[mahorokawaii]

High I was just wondering, if I were to upgrade my computers ram from 1gb to 4gb, would my computer suffer from overheating due to the process of the extra ram. (Yeah I dont really know much about this so bare with me.)

My computer specs are
A1359HK
Intel Pentium 4 (CPU 3.20GHz)
1GB Ram
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2

I want to be able to run my graphical programmes smoothly as well as games and other stuff that I do

Thank You.

[Bulletsmith]

Hello ^^
It's basically OK to add up more RAM memory to your PC coz it doesn't overheat your PC at all. And if you still afraid of Overheating in your RAM module, you can buy some RAM Memory Fans such as the Dominator series for Corsair brands of RAM. And most RAM now have their own heat sink so they actually takes the heat off themselves. If you are interested I suggest a Corsair Dominator with heat sink on their RAM body. Here's the product name:
Corsair Dominator QUAD2X4096-8500C5DF
Speed: PC2-8500
RAM Type: 4GB Kit

[Frizby]

No way it will overheat. But you should upgrade Mainboard+CPU instead of RAM, maybe add more 1GB is enough, since your CPU is not high I don't know why would you like to add RAM that much.

[xibo]

my memory is running so hot that i burn my fingers having them 1 cm afar from it, for more then 1 year while my computer is effectively running "all around the clock", but nothing broke yet >.>"
if you worry about memory temperature, put an fan on them , like bulletsmith proposed - it doesn t need to be a special fan for any memory though... in fact if you want to tinker you can build some on your own using two socket 7 fans or so.

after upgrading to 4 GB memory you might consider "upgrading" that xp of yours to vista though, since vista doesn t rely on swap so much and therefore will make better use of the larger amount of memory ( while xp will write swap even if there s still 3 GB memory free )...

[justinefremlouw]

you should consider upgrading your CPU since its only pentium 4

[xibo]

Quote: Originally Posted by justinefremlouw

you should consider upgrading your CPU since its only pentium 4

the pentium 4 's effectively the newest processor though ( if it s a prescott or newer generation that is) , as all the new functionality introduced by the core series ( sse / kni 3s and 4 ) is not yet in use in commercial software and will probably not become either because (1) AMD processors don't support them either and (2) the calculations that can be speeded up with those instructions are usually run in batch over several hunderthousands iterations and the fragment processor also can do them ( and the graphic processor will allways beat the main processor when it comes to large loops with little branching )

on the other hand if a program requires more memory then the operating system can handle to it the program will either not even start or crash while it s running. and recent applications have been quite memory hungry...
vista aero 1GB
kde 4 1GB
world in conflict 2~4GB
64bit firefox 2~8GB
.
.
.
flight simulator X 8GB already, i m certain it can use more ( i don t have more though )
mysql database server 8GB + all my swap, too
... even touhou requires 1GB ram already.

furthermore replacing the processor will probably imply buying a new mainboard ( core processors don t fit pentium x slots ), new memory and in worst case even a new graphics card ( agp->pcimm ) or pata controller card ( recent boards have only one pata cable connector = 2 disks max )

[Frizby]

If you were to up RAM to 4 GB, I'm pretty sure in the future you will regret it. You won't be able to play games with P4 and some AGP VGA, your RAMs can't do anything...

So collect more money and go for new Desktop, 1GB fits for your current spec.

[xibo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Frizby

If you were to up RAM to 4 GB, I'm pretty sure in the future you will regret it. You won't be able to play games with P4 and some AGP VGA, your RAMs can't do anything...

So collect more money and go for new Desktop, 1GB fits for your current spec.

i was using a 500 mhz pentium 3 with 3 gb ram and a geforce 6800 gt until a year and a half ago and the majority of games ran quite good on it >.>'

[mahorokawaii]

Thanks for all the great suggestions, I guess ill just leave my computer to 1gb ram and maybe go for a new computer, Its just that as I checked the specifications for Maya to run smoothly it requires 2gb ram to run...so maybe i should just add 2x 1Gb ram instead?


Also I notice even laptops have 8gb of ram, IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?!?

[xibo]

of cause, there s also core2quad dual graphics card laptops already ;)
laptops with too much `high end` things inside don t run long in battery mode though.

[mahorokawaii]

Haha that is true, I guess those kinda laptops are better to use at home rather than to use it on the go

[dragonnite]

Nope, even ram cause heat but it not as much as processor and graphic. So it won't overheating.

High end laptop ? Whew it's much worth for power but in price and weight ? woaaa. (HE laptop always has weight at least 2.7 kgs or up >.<). And it's very hot...

Well for adding more memory maybe you should just buy 2 GBs RAM than 2x1 GBs RAM. The price 2x1 GB RAM higher than 2 GBs RAM and they will take more slot in your motherboard.

[mahorokawaii]

Ok i guess ill just go buy a 2gb ram tomorrow then, thanks~

[Dark_Clown]

4 GB in a win Xp ??? doesn't work anyway coz its a 32 bit system and needs some addresses already for its own shit

[xibo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dark_Clown

4 GB in a win Xp ??? doesn't work anyway coz its a 32 bit system and needs some addresses already for its own shit

not precisely. the katmai ( first pentium 3 generation ) introduced an extention called pge36 ( 36 bit page extention ) which allows the allocation of 2^36 bytes = 64 Gigabytes of system memory if the operating system supports it. that extention however was removed for the pentium 4 series as it became considered `xeon-only` technology. i'm not sure whether xp supports pge36 but linux > 2.4.16 does, and vista also.
i think xp server / windows 2003 support >3.5 GB memory because they can also handle multiple physical processors and the limit of 4GB is per processor.

if 4 GB are installed in a pure 32 bit environment ( athlon non64 series or pentium 2 processor ) 3.5 GB will be useable by applications while 512 MB become himem ( used by the os only ). a 32bit process can never use more then 2 GB of memory however, independent of *anything*, because the OS considers accesses on 'possitive' signed memory locations as violation.