Chris Pirillo » RAM

What Happens When Your Laptop’s Motherboard Goes Bad?

Chris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:02:14 +0000

What Happens When Your Laptop’s Motherboard Goes Bad? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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There is this thing sitting inside your computer that is the one thing every other thing is connected to! It’s called a motherboard. I have no idea why there’s no fatherboard… but yeah. The motherboard is crucial. If it’s not working – good luck using your computer at all. Ian from the PCPitStop community is sad because his Sony Vaio died. His motherboard is now dead, and wonders where he can find an affordable replacement.

Virut won’t corrupt your motherboard – but it will usually lead to having to reformat your system. With that said, if your motherboard is hosed for any reason, you might want to run a few diagnostics if you can. It’s possible it could be a bad power supply, you know? Check everything you possibly can, to determine for sure that it’s a motherboard.

I feel your pain. I’ve heard some not-so-happy things about Sony support in the past. Unfortunately, if it is a motherboard problem – it’s going to cost you. My recommendation is to find a local Geek. Pay them in pizza and cola. They’ll take a look at the computer to assess the problem. Sometimes it’s something small that trips us up, and I certainly hope that’s what is going on with you!

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How Much Computer Memory Does Windows Need?

Chris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:01:37 +0000

How Much Computer Memory Does Windows Need? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I guess I need more memory, since I keep forgetting my own name! Sadly, I can’t just buy and install some in my brain. The question that Lynn sent in to PCPitStop is centered around the amount of memory her computer has. She purchased a computer with 128MB of memory, which is running Vista. The store clerks keep telling her she needs more RAM, but she is wondering if they are just trying to get her to spend more money.

I’m not sure how she even bought a computer with only 128MB of RAM installed. I honestly don’t think that’s totally correct, but I have been known to be wrong before. She mentions that the computer isn’t heavily used – it’s mainly a web browsing/email machine. Even so, I’m fairly sure that Vista won’t even run on that amount of memory.

No matter – whatever amount you have is fine, as long as the machine is running ok. If it’s working to your satisfaction – don’t change a thing. If you feel it is draggy, slow to respond or do things… then by all means, look into upping the amount of memory you have.

Vista will run optimally with 2GB of memory. Keep in mind that memory isn’t where you store files and folders… that’s the hard drive. The memory is where things happen, such as opening a program. When you click a program, the pc takes it and throws it into the memory. Poof! It then opens.

If you’re happy with the way everything runs, then leave it alone. Don’t tempt fate. I never recommend that! At some point in the future when things feel sluggish, you may want to check out Windows 7. It runs a heck of a lot faster than Vista. For the money… it’s a better operating system.

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How to Speed Up Your PC

Chris — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:40:29 +0000

How to Speed Up Your PC is a post from Chris Pirillo

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PCPitstop is one of those resources you need, but don’t realize it until you need it! These guys have been around for nearly a decade now, and their reputation is rock-solid. They have a feature called “Ask an Expert” – and they’ve asked me to answer one of the questions. Candace is wondering how she can speed up her computer. She defrags regularly, and isn’t sure what more she can do.

There are several things you can do, Candace. Memory could speed things up, although there’s a law of diminishing returns. Since you didn’t mention a specific operating system, I know you’re running Windows due to the mention of running a defrag. If you’re using Vista – stop it. Spring forward to the Windows 7 beta, or roll back to XP. Even if you like Vista, you still have to realize how much of a resource hog it can be. The operating system is as important as the software you’re running on it.

Defragging is only going to help you so much. If your hard drive is full – consider cleaning it up. Store some of your videos, pictures and documents on a separate storage drive. If your hard drive is full, it definitely will not run at optimal importance.

Another option is to upgrade your hard drive itself. Consider switching from the HDD hard drive you likely have to a Solid State Drive. The problem could be due to the bottleneck speed of your current hard drive.

It’s difficult to guess at what will work best here, since I don’t know the full specs of the system. However, I’m willing to wager that the problem is bottleneck with the hard drive. I couldn’t believe how much faster my own personal machine ran after upgrading myself to the Samsung SSD.

How else can Candace make her computer faster? Let’s make this a community effort – if you have an answer to this, please feel free to leave your thoughts in a follow-up comment to this video.

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How Much RAM Does Your Computer Have?

Chris — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:02:12 +0000

How Much RAM Does Your Computer Have? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I remember the days of having only 256MB of RAM, do you? Now that I have several GB of RAM, it’s hard to think back and understand how I managed to function in those days. How did I make anything work? How did I get anything accomplished? How much RAM do you have these days?

2Gb on desktop and also on laptop. – Kol Tregaskes

2GB on desktop, 2GB on both laptops, with dedicated memory for the video cards – SoN9ne

2GB on my home PC and my work laptop. – Alex Scoble CISSP

3GB – Chris W

2GB on my laptop, soon to be upgraded to 4. – Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Just 1GB at home but 4GB at work! – orionstarr

8GB on desktop. 4GB on laptop. – Jeff Douglass

2GB – Jason Shultz

512MB – directeur

6G on the Mac Pro, 4G on the Dell laptop. – Joey Gibson

Remember the old days when having 500megs was a big deal! – orionstarr

1GB on my laptop, 4GB on my workstation, 2GB on our media center. – Akiva Moskovitz

my laptop has 4GB ram, 320GB HD. My phone has 8GB flash. my first computer had 4MB ram, 35MB HD. – Chris Hollander

ugh as i have groused before my laptop at work has 500 megs of ram and it is almost physically painful – Marco (aureliusmaximus)

10GB in my Mac Pro, 4GB in my MacBook Pro, 2GB in the MacBook Air – Andru Edwards

2Gb in my 4 year old laptop… – Ricardo Vidal

4GB on MBP, 2GB on my work Dell lappy – saeba

4gb – JohnBfromMemphis

1gb desktop – Nick Munson

500megs was a big deal? I am probably from stone age, KB was for that time. I bet someone has used Byte. – Yu-Jie Lin

2GB laptop and 4GB on desktop – Leandro Ardissone

4gb, but vista only reads 3.5 gb – americanm

2 GB on my laptop and 4GB on my workstation – Saad Kamal

2 Gb, running Vista Business Edition – Alexandre Micaelo

4 gb – RAPatton

4gb laptop – Erik S

15 quadrillion hexamegapetabytes. – Tad, Fool

The correct answer is: never enough. – Mack D. Male

4GB – on a 24" Aluminium iMac – robert sørensen

Tad, you are truly hardcore. ;-) – Kol Tregaskes

4GB Mac Pro, 2gb Macbook Pro – Duncan Riley

4GB in the desktop, 2GB in work-issued Dell Latitude D830 – Mike The SysAdmin

Is there even such a thing as “enough” or “too much” when it comes to RAM?

What Should You Look for When Buying a New PC?

Chris — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:16:06 +0000

What Should You Look for When Buying a New PC? is a post from Chris Pirillo

The other night, I posted a blog post from Dan, with his tips on how to find information. He sent me a second list, and it is definitely something you all should read through. Here are Dan’s tips for how to make sense of Windows computer specs when buying a new computer.

SIZE Decide what general dimensions you want and what personal preferences you have. Examples are: laptop or desktop?, screen size?, keyboard size?, physically large or small? It is important to have SOME idea of what you want because a store employee is going to try to sell you the most expensive computer they can.
RAM The more stuff your computer does at one time (internet+music+documents+email) the more RAM you’re going to need. Vista (which ships with all Windows PCs now) needs significantly more RAM than XP does, but most of the major manufacturers have added RAM to compensate. If you plan on pushing your multi-tasking ability to the limit (or if you’re going to game) you’re going to need 3 to 4 gigabytes. For a normal user- 2 gigabytes should meet your needs just fine.
HARD DRIVE The more pictures, video, and music you want on your computer, the more hard drive space you’ll need. The hard drives are getting really large to compensate for the increase in personal digital media creation. Keep in mind that it’s probably better to keep your valuable data in an external place anyway, so don’t get carried away. (100-200GB is a smaller size, 300-500+ is really large.)
PROCESSOR The processor controls almost all operations of your computer, so again, if you’re going to be pushing your computer a lot, get a faster one (2-3GHz). Vista needs 1GHz to run comfortably, but even most laptops have a faster one out of box.
Shop Around! There are a lot of brands of computers, at a lot of different prices, found in a bunch of different places. I’d recommend sniffing around a couple of big-box stores, then seeing if there’s anything in online stores that may match you better. A computer is a significant investment that should last you for a long time, so do your homework!
Video Cards If you plan of doing any gaming, make SURE you get a dedicated video card (usually ATI or Nvidia). If it doesn’t have a sticker for one of those on the case, then it’s an integrated graphics chipset. In most cases, it’s going to be significantly less powerful.
Getting Ripped Off If you go to a large store like Best Buy or Circuit City, be wary of all the ‘But there’s more!’ packages they try to throw at you. Be wary of the protection plans, but get it if you need it. DO NOT buy the security suite they try to shove down your throat, there are much better free alternatives for Windows security out there.

Does Your Computer Need a Boost?

Chris — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:50:05 +0000

Does Your Computer Need a Boost? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Dominec recently submitted an email to me, full of tips and tricks. Earlier, I posted his tips to create an iPhone ringtone yourself using iTunes, and your own music. He also sent in the following excellent tips for upgrading your PC.

Like it or not, that blazing fast piece of hardware you have in front of you will become obsolete in a few years. It won’t be able to run some of the newest applications, or run as fast as some of the newer hardware. This is the case for many people (including myself) who currently run on “less than favorable” hardware. So if you are looking to spruce up your computer a bit more, here are the top 5 things you should look at upgrading:
Your monitor While it won’t speed up your computer, a new monitor will generally make your user experience a lot better. If you bought a computer over 4-5 years ago, you will likely have a CRT monitor. The colors are usually not as vivid, they drain a lot of power, and the resolution is terrible. A new monitor will allow you to view webpages better, allow for more of a multimedia experience, and even provide more functionality with some monitors containing USB ports, Card Readers and Optical drives. Additionally, if your response time is better (from CRT’s to LCD’s) you may even have the illusion that pages are loading smoother and faster.
Your Hard Drive You can never have too much space, especially with the way technology is moving. That 40GB HDD you had 3 years ago just doesn’t compare to the type of storage you can get today. With more storage, you can hold more media files, run more applications, and even have the ability to dual boot your system. In addition, if you are able to buy a hard drive that spins at a faster rate (higher RPM), your data will load quicker, your OS will load quicker, and there won’t be as much lag with your system.
The motherboard This applies especially to people who bought their computer directly from a manufacturer. Some old motherboards can’t support the new technology of today, such as more advanced PSU’s to cool your Dual-Core processors, and the faster DDR2 memory as opposed to standard DDR. Upgrading your motherboard is a very involved process, and not for everyone. If you are up to the challenge, it will improve every aspect of your computer. More USB ports, faster data transmission, support for more optical drives, more RAM, and faster processors are just some of the things to look forward to.
Your RAM Often clichéd in the computer world is how much a RAM upgrade will do for your computer, especially for those thinking of running Vista (or any modern day OS). The best metaphor to compare this to is to think of your RAM as your desk. The more desk space you have, the more papers, office supplies, printers, and other hardware you can hold. With more RAM, you can have many programs open at once, call them into view quicker, and generally improve the speed of every application. The best thing about installing RAM is that it’s cheap, and easy for the novice computer user to do. It can turn an old computer with 256MB of RAM into a quick multitasking machine with a 1GB upgrade.
The Processor If you plan to upgrade only one thing in your old computer, this would be it. The processor is what controls everything on the computer, so naturally, more power is never a bad thing. The best analogy here is a car. With a bigger engine, everything runs smoother and quicker. With a new processor, loading times will be shorter, pages will load faster, your computer will boot up and turn off faster… it really is something that will improve every aspect of your computer. Even for older computer that can’t support Dual-Core technology, you can buy extremely fast Pentium 4 chips for under $50. There is not a single part of your computer that will suffer, and all parts will thank you.

Where Do I Buy Mac Memory and Accessories?

Chris — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:31:03 +0000

Where Do I Buy Mac Memory and Accessories? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When I showed people the live install of my 16GB of Ram in my new Mac Pro… people started asking me where I bought the Ram. At first, I was reluctant to say. However, I decided to share with you. I have had nothing but good luck with products from MacSales.com. They have an excellent MacSales to hopefully bring you coupons in the near future. They have an excellent product-list, great service and support, and very good pricing. What’s NOT to love?

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How to Install Computer Memory in an Apple Mac Pro

Chris — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:54:25 +0000

How to Install Computer Memory in an Apple Mac Pro is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’ve already done the great unboxing of my new Mac Pro. Now, let’s take a look at installing some more RAM into Big Mac. Yes… I named the Mac Pro. Yes… it really IS named Big Mac.

I’ve done memory upgrades in so many different systems. I don’t think anything can approach the ease and elegance of the design of the new Mac Pro’s. You can tell they put a lot of thought into the design of the case, and inside the case as well. Here we go to install memory.

I just pulled out the little slot that the FB DIMMs will sit in. I’m replacing the 2 GB it came with, with 16GB of memory. I’m removing the two 1GB sticks, and will get a rebate on them. Imagine just popping the old RAM stick out with ease. You’ve wrestled with RAM slots before in a case. This Riser card is so simple. It makes it nice and easy. You pop it out, and then just pop in the new RAM sticks. Of course… you then pop the Riser card right back in the case, and voila!

Kat interrupted the recording to let me know that there are issues with the video link I sent her last night. I had her ping Tim and Brad at Ustream. What happened ultimately is that Ustream was having serious issues, that Ustream wasn’t able to straighten out until the next day.

This Riser card is much heavier than it was when I took it out… since it has four separate 2GB sticks of RAM on it, instead of one 1GB stick. However, it just slid right back in with ease.

On so many levels, this is just beautiful. It was so easy to do, and I didn’t even break a sweat. This machine is just beautiful.

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Where Should I Buy Mac Memory?

Chris — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:41:21 +0000

Where Should I Buy Mac Memory? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Recently, I ordered my new Mac Pro. I only purchased 2GB of RAM for it upon ordering. However, I definitely need to add more. Where should I get it from? And of course… how much more should I get? I know if I review this video five years from now, and think of people using “only” 2GB of RAM… we will laugh hysterically. But, no matter, we deal with memory and what our machines will use. A user wrote in to ask questions about RAM. He went to the Apple site, and they informed him he should buy 4GB of RAM. However, he wonders if he can only get 2GB and have it be enough? Also, will this void his Apple warranty?

I would never recommend buying RAM directly from Apple. The worst thing you can do, though, is to mix memory types. Be careful where you purchase from, as well. You don’t want to buy something sub-par, and have it not work properly in your machine. With Mac OSX, it is a 64-bit Operating System. If you can afford it… you should go with the four gigs. For system intensive programs, you’ll notice a huge difference.

I’ll be ordering my RAM through a third party vendor for my Mac Pro soon. I’m not sure yet if I should go with 8GB, 16GB or 32GB. I’ll likely be going with either 8 or 16GB. The pricing will be great. I don’t need 32GB. I mean, seriously. What would I need it for… other than bragging rights? Since I’ll be using the Virtual Machines to run Windows, I think 16GB should work better.

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How to Set up a RAM Disk for Free

Chris — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:25:51 +0000

How to Set up a RAM Disk for Free is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Many people confuse the difference between Hard Drive space, and RAM. A Hard Drive is where the data sits, and is stored. RAM is what the data uses when it is actually running. RAM has no moving parts, therefore it is faster. Therefore, you may find yourself in need of a RAM Disk. This will allow you some extra storage. In layman’s terms, it takes a section of the RAM and makes it act as though it is a hard Disk.

Reb suggested a free tool to help you set this up, called RamDisk. A RAMDisk acts as a virtual drive on your system.

It allows you to create directories, copy files to and from it, etc…. The data however is not written onto a hard disk, but remains purely stored into a particular part of the RAM memory. Hard disks have mechanical parts that are needed to seek to a particular position on the magnetic storage media and to read/write data. This makes them relative lazy. A RAMDisk does not need to seek , and by this , it can read and write the same data to upon 30-60 times faster than a hard disk ! However, the data stored in RAM is “volatile” : it disappears when you cut off the power to the RAM memory, in other words, if you turn off your system. This applies to the content of the RAMDisk too !

Do you know of other tools or programs that can help you create a RAM Disk? What other tips do you have for us regarding memory usage? Leave me a follow-up comment on this video, or drop me an email to chris@pirillo.com.

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David Weston submits the following addendum:

What Reb says is true, but only if the amount of available physical RAM is more than the space you need for your RAM Disk.
Windows uses RAM for data that is immediately required for active program storage, intermediate calculation storage, etc. If you are running a lot of programs, or some large programs, the physical memory can become full. In these cases, Windows shunts the least important stuff off to disk to free up some space. This is called “paging”.
Paging files are optimised for this purpose, so the seek time that Reb mentions is less of an issue, but you still have the time required to read and write from the paging file. Also, if memory is heavily used, you can end up reading and writing the same data multiple times, as Windows tries to optimise the use of memory. This is called “thrashing”. Thrashing really slows a machine down, so there are times when RAM disk should be avoided.
RAM disk can be good, but only if you have large quantities of free memory available, and you only need to hold small amounts of data.

Upgrading RAM in MacBook Pro

Chris — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:30:51 +0000

Upgrading RAM in MacBook Pro is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – The 17″ MacBook Pro sponsored by Blue Sky Factory for Gnomedex came with (2) 1GB sticks of RAM installed. I’ve decided to replace those with (2) 2GB sticks.

This really is a simple process. The first things you must do are to completely turn off the MacBook and take out the battery. Now, get a tiny little screwdriver and unscrew the cover for the RAM. I always try to keep the screws right in the holes, and just set that cover aside. Those screws are little, and could easily be swallowed by a pet or child. We now have to remove the old RAM. There is a little metal clip on either side of the RAM. Gently pull those aside, and firmly pull the memory up and out.

Be sure to again double check to make sure you have the proper type of memory to replace the old with. Be sure it has the same number of pins, the notch is in the same place, and it is the same type needed by your laptop or computer brand. In my case, I have 200 pins SODIMM.

Take the first RAM card and line up the notch. You need to put it in at a slight angle, pushing in and down firmly but gently. The RAM will snap into place easily. Once you have both in, put the cover back on and the battery back in, then power up.

Now that I’ve powered up, I can go up to the top corner and choose “About this Mac”. Right here, you can see that I now have 4GB of RAM installed. See how easy this was?

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How Much RAM is Enough?

Chris — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:00:47 +0000

How Much RAM is Enough? is a post from Chris Pirillo

http://live.pirillo.com/ – Community member William writes:

I wanted to ask you a question about RAM. I recently went to Crucial Memory. It advised me that since I am running Windows XP Home Edition and that I am running at 32 bits, then I could only upgrade to 3.0 to 3.5 GB. Does this sound right to you? If so, how hard would it be to upgrade to a 64 bit system? Thanks and sorry about all the questions!

This sounds about right, but it also sound like more RAM than you need for a 32 bit system, especially 32 bit Windows.

Generally, 2 GB of RAM is more than enough for Windows XP Home. Any more RAM than 2GB probably won’t give you any significant performance gains. Unless you’re running multiple memory-intensive applications you probably will not need more than 2GB of RAM for the time being.

As for upgrading to 64-bit Windows: unless you’re going with OS X, don’t do it. Microsoft has really dropped the ball on 64-bit, and Vista is a kludge, at best.

Do you guys have any suggestions for William?

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

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Get Your Own Web Site

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.