RAM Upgrade for older XP computer

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mpic92

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
155
I have an HP pavillion a810n with the following specifications:

MS Windows XP Home SP3
AMD Athlon 64 3300+
512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM Memory
160 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
SiS 760 (graphics)

Whatever that graphics thing is, I don't think it's an actual dedicated video card. The computer would always say it had 448 mb RAM compared to the 512 mb it's labeled as, presumably because it's borrowing memory for the video?

I upgraded to a nice wide screen 1440 x 900 resolution monitor, and had to do some tricks to the system/BIOS to get it to function properly in that resolution. Now my systems RAM reads as 383 MB RAM.

Obviously this is very slow. The computer can be painful starting up, and even launching single applications like FIrefox when nothing else is running in the background. I can assure you that there are no viruses or malware dragging down the computer.

My question is: TO make this computer significantly speedier, could I upgrade the RAM to 1 or 2 GB? I am assuming the RAM is whats holding the computer back so much, and not the processor? I have no plans to upgrade the operating system either, for what that is worth.
 
Well, I would say a combination of the RAM and the onboard video. If you put 2GB of memory in it and got an add-in video card (even a "cheap" $50 one), you'd see great improvement.
 
Hmm interesting. I thought that because I had this special SiS accelerator thing, or whatever it is, I couldn't add an independent video card.

I'm ok with computers, but have no experience physically with replacing hard ware. I know it's easy to change RAM, but how hard is it to add a video card?
 
It's not all that difficult. Open the case, make sure the card fits, put the card in, turn it back on, and install the drivers for it. Takes 10 minutes.

I'd do a little research as to what kind of graphics expansion slot that has. I just did a quick search and it looks like AGP.

2GB of RAM is plenty for WinXP. The graphics take up to 128mb according to the spec sheets which is why you're only seeing 384mb or so.
 
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