Hi guys, Recently I posted a couple of other questions, and have had a good response from people (thank you all for that), but I thought I'd create a new post to just ask for clarification on something. My previous post asked on overheating solutions, and my computer is now running between 40-50C, which I believe is a safe temperature for the computer (please say if it isn't!). However, I have 512Mb RAM, and my motherboard allows for a maximum of 3Gb RAM. Quite often, I get the message from Windows that I am running low on memory and it is going to access virtual memory (I think). Along with this, my computer does seem to slow up a lot, particularly when running CPU-intensive programs. Therefore, would people suggest an upgrade is in order? I am thinking of upgrading it by 1Gb RAM - Do people think this is worth it? Would this solve the problem of when the computer takes time to open up say an Internet browser or other programs, even though the CPU Load at the time is not near 100%, or other activities that takes time despite the CPU Load being not near 100%? Thanks to all, again!

Even another 512MB would probably be OK but certainly !GB added should be more than enough. To be sure you get the correct RAM go to: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... OR: crucial.com and use their memory configurator or online scanner.

If you're getting the "out of memory" error, it usually means your HDD is almost full...is that the case? "my computer does seem to slow up a lot, particularly when running CPU-intensive programs" 1st of all, I agree that adding more RAM would help overall system performance. But it's not gonna help "CPU-intensive" programs. The keyword is CPU...you need a better CPU for "CPU-intensive programs".

>> I get the message from Windows that I am running low on memory and it is going to access virtual memory (I think). << Thats not that is said because Windows doesn't tell you when it is going to use Virtual memory because it is using it all the time, regardless of how much RAM you have, especially with only 512 Mbs of real memory. What Windows tells you is that it is running out of Virtual Memory. If that is the case then you need to check your disk space because that is where virtual memory is stored. If there is no room to expand the page file then it starts getting short. You are probably running slow because the computer is constantly swapping stuff in and out of Virtual memory because it cant make it big enough. Make sure you have Virtual memory set for system managed. You can set it yourself but you really need to understand how virtual memory is used to effectively control it your self. Stuart