact I use Win XP 32 Bit and got 4GB RAM myself and for most systems I actually do recommend 3 or 4 GB of RAM to people (depending on their chipsset - some chipssets won't report much more than 3GB even if you put in 4 GB).
But as I do not have any "hang ups" with respect to "downgrading" from 64Bit to 32 Bit (if user have no specific reason to run 64 Bit) then I IMO would guess that system performance ought to increase by using a 32 Bit version in any case.....
But of course : opinions differ....

@ "gautam7"

How RAM hungry an O.S. is depends on more factors, but I personally think that it would also depend on if you run 32 Bit version or 64 Bit version. However , people talk about "a sweet spot" with resepect to performance versus how much RAM you put in.
Personally I always recommend plenty of RAM if people asks because it tends to make system more responsive. Also when your computer has been running for a while then not all programs gets the memory they used freed properly when you close down. Also gaming may take up quite a lot more RAM than you think , especially when your game has been running for a while, so lots of RAM is always nice.
But as we all knows then it is also a matter of finances...
I would still guess that a 32 Bit version would be lighter for your system than a 64 Bit version....
With respect to the external harddrive then I am not sure of the possible transfer speed of a Laptops PCMCIA port but these guys promise up to triple speed compared to USB 2, meaning that if you want an external harddrive you can make a google search for PCMCIA to SATA and find adaptors and you could then buy suitable equipment and cable to connect it to an external box that supports eSATA.
If it should suit your purpose as well as your wallet please check out products like these (these are meant as examples and nothing more, please always check out any products properly prior to any purchase!!!) :
32 Bit Serial ATA 2 port PCMCIA Card Bus Controller
PCMCIA to SATA - eSATA Adapters
ICY BOX IB-318STUS2-B

 

Thanks Fiat lux your last post is really helpfull. i will definetly look through those links.

This is my first topic in this forum and i am very happy that all of you stick with me for this long. I have now through understanding of the basic thing.

Thanks again everyone for your time and support. If i run into any trouble in future i will surely come back for help . untill then good by.

With regards
Gautam7

 

Agreed.

Though, what I meant was that I think that the speed increase would be bigger more noticeably by adding more RAM, than just downgrading the OS. And a better choice for the future, but that's my opinion

 

Ofcourse newer O.S.'s are the future and so wil 64 Bit be at one time.
I think that the real problem is though that the perfect choice for O.S. does not exist, I constantly try to convey this to people that asks.
Not all software will run on a newer O.S. like Vista , and not all software will run on a 64 Bit O.S. . On the other hand then if people stick to say Windows XP then there will be newer software that will not run on Win XP and stuff like DirectX 10+ and apparantly also I.E. 9 won't run on Win XP either.
So what is a person to do ? , we can't get out of the situation because we can't virtualize our software compatability problems away because engines such as Virtual PC (no DX support) and VM Ware Workstation does not have perfect emulation and does not offer perfect DirectX emulation.
I've written Micro$oft more times and told them to create the perfect Virtual PC rather than pocketing all the money but Micro$oft appear to have a hearing problem
So when having bought X number of pieces of software and games you would want to have these things run perfectly on any new O.S. also or atleast through/on a free perfect virtual machine on the new O.S. , but this is not the situation.
So as far as I am concerned then the perfect O.S. does not exist.


@ "Gautam7"

If you read any of this then please make sure that any PCMCIA product that you might buy got drivers and is fully compatible with your O.S.