My question is what is the computer used for? Are you using it for your Linux from scratch project? If your just browsing the web and doing email, I wonder if more RAM will really make a difference. When you posted your memory usage I think you had more than 400MB free. I did a search and it appears you are running the AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2 GHz) processor which by today's standards is not a very powerful CPU. That might be why things are slower than you might like. On 2014-10-09 11:41, Carruth, Rusty wrote: > Michael – Wow, I’m glad Mark thought to check the max memory for > the computer!  (Thanks, Mark!) > > So, what Mark said. > > The only thing I’d add is to modify ‘get the fastest memory you > can afford’ to something like ‘get as much memory as your computer > can hold, as fast as possible’.  There is a tradeoff here – if > you have enough memory to keep your computer from > swapping/paging/whatever-ing to and from disk then speed of ram > matters.  If, however, you don’t have enough memory to keep the > majority of ‘active’ programs in memory so you don’t need to go > read them from the disk before they can run – well, then faster is > better for those things in memory, but as soon as the disk transfer > gets slower than the execution speed your faster ram is useless.  Or > at least doesn’t help as much as it should. IMHO, of course ;-) > > FROM: plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org > [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org] ON BEHALF OF Mark > Phillips > SENT: Thursday, October 09, 2014 7:36 AM > TO: Main PLUG discussion list > SUBJECT: Re: memory > > Michael, > > It seems the max memory is 4GB for that system - 4 banks of 1 GB > sticks. > RAM memory Capacity - 4 GB > Memory Type - DDR2 SDRAM - DIMM 240-pin > Data Integrity Check - Non-ECC > Speed - 667 MHz ( PC2-5300 ) > Features - Dual rank , unbuffered > > You already have 2 1GB sticks in the machines - what speed are they? > You should match the speed for all four sticks. > > The second set you mentioned are only 533 MHz, whereas your bus is 667 > MHz. If your system is slow, get the fastest memory you can afford. > > Mark > > On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 1:51 PM, Carruth, Rusty > wrote: > > Yes, 1024 is one gig, but often some memory is stolen by the > motherboard – for example if you have an on-board graphics card that > uses main memory for its RAM. > > Personally, if you can afford it and the 4G is less than 2x the 2G > I’d get 4G – but if you could find 2x2G sticks then you could have > 6G total – not bad IMHO. > > FROM: plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org > [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.phxlinux.org] ON BEHALF OF Michael > Havens > SENT: Wednesday, October 08, 2014 1:43 PM > TO: PLUG > SUBJECT: memory > > I know this is a stupid question but... > > I got a Dell dimension c521. It is slow so I figure I should add > memory. There are 4 memory slots with 2 being used. How much memory is > that? Well, the cards that are in there say it they are two cards with > 1024 mb apiece. 'free -h' reports > > free -h > > total used free shared buffers cached > > Mem: 1.9G 1.4G 489M 18M 59M 535M > > isn't 1024 one gig? Where is the rest? > > SHould I buy this? > > NEW 4GB 4X1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHZ RAM MEMORY FOR DELL DIMENSION C521 > [1] > > or should I get this? > > 2GB (2X1GB) RAM MEMORY CMS COMPATIBLE WITH DELL DIMENSION C521 DESKTOP > [2] > > :-)~MIKE~(-: > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss [3] > > > > Links: > ------ > [1] > http://www.amazon.com/4x1GB-PC2-5300-667MHz-Memory-Dimension/dp/B00KFND9SC/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1412798813&sr=1-1&keywords=dimension+c521+memory > [2] > http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Dell-Dimension-C521-Desktop/dp/B00BL30RZS/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1412798813&sr=1-3&keywords=dimension+c521+memory > [3] http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss