ram/memory/hard drives?

[Krownzz]

Ok... so i was wondering.. like im not COMPLETLEY new to the internal workings and building of computers. but i never understood correctly if hard drives are like big ram sticks or what? like if i bought a huge memory capacity hard drive and installed it would my pc run faster? and my second question is i have a dell dimension 2400 desktop series. it has about 512mb of RAM it has one extra RAM slot. and idk what size memory the hard drive is. is there anything i could do to increase the memory like alot for cheap. so it runs fast and plays games. thank you guys so much for reading this

 

[Krownzz]

oh actually guys my hard drive size is 32.25 gb i think? idk i went to computer managment and it says its healthy

 

[Brinson]

Your hard drive is permanent storage, RAM is temporary, RAM is much, much faster.

When you put in a CD and install an application, you are copying it from the CD to your hard drive. Then, when you actually run that program, it is copied into RAM, so that the application is not outrageously slow. Running an application from your hard drive will greatly slow it down, and that is exactly what is happening when you run out of ram, hence why more ram can mean a faster computer.

If you have 512 mbs of ram, then you can load in 512mbs of programs, including the operating system, as well as files, at any given time without experiencing a slowdown. If this happens, the only way to regain speed is to close programs, or add more ram.

So increasing ram can speed up your computer. Increasing a hard drive can't, not really anyway. There will be a marginal lag in copying from hard drive to ram that can be cut down, but it is not nearly as noticable, and has nothing to do with the size of the hard drive, but rather the speed.

 

[Krownzz]

k thanks for clearing that up.. now i was wondering.. were can i buy a set of two 2gb ram sticks for cheap?

 

[Muffin Man]

if you were to buy an ssd (another type of hdd) your system would load much faster, but ssd's arent exactly cheap since theyre like $200 for a 60gb one.

a ram upgrade can be a relatively cheap upgrade though. run this scanner and post the results.
Memory upgrades from Crucial.com - About Crucial:Media Toolbox

 

[Krownzz]

ok well it says the maximum memory i can have is 2gb and my system performance will be at full performance and my total will be $85.95 anything else you want me to post?

 

[Muffin Man]

i meant more along the lines of what memory type does your pc take? 2gigs of ddr, ddr2, ddr3 ram? dont buy from the suggestion they tell you, idk why they charge so much.

you should be able to post a link to the page that tells you your results. or just copy and paste teh address.

 

[Krownzz]

Each memory slot can hold DDR PC2700,DDR PC3200 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.

 

[Muffin Man]

ok. this kit would be good.
Newegg.com - WINTEC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AMD1400-2GK-R - Desktop Memory

 

[Krownzz]

ok thanks alot