Did you know that the amount of memory is just as important as the speed?  Most computers shipped before 2005 had only 256MB of RAM. This is considered a Windows minimum for Windows XP.  512MB is the minimum for performance on Windows Vista and 1GB is recommended for Windows Vista! It is a good recommendation because you can watch your speed increase after a RAM upgrade!  Each Window that is opened and every program running in the background requires a certain amount of RAM.  The more programs that are being used, the more RAM you are taking up.  In order to let your computer operate without restricting its temporary memory, it requires enough RAM.


Size and type of RAM will have to be determined by looking in your PC case.

  Today the going prices for RAM are fairly cheap:
     
   256MB  = ~ $60
   512MB  = ~ $85
   1GB     = ~ $120   

 *Some Pentium 4 computers use Rambus Memory which is more expensive than standard  RAM.