Need more RAM in my Windows 7, 64-bit PC

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I have a Windows 7 (64 bit), HP Pavilion p6700z. I have 4 gb of ram now. Even though I have 64bit, the manufacturer states that it can only handle 4gbs. Is there a trick to adding more RAM?

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Right. According to this HP page that computer has 2 memory slots that each can have a maximum of 2GB and 2 x 2GB = 4GB maximum.
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02696463
It’s a physical limit of the motherboard itself.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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…. It’s a physical limit of the motherboard itself.

This indeed appears to be the true cause. The capacitors on the MB by the RAM slots were not upgraded to support 4GB DDR3 sticks which is a shame on that custom order PC.
http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-p6700-Desktop-PC-series/5035348/model/5068836#Z7_3054ICK0KGTE30AQO5O3KA30B3

This is an AM3 micro-ATX MB. If you choose to replace it you would have to make sure the case’s rear I/O plate is removable and the ports not cut into the case metal instead.

If you replace it with a Intel based MB you would need to upgrade the CPU and OS.

With an AMD AM3 based MB your system may or may not work without some changes. You would need to make sure the MB supported your present CPU. Legally your OS EULA would be void since this is not a repair installation and you would need to replace the OS.

Whatever you decide to do let us know and we can guide you on a board swap. At least your present system is working as that makes it easier to swap out drivers.

http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-p6000-Desktop-PC-series/5035348/model/5068836/document/c01925534/

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That model only has slots for 4GB.

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So, i’d have to upgrade the motherboard if I want more RAM?

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So, i’d have to upgrade the motherboard if I want more RAM?

Exactly. However, it may be a bit more difficult to find a better board that will accept your CPU, they go out of date rather rapidly. Also at issue is Windows will detect a new motherboard as a new installation and have to be Activated again, may require a phone call to Microsoft.

Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"

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Why do you think you need more RAM?
Open Task Manager (right click on the task bar) and tell us how much memory is currently in use.

cheers, Paul

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This is morphing into a tremendously complex task . . . but you didn’t answer Paul T’s question about why you believe you need more RAM.

It would surely be worth looking at that and – if your memory is fully committed – looking at what is using 4GB before taking your PC apart ?

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In response to the questioned need for more memory, my experience and diagnosis may be instructive. I had a 4Gig Thinkpad. It seemed slow at times in ways I couldn’t debug even though the memory usage reports (process explorer) never showed memory hitting the limit. Since it was cheap, i upped the system to 8 Gig anyhow. And the speed increase was dramatic!

I believe this is about the entry called standby. Windows caches disk files in spare memory. And providing a large cache makes a tremendous difference, at least for my use. For example, the first time after a boot that I open my 75meg quicken file, it takes a bit. After that – essentially instantaneous. Of course this applies to program and dll files as well as data files.

More memory really helps.

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In response to the questioned need for more memory, my experience and diagnosis may be instructive. I had a 4Gig Thinkpad. It seemed slow at times in ways I couldn’t debug even though the memory usage reports (process explorer) never showed memory hitting the limit. Since it was cheap, i upped the system to 8 Gig anyhow. And the speed increase was dramatic!

I believe this is about the entry called standby. Windows caches disk files in spare memory. And providing a large cache makes a tremendous difference, at least for my use. For example, the first time after a boot that I open my 75meg quicken file, it takes a bit. After that – essentially instantaneous. Of course this applies to program and dll files as well as data files.

More memory really helps.

Could plugging a 4GB flash drive in a USB port and instructing the computer to use it to improve performance, or however that instruction is phrased, prove a solution to his problem?

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Could plugging a 4GB flash drive in a USB port and instructing the computer to use it to improve performance, or however that instruction is phrased, prove a solution to his problem?

Using ReadyBoost might smooth out some operations and help opening some programs a little quicker, the slower the hard drive and less installed RAM there is, the greater the chance of any speed improvements being noticed. So, yes, it will speed some things up (and slow others down, the cache has to be filled at each boot) but will it be enough to make a real difference, that’s very unlikely.

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Could plugging a 4GB flash drive in a USB port and instructing the computer to use it to improve performance, or however that instruction is phrased, prove a solution to his problem?

Plugging in a flash drive and enabling Windows “Ready Boost” feature was a nice idea for computers with slow hard drives and small amounts of memory. It works by using the flash drive to hold data that would otherwise be written to the hard drive’s rather slow “paging file”. The only problem is that those small, affordable flash drives aren’t very fast!

A much better idea is to add an SSD to your system. The SSD has much faster performance than any regular hard drive, with or without ReadyBoost. Windows paging file will work very fast on the SSD. Don’t worry about wearing out the SSD – it will last for years and, besides, they keep getting cheaper so there’s no problem about replacing it several years from now. The performance improvement, even without adding any more memory, is VERY noticeable.

Use free software to “clone” your whole Windows setup onto the SSD, then Change the “1st Boot Device” in your computer’s BIOS setup screen to boot from the SSD as the 1st device. Around $89 gets you a 240GB SSD from Amazon.com or Newegg.com and around $179 buys a 480GB SSD. By the way, if you decide to buy a new computer later on you can use the SSD in the new machine. So it’s a win-win option for you!

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It works by using the flash drive to hold data that would otherwise be written to the hard drive’s rather slow “paging file”.

The page file holds the data, some of which (mainly small, randomly located files) is then copied to the ReadyBoost drive. Thus my comment “(and slow others down, the cache has to be filled at each boot)” and also the reason why you can safely remove the Readyboost drive at any time without a problem.

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More memory means a new motherboard and as it’s an HP I suspect you won’t get a new board to fit, so more memory = new PC.
A cheaper option may be an SSD to replace the existing hard disk.

cheers, Paul

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These are all interesting solutions, but whether or not they will provide any performance improvement cannot be determined until the OP says how much memory is actually being used.

Then, and only then, is it worth considering what the solution might be.

Clearly in some cases more memory can and does improve performance, but equally clearly in some cases it does not because it is not the limiting factor..

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