Computers and Memory (1 Viewer)

[ShiftZZ]

Right,

I am thinking of replacing my trusty Dell for a new PC.

Question is this..

I am looking at either an i5 or i7 processor, most appear to come with 4GB memory and a 1TB hard drive..

What is the performance benefit of adding say 16GB as compared to 4GB, will I see a vast improvement in performance?

 

[ukbill]

the ram should speed it up it also depends of the possessor but i recommend a lenova over any other make if that helps ya

 

[DuxDeluxe]

16GB might be a bit OTT but as the yanks say, "there ain't no substitute for cubic inches" so more is always better. Talking to our resident IT nerd (my son) he would have gone for i7 and 8GB with a possibility to put more in later:thumb:

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[GJH]

We bought Broken Link Removed for Jill a couple of weeks ago and it flies plenty fast enough for her embroidery graphics processing (which is why we went for the 17 inch screen).

I've been using a similar machine with 6GB RAM and a 15.6 inch screen for well over a year now and that is fine for the general use I undertake.

 

[freelanderuk]

it all depends on what programme's you wish to run , i use a pc with an i5 possessor and 16gb memory because i use photoshop and a fair amount of other photo and video editing software, i may have 2 of these programmes open at the same time and when editing its virtualy done straight away and i am not waiting for the cursor to stop blinking like when i had 4gb of ram

 

[Sift]

As above, it depends what you're doing with it Shiftzz. If you're only internet surfing then a Windows 7 machine with 4gb RAM is more than adequate. Give us an idea of what applications and uses.

Cheers,
Lee.

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[scotjimland]

Laptop or Desktop ?

I was fed up with my i7 Dell laptop overheating.. tried all sorts.. had it back to Dell twice.. used a fan assisted cool pad, but it still overheated.. you may recall the hassle..
so decide that my next PC would be a desktop.. I bought it from PC Specialist.. (recommended by Popeye)

I have an i7 with 16gb with 2 x hard drives.. with twin 22" monitors.

The primary with the OS and software is on a 180GB SSD .. all the other stuff is on a 2TB HD

It is lighting fast .. the SSD makes boot up times in a few seconds.. programs launch in seconds.. and run fast.. no more waiting or 'waking' up time.

I bought this system primarily for video and photo editing ..

Full system spec

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT: PCI-E 3.0 READY,WIFI, SLI, X-FIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 - DVI, HDMI, VGA (upgraded by me)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit

Monitor x 2 (second monitor added by me )
IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£119)
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables

Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK520 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£39)
Surge Protection
6 Socket Compact 2M UFO Surge Protector (£9)

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery

 

[ShiftZZ]

I tend to use a fair bit of photo editing, Photoshop and Photomatix Pro (HDR), also a fair bit on Office Access and Excel. No Video Editing yet, but I do play a fair bit.

I am very lazy in how many windows I have open and tend to run two browsers (Firefox and Chrome) at the same time,along with Skype etc,etc..
Prefer a large screen laptop..

 

[freelanderuk]

16gb or more and the largest i7 processor you can afford

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[wizzer59]

If a desktop then build your own, easy to do, good fun and with carefull shopping you can build a top spec machine at a very good price, as Jim says an SSD is a real upgrade for your operating system but still pretty expensive.

Oops laptop cannot build thoseoh:

 

[magicsurfbus]

My desktop is still running Vista so what would I know, but my time working with IT tells me that boosting the RAM is the quickest and most cost-efficient way to improve computer performance.

If you have to buy a completely new RAM card rather than supplementing the existing one, you can always sell the old one on eBay.

One other thing, at the risk of reconfiguring the grandmother/egg interface - make sure your new card matches the exact specifications (apart from size, obviously) of the existing one - there are many types of RAM.