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Well my laptop is pretty old, and was wondering if upgrading the RAM would yield a noticeable speed improvement, or if it would be limited due to other factors such as the processor or something.

I want to go from 2x1gb to 2x2gb of ram.

Here's info about my laptop...

  • eMachines e627
  • Windows 7
  • System Type x64-based PC
  • Has 2gb of RAM currently w/ 1.75gb being usable
  • Processor AMD Athlon(tm) Processor TF-20, 1600 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 1 Logical Processor(s)

... If my computer would benefit from ram which of these two would you recommend. Both of them were recommended to me by Crucial.com. DDR2 PC2-5300 or the DDR2 PC2-6400

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  • Can you add what kind of things you on your laptop? Some kind of processing would imporve substantially by adding a GPU, but that's expensive.
    – apoorv020
    May 2, 2011 at 9:23

3 Answers 3

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The first thing you need to do is conduct some testing to see if RAM is even an issue in the first place. Open up the system monitor, perform some normal activities, and watch the free physical RAM value. If it drops too low (to about 10% or less of total physical RAM) then you have a RAM issue and would benefit from getting more.

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  • Based on my anecdotal evidence, whenever Win7 dips below 30% of available RAM, you slow down significantly. Apr 30, 2011 at 20:27
  • Just don't confuse "available RAM" with "free RAM". They're completely different things. Mar 3, 2016 at 20:28
3

Absolutely. There are latent performance gains that open up when you go to 4GB.

The way Windows 7 (and Vista before it) work is that it uses free RAM to load it up with applications you use most often (it's a lot more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it). Thus when you actually start the app, it loads a lot faster.

I would go even one further - upgrade to the max RAM your computer will take, particularly with the RAM prices being what they are.

As far as which memory kit to get? Definitely the 6400 - it's a bit faster and since the price is the same, it's a no brainer.

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  • 1
    Not "definitely". Until we know what RAMs are present on @Michael's system, saying definitely got got 6400 can cause problems if his existing RAMs are 5300
    – Sathyajith Bhat
    Apr 30, 2011 at 5:43
  • @Sathya How so? The 6400 is backwards compatible with 5300, it'll just run at a speed to match 5300. The OP is saying that Crucial is recommending either one, presumably via their scanner tool, so I'd say, yes, definetely. Apr 30, 2011 at 20:26
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First of all it depends on your usage. If you want to play heavy games or use some high-level animation software than run it and check if your RAM is 20% idle or not. If not then I recommend you upgrade your RAM as it will speed up your PC.

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