Computers / Memory Cards / Memory - A cheap way to upgrade and older PC

My guy uses a Dell PC that is a little over 4 years old. While he really hasn’t had any complaints about his computer it was REALLY sluggish… His computer just was too slow to keep up with all of the things running in the background as well as all of the newer technology that is on many of today’s websites.

When I say sluggish, I mean SLOTH SPEED! He would turn on his computer then leave the computer room, go and take the dog out, make a cup of tea, maybe go through the mail and make a phone call and then come back to see if his computer was ready for business. This is no exaggeration… It took what seemed like forever and let me tell you, I would deal with that all of ZERO times before I did something about it, but he was OK with it.

PLUS page loading time… Do not even get me started! My laptop went warp speed compared to his.

Yes, he is a very patient man…

It just so happened that I was looking to upgrade my memory because my laptop had a couple of lags that - Oh my gosh! - just was not going to become an every day event… so while I was shopping for myself I looked up to see if I could find anything on sale or at a good price for his computer.

Keep in mind that while the newer computers take a newer and cheaper memory, the memory cards for the older computers continue to be on the pricey side. I was able to find the Kingston Technologies (item# KVR400/512R) 512MB PC3200/2700/2100 DDR SDRAM Desktop Memory, regularly priced $69.99 for just $24.99 at http://www.circuitcity.com.

It was in stock so after just a couple of clicks I was able to order 2 of them online with a guaranteed pick up time in just 24 minutes. Sweet!

I ordered the two as his computer has 2 slots and I really felt that given the specs of his computer that he really didn’t need more than a gig of memory.

The memory cards looked nice and slid into the slots nice and snug. It took longer to vacuum out the case than it did to change the memory! Once clipped into place, the Dell was turned on and viola! It started up FAST! It was up and running and ready to go in under 2 minutes!

No more turning on the computer and walking away to keep busy while waiting for it to warm up and get running… now my guy can actually turn it on and go! Plus the pages load almost instantly, just as they should with the good DSL connection that we have.

While I knew that the added memory would make his computer run more quickly, I had no idea that it would make this much of a difference. It is almost like a new computer!

Update on May 02, 2008 01:42

I want to add, for those of you who want some assistance determining what kind of memory you need for your computer, this is a great place to start:

http://crucial.com/

Crucial will scan your computer, tell you what you need and then you can either buy directly from them or take the information and go shopping for a bargain elsewhere.

I totally trust crucial. It is a well known company and I feel that their scans are safe to use. 

Also, some people like to purchase a nifty little bracelet to ground themselves from shocking their system. You can also ground yourself by always having one hand on your metal computer case.

Update on May 29, 2008 02:34

I just thought of another site that may be helpful, especially if you are unsure if a memory upgrade is for you.

http://pcpitstop.com/ 

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Free Full Tests Scan Do not go through the Optimize as that is a pay program. The Full scans will check out your computer and tell you what you need as far as upgrades.

You will still need to visit Crucial to find out the type of memory that you need.

Good luck!