[SOLVED] RAM and deterioration over time

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dajjorg

dajjorg

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Apr 30, 2020
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Hi all,

I’m looking to buy a new PC. I don’t game or video edit, i only use my PC to make very basic powerpoints and for web browsing. I bought a dirt cheap 4GB ram laptop that worked sufficiently fast for my very basic needs the first 2 years, but has been dirt slow the last 2 years 🙁

Would buying a pc with more RAM (8, 12, or 16GB) also mean a longer shelf life for getting decent speeds out of it? Or is any PC, regardless of how many GB’s of RAM it initially has, gonna become dirt slow after a couple years use?
 
Solution
USAFRet
dajjorg said:
Well, both SSD and Ram stick have been ordered. Youtube tutorials seem to abound on how to install them both, and yeah, the clean install before I put in the SSD.

USAFRet, thank you immensely. If you ever find yourself back in Madrid, dig up this old thread and hit me up, drinks will be on me. My word is my bond.
Click to expand...
You're on!

(but the clean install happens AFTER you install the new SSD)

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
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dajjorg said:
Hi all,

I’m looking to buy a new PC. I don’t game or video edit, i only use my PC to make very basic powerpoints and for web browsing. I bought a dirt cheap 4GB ram laptop that worked sufficiently fast for my very basic needs the first 2 years, but has been dirt slow the last 2 years 🙁

Would buying a pc with more RAM (8, 12, or 16GB) also mean a longer shelf life for getting decent speeds out of it? Or is any PC, regardless of how many GB’s of RAM it initially has, gonna become dirt slow after a couple years use?
Click to expand...
What laptop model? Depending on the specs of the laptop, an SSD would probably be a better upgrade first if you didn't need more than 4 GB to begin with. Adding another 4GB if possible with the SSD would be a good upgrade if the laptops other specs meet your needs.

It's possible something else is wrong with the laptop though, like the fans getting clogged with dust and not working anymore.
 
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Hi Third-eye, here is the info from my order receipt from 4 years ago:

Dell Inspiron i35525240BLK
156 LED Intel Pentium Processor
500GB HDD
4GB
Windows 10

And the System info from Control Panel:

Intel(R) Pentium (R) CPU N3700 @ 1.60GHz 1.60 GHz
64 bit OS
x64-based processor
 
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Third-Eye, you said an SSD with 4gb Ram, but looking around online for SSD's, they don't seem to explicitly list RAM among their specs, but rather transfer speeds. By "adding another 4gb" were you referring to an SSD with 4000 MB/s transfer speeds?
 
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dajjorg said:
Third-Eye, you said an SSD with 4gb Ram, but looking around online for SSD's, they don't seem to explicitly list RAM among their specs, but rather transfer speeds. By "adding another 4gb" were you referring to an SSD with 4000 MB/s transfer speeds?
Click to expand...
No, that's not what he meant.
The RAM and drive are two different, mostly unrelated things.

IF you don't need more than 4GB RAM, an SSD would be a good upgrade.
IF you do need more than 4GB RAM, then that would be a better upgrade. But...in that device, changing/adding RAM may not be possible.
 
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USAFRet said:
A 2.5" format SATA III SSD will be a drop in replacement for that current 500GB hard drive.

Crucial MX500, 500GB
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0786QNS9B


However...
Your current CPU/RAM is dirt slow.
N3700 and 4GB RAM is not much to work with.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i'm not surprised. But dirt slow was sufficient enough to satisfy my needs for the first two years. So regardless of the specs of the SSD, it's not gonna make much difference?

Edit: you just answered that question in your other post above. Thanks.
 
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So back to the original question, if 4gb RAM is sufficient for me, would it make sense to buy a more expensive 8GB ram laptop because it would last me longer at acceptable speeds? Or is an 8GB RAM pc also gonna fall off considerably after a couple years use?
 
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Also, so what you were saying about CPU... so if the CPU/RAM combo suited me fine at first then that means that it was subsequent updates to the OS that render weaker/older CPU's slower?
 
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Not necessarily OS updates, but all the other things you do with it.
Applications you may have installed, things running in the background, etc, etc.

How long have you had this?
A full wipe and reinstall of the OS and everything else might also give it a bit of a boost.
 
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Without knowing all the parts on your PC and all the software its hard to judge. You can hit Windows Key + R and then type "msinfo32" and check your parts, or right click you Start icon in the lower left and select "system" and tell us what you have.

IMO, 4GB ram is to low for anything these days. Get 16GB minimum for future proofing. As others have suggested see what HDD you have and if its the old kind. Upgrade to a NVME drive (if your system supports it) or an or SSD.
 
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themoviemancan said:
Without knowing all the parts on your PC and all the software its hard to judge. You can hit Windows Key + R and then type "msinfo32" and check your parts, or right click you Start icon in the lower left and select "system" and tell us what you have.

IMO, 4GB ram is to low for anything these days. Get 16GB minimum for future proofing. As others have suggested see what HDD you have and if its the old kind. Upgrade to a NVME drive (if your system supports it) or an or SSD.
Click to expand...
16GB RAM and NVMe is highly unlikely to be an option for this laptop.
The N3700 CPU can only speak to 8GB, and the actual laptop motherboard and BIOS maybe only the original 4.
 
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Software is always a moving target. When people design software or updates for software they look at what the majority of people have. "The average." So if the average person has 8GB of memory now, they design the program to work best with 8GB of RAM. For people with 4GB it will work slower or struggle to keep up.

If you want to future proof yourself or work faster than the "average" than you need more memory or better average hardware, so when the software gets upgrades, your already ahead of the curve.
 
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USAFRet said:
Not necessarily OS updates, but all the other things you do with it.
Applications you may have installed, things running in the background, etc, etc.

How long have you had this?
A full wipe and reinstall of the OS and everything else might also give it a bit of a boost.
Click to expand...

I bought this August of 2016.
 
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dajjorg said:
Third-Eye, you said an SSD with 4gb Ram, but looking around online for SSD's, they don't seem to explicitly list RAM among their specs, but rather transfer speeds. By "adding another 4gb" were you referring to an SSD with 4000 MB/s transfer speeds?
Click to expand...
I'm saying you replace your current 500GB HDD with an SSD and also increase the ram by 4GB for a total of 8GB. Unfortunately you laptop model only has a single ram slot, so you would need to buy a single 8GB DDR3L 1600 SODIMM module to replace the original 4GB. If you upgrade to an SSD, you will also need to reinstall Windows.

The CPU in your laptop is honestly decent enough for office work like Power Point and most web browsing except something like 4k60fps youtube videos. You probably don't need to do any upgrades other than an SSD, but if you are going to open it, you might as well upgrade the ram at the same time and be ready for when something needs more than 4GB.

It will cost around $45-50 for an 8GB module and $50-80 for an SSD depending on whether you get a 250 or 500GB. You could instead save that money and put it toward a new cheap $250-400 laptop with probably double the specs you have now or at least double the ram and probably have a 120-128GB SSD.
 
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themoviemancan said:
Without knowing all the parts on your PC and all the software its hard to judge. You can hit Windows Key + R and then type "msinfo32" and check your parts, or right click you Start icon in the lower left and select "system" and tell us what you have.

IMO, 4GB ram is to low for anything these days. Get 16GB minimum for future proofing. As others have suggested see what HDD you have and if its the old kind. Upgrade to a NVME drive (if your system supports it) or an or SSD.
Click to expand...


I ran msinfo32 but I can't copy-paste it and Tom's Hardware won't let me post a screen-shot..
 
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Bottom line:
You can increase the RAM to 8GB. A single stick of the relevant SODIMM.
You can swap the current 500GB HDD for a 500GB (or 1TB) SSD. The MX500 linked above is a good choice.

Hardwarewise, that's it.
For a web browser/movie machine, that will work.
 
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on msinfo32 screen, you can hit "file" then "export" and save the .txt file to you desktop. It will take a min to export, then open the file and copy paste the top most info. Don't do the whole notepad as its mainly junk. Or do a screen shot like people said.

Example:

System Information report written at: 04/30/20 15:01:10
System Name: ***
[System Summary]

Item Value
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version 10.0.18363 Build 18363
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer HP
System Model HP
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU **
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2496 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date HP N75 Ver. 01.44, 10/31/2019
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 133.121
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer HP
BaseBoard Product 8079
BaseBoard Version KBC Version 85.79
Platform Role Mobile
Secure Boot State Off
PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.18362.752"
User Name US\NPF8VGS
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 15.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 9.90 GB
Total Virtual Memory 32.9 GB
Available Virtual Memory 25.6 GB
Page File Space 17.0 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
 
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