Tech Spotlight

I remember back when I first bought extra RAM for my computer it was 1990 and my 386 Commodore PC only had 4 MB, that’s megabytes folks, and I wanted to upgrade to 8 MB.  So I drive down to the local computer store and purchase an extra 4 MB for $200.00!  It’s astounding looking back how far we have come in terms of raw computer power these days and the advances that were made not just in RAM but in CPU processing and Hard Drive capacity.  Now were in the last half of 2008 and system RAM has continually dropped in price over the last year.

Microsoft’s recommendations for Windows XP is 512 MB and for Windows Vista is 1 GB.  These are basically the minimum you should be using with your system to get adequate performance.  I and most techies agree that Windows XP should have between 1-2 GB of RAM and Windows Vista’s sweet spot is 2-3 GB.  The only reason to get more Memory than this would be if your using advanced 3D modeling programs or running a Server.  If that is the case than you will need to run the 64-bit version of the OS because all 32-bit architectures only support up to 4 GB.

In the list below I have documented some fantastic prices for upgrading your RAM and the Memory I have listed is not generic cheap Memory.  The price of RAM is the lowest I have seen and it is very possible that it will rise as RAM has done in the past.  Also as a little side note most Memory comes with a lifetime warranty so if you have a stick that fails it will be replaced for free, but please check before purchasing.  Memory generally don’t fail as it has no moving parts and is a solid state product.