performance increase?....

What sort if performance increase would I see from using 1gb of ram over 512mb? I'm only playing games, music, browsing, homework, no intense media developing or anything like that.

it doesnt give u a performnce increase in the classic sense, like more bandwidth or faster computing power(in some sense it does tho ), what more memory does is keeps the rig from having to create and use virtual memory from the hd when it runs out of ram memory.. you probably have had it happen when playing a game right in the middle it suddenly stops for a second or 2. needless to say ram is much faster than a hd.thats why all the gamers now are going to at least a gig and sometimes more..

The best way to tell if you are going to get an increase in performance by adding more memory is to have the performance monitor open and see how much memory is being used for most of your tasks. If the amount of memory being used is approaching your current capacity, adding more will certainly increase your performance. Another less scientific way is to keep an eye and ear open to monitor hard drive activity. If the application you are using sometimes freezes momentarily in conjunction with your hard drive being accessed, then you are running out of memory and your hard drive is being utilized as virtual memory which is substantially slower. This is why some people will say going from 512mb to 1Gb offers little to no increase in performance and others will say that it made all the difference in the world from having a jerky machine to one that runs smoothly. It really depends on how much memory is being used by the programs you are using and how much multitasking you do. Also, as a general rule of thumb, the slower your cpu is, the more it will benefit from an increase in memory. That is a general rule and not an absolute law. Think of it as something that is carved in Jello instead of something that is carved in stone.

1gig of RAM certaintly isn't going to hurt anything......i really want to sell my 2x256 sticks for 2x512

Austin, I was on the edge of doing just that prior reading the memory sticky. Basically, it says you can run dual channel with nVidia Ultra 400 chipset with 2 X 256mb + 1 X 512mb if you place the three modules correctly. Read the sticky and save a buck or two.

In the more demanding games like Doom 3, 1GB over 512MB will give you much better framerates.