Do I really need 2gb?

I have a desktop(Acer Aspire T180) with with 1 gb (2x512). The performance I want to improve is opening folders with alot of files. For example my scanning software has 50 to 100 scans in a folder and seems to take for ever to open. My Outlook email inbox is another that is slow to open. Will going from 1 to 2 gb provide any noticeable difference.



If so I can afford to get 1 gb. I have two questions. 1. Do I put that stick in my third slot. I read a post earlier that said a guys machine actually got slower doing this. 2. What kind do I get(see specs below). Thank you. Frank



Processor



AMD AM2 Athlon 64 x 2 or Athlon 64 or Sempron (940 pin)





Cache



depending on the CPU





Memory



256MB DDR2 533/667/800 SDRAM expandable to 4GB





BIOS



Flash BIOS





Supported Protocols



ACPI 2.0, APM 1.2, SMBIOS 2.3, WFM 2.0, ASD 1.03, PXE boot ROM, PCI 2.3, DMI 2.0, WOL, Bootable CD-ROM 1.0, USB 1.1~USB 2.0, E-IDE (up to PIO mode-4), ANSI ATA 3.0, ATAPI





System Chipset



nVidia MCP61S + MCP61P





I/O Controller Hub



ITE8726





Expansion Slots



1 PCI-Express x16 slot

2 PCI v2.3 slots





Audio



Integrated nVidia MCP61 with AC97, ALC888 codec supporting 16 bit PCM format for 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio codecs with UAA (Universal Audio Architecture)





Speakers



Optional on selected models





Video



Integrated nVidia MCP61

PCI Express x16 Add-on card (selected models)





Storage



3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive (selected models)

CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD/CD-RW Combo, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD Dual, DVD SupermultiPlus (varies by models)

Up to 400GB Hard Disk Drive SATA (varies by models)

9 in 1 Card Reader (selected models)





Modem



Optional on selected models





Networking



Integrated Marvell 88E8056 Gigabit (RJ-45 LAN connector)

256mb of ram is just about enough memory to run windows so yes you would see a big improvement with another gig of ram, not sure about which slot though,

i only see ram as an improvement when its actually being over-used, or when your system has to use your hard drives as ram. unless your going over your limit, which very well may be, adding ram to a system usually wont see any day and night improvements.

If you want to access files faster then RAM but only to a certain extent. 1GB should be enough for that, however, Getting a faster hard drive may well be the way forwards. a 7200rpm drive should do the trick nicely with a bigger cache than the current one

thats a good point. my current hard drive is terrible, 5200rpm peice o' crap. next im looking to get a 32GB SSD drive to load windows and common files lol

For a Socket AM2 build looking at the 6000+ X2 3ghz or 6400+ X2 3.2ghz models for a cpu with a good pair of 1gb DDR2 800 PC6400 Kingston Hyper X performance dimms was a leap over the prior 939 build tan here. That still saw 2gb of Kingston Value Ram and the 3500+ 2.2ghz single core model cpu there.

The boost is even more when that same 2gb of Value Ram was used briefly on the older Socket A build with 1gb of Corsair xms series performance/gaming memory with the cpu still seeing 2.2ghz for stock speed. Gaming was another thing that saw improvement as well as some more demanding apps like video capturing as well as Windows in general.

All three cases saw 7,200rpm drives while the increase in memory alone from 1 to 2gb was the most noticable along with now seeing a dual core plus faster cpu. Going from 2gb upto 4gb wouldn't see that same amount of gain even with a 64bit edition of Windows installed as simply going for the initial leap from 1gb of available ram.