Increasing RAM in Vista (32 bit) from 3 to 4 Gb

Hi all,

I have a Compaq CQ 45 121 TX, laptop, Vista 32 bit Home Premium.

Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile processor P8400 - 2.26GHz (Penryn, 1066MHz front side bus, 3MB Level-2 cache)

RAM 3GB (2+1 in two slots), 800MHz, 200-pin, PC2-6400, SDRAM Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Module (SODIMM)

Nvidia GeForce 9200M GS, 256Mb, 8@550MHz, Core Speed 550 MHz,Shader Speed 1300 MHz, Memory Speed 700 MHz

I use this mainly for watching videos or playing games.

Some newer games (offline ones) seem to lag a bit, specially when the GPU temperature reaches above 60 C.(as shown by RealTemp)

I was wondering if I could replace the 1Gb RAM stick with a 2Gb stick. Will it make the performance better in gaming ?

I have also thought to installing XP or Win 7 instead of Vista. Could that also help ?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

thanks

Thanks for your tips. I was also thinking that it may reach 3.5 gb, which may not bring much difference in performance.

I use a laptop cooler pad, which usually keeps the temperature in check.

So investing in a new graphics card would be a better idea ? I have seen some graphics cards made by Sapphire, Palit, XFX, Gigabyte, MSI and Asus. Which maker would be good  among these ?

I will defrag it in the meantime.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr T 

No, it won't make much difference. Vista 32bit is like ALL 32bit operating systems and won't see or utilise RAM over about 3.5Gb. The graphics card on that lappie is a pretty basic one and is the probable cause of the game lag. But there are things you can do.. Defrag and delete caches and temp files using disk clean up. Clean the heatsink and fan out (use canned air and a dry clean paint brush. Use the laptop on a surface which allows it to ventilate and cool properly...

btw.. came across this interesting article about how M$ is artificially restricting the max RAM utilization in 32-bit OS.

http://www.geoffchappell.com/viewer.htm?doc=notes/windows/license/memory.htm

good read.