Hey,

I have a sony viao PCG-FR315B laptop and I'm thinking of upgrading it because I'll need to when I get some editing software and have to store my movie files.

I'm looking at getting an extra 80-100GB or so external hard drive and also upgrading to 512mb Ram.

Currently I have 256MB RAM and this looks liek the most difficult thing to upgrade. Is it really a neccesity? Will the pc perform well enough on the RAM it has or will I definetly need more? Obviously I don't want slow down or anything but I am assuming that might be the case here if I leave it as it is?

Thanks

You 'can' run on 256, but you 'should' have 512. Obviously drive space is more critical, so if it's between the two, go for the drive space first.

ok cheers. I'll try that first. I just hope when I'm editing a film it doesn't go mental on me.

Which NLE?

With Vegas, 256MB is fine.
With Premiere Pro, probably not. Check with Premiere forums on that, although I believe Premiere is a resource guzzler.

NLE?

OK well i'll go with vegas then and see how that goes nearer the time.
Thanks

NLE = lazy way of saying editing software.

Non Linear Editor

Keep in mind that laptops have different (sized) components than
normal PC's. So make sure whatever you buy can be put in your
laptop. Normally you would let a computer shop or your laptop
manufacturer take care of things like that.

Especially memory can be a very tricky thing if you are going with
a different brand. Be very carefull with that!

I've managed to find a chip that can be easily fit underneath the laptop and I've spoken to sony help centre. I've found a decent external hard drive too, so I just have to get the money together and buy those.

Thanks for the help.

FWIW....

I've found that anything less than 1 Gig RAM is a problem. Obviously, it depends on the type of source images.

Well with what I'll be getting (512) it will up the overall to over 700. Will this be enough to run, say Sony Vegas and a few effects programmes if need be? It'll only be used for converting and editing.

oughta be just fine. it's simply a performance issue.

Cool thanks

windows XP any flavor runs OK on 512 but will choke on 256mb. yesh even if you're typing papers and saving them, browsing internet, etc.. for editing i highly recommend 1GB to cover the overheads.

Oh you don't HAVE to have 1Gb. I'm finally upgrading to a system that has 1Gb but I've been running very well with no problems, slowdowns or crashes on a 512Mb system. You can keep an eye on the Task Manager for that sort of stuff. 1Gb is nice, definitely, but if you're on a budget there's no reason to sweat profusely over it.

you don't HAVE to have 1GB just like you don't HAVE to have 512mb but if you look at the task manager when you have 1gb windows sure is taking up a lot of space. i think WXPP really needs to go on a diet. it's TOO FAT!

512mb makes windows XP bearable... but 1gb makes windows XP comfortable.

Well remember, the more RAM you have available, the more the OS and the apps in it will suck up - that is, after all, why you get more RAM - so your apps have more playing room.

I mean when I edit on my 512MB system, it rarely ever gets to 512MB, because the system knows the constraints and stops short of living in the swap file. Once I jump to 1Gb, somehow magically the same projects will suddenly suck up much more RAM.

It's sort of like a goldfish - it will grow as big as the bowl you stick it in.

Practically speaking, Vegas uses as much RAM as it needs to store image data. If you're working in 720x480 DV space, 512 Mb seems to be quite adequate, as long as you're not also running Photoshop or other memory intensive apps. If you're working in HD space, say 1280x720, the RAM storage requirements go up drastically. If you are working with .BMP images captured with a dslr, which are typically ~3000x2000, I can tell you from practical experience that you'll QUICKLY choke, even at 1 Gb RAM. When this happens, Vegas starts paging to virtual memory and the system will practically grind to a halt.

Ok, this brings up a question relative to my Compaq Presario... I currently have 256 MB with space available in another DIMM slot.

For the time being should I just add 512 MB to the other slot or is this going to cause problems?

IOW do I have to "match" the two memories in the two slots (get matching sticks for a total of 1GB) or can I just plug in another 512 to get a total of 768 without any compatability issues?

Is it recommended to pay the approx extra $80 for the additional 512 stick or would I not really notice it over the 768?

I won't be doing any super crazy editing, just basic home movie type stuff with sound dubbing, fades, text, maybe slow-mo, etc. I'll be using inexpensive editing software.

Thanks.

Joa

A little bit of performance depends on the chipset your computer has.

The newer 865/875 chipsets (and the ones newer than that) support dual channel memory operation. You need a pair of the same memory, and the chipset can double the memory bandwidth by using both of them at once. If you don't have the same model sticks of RAM then you don't get dual channel operation, and performance will drop somewhere around 3-20% (no idea what the exact figure is, but my guestimate is somewhere around 7%).

On older chipsets I don't think mixing memory leads to such a big performance drop. (My guess is that you have one of these, but I can't tell without knowing what your computer or your computer's motherboard is.)

In any case it's no big deal to have mixed memory in there. Even if it does lead to lower performance, several percent is barely noticeable and no big deal. If performance does become an issue, you could just spend $80 for another stick. You might want to start off with a brand that's easy to get, although with online retailers like newegg.com that may not be so hard when they have good prices on a huge selection of products.

*By performance, I mean performance for rendering video. Things like games and compressing data with winRAR will have different results.

Yaa, mine is a 845GV chipset.

Joa

Oh, and it's a Intel Celeron 2.6 GHZ processor.

I googled and found a good article on what you mentioned...

http://www.kingston.com/newtech/MKF_520DDRwhitepaper.pdf

Joa

Just an update... on the advice from folks on this list I ordered a firewire card/cable/software for only $14 at Newegg and I also ordered a stick of RAM for only $70.

Holy cow, I can't believe how much it improved the performance on this Compaq running XP. The computer actually seemed fairly fast before but now it's just smoking.

I also run 3D solid modeling on this computer (limited assemblies, nothing like I do at work) and it's really sped that up as well.

Best $70 I've spent on a computer, that's for sure.

Thanks for all your helpful advice!


Joa

For anybody else reading this... when you upgrade RAM... even if it's a different brand or capacity... you should make sure the ram is the same speed... 2, 2.5, or 3... and obviously I wouldn't mix ECC with non-ECC ram.

I'm going to start another thread to debate ideal ram quantities. See you guys who are interested in that... over there.