I have been tweaking with my CPU this past weekend. It's usually pretty fast, but sometimes slows down with multiple charts/windows open. It's a pentium 4, XPpro with around 2.2GHz. The ram is only 126. How much would increasing to 256 help? Does it help just a little for trading or is it a big huge factor. I'm only average with computers and don't deal much with hardware. Thanks.
Are RAM sticks universal? Just go to the computer store and pick up one? Or should I take mine out, take to store and match it up. Sorry if I sound dumb, but I'm in the medical field and not Computers.
512mb is minimum for any desktop system today. You can either purchase two 256mb chips and install them or purchase one 512mb chip. The type of computer / motherboard will tell you if you can support the 512 unit. Try to stick to faster memory -- 3200PC can handle faster speeds than 2700PC. If you have any other questions, just ask.
You need to see what sort of ram you have. There are different sizes and types. I suggest taking the whole computer (box) in and letting a tech put in the memory since you need the CPU fan replaced also (from your other thread). Also, find your motherboard manual which shows what type of memory configurations your computer will accept. You should have more ram. Probably 512MB to 1GB. Even 256MB would help. However, don't expect this to noticably increase your computer speed. And, there is a slight chance that some older software you may be using might not work with larger RAM configurations. For instance, I have an older POS program running on my WinXP P4 computer and it wouldn't work when I increased memory over 256MB. It was cheaper for me to buy a second computer, though, than to pay what they wanted to upgrade this expensive software.
pspr, great idea on taking my whole cpu in. Never thought about that. Yeah, I could kill 2 birds with one stone.(my fan and Ram)
Your main board will accept only one type of RAM... Yours is probably "DDR". As for the speed... it will of course accept more of what you already have. Mixing speeds is not a good idea. As for replacing all of your ram with faster speed... that may not work and will likely not run at the faster speed anyway. The one advantage to buying faster ram (presuming it will run in your rig) is that you may be able to get a current price break.
Your CPU is not a factor in the RAM decision... it's your MB and its chipset. Check with the MB manufacturer or the MB manual that should have come with the machine. As for the fan.. if burned-out, it's a very simple swap and replace. If it's a system problem (that is, no fan will run), THEN you might have to take your rig into the shop (or reinstall the OS).