Will upgrading my RAM make a big difference to FM?

My game has recently started crashing and getting very slow - currently in my 4th season on FM2010 - my laptop (Dell 640m inspiron) is on Vista and my RAM is 1GB, when I went to start up the game I think it only rated the computer performance as 1.5 stars, even though I run FM by itself and with no other applications. If I was to upgrade to 2GB RAM would this make a big difference do you think? Or is there anything else you'd recommend I do?

Upgrading your RAM will have a difference but only if your cpu is up to the job. What processor is it in your pc?

Yeah doubling the RAM will help, but you might as well make it 3Gb of RAM while you're at it - it won't cost much more and the difference will be almost immeasurable.

upgrading a laptop = death

upgrading a laptop = death

Agreed. Laptops are a big hassel to upgrade. PC is much safer and actually works

upgrading a laptop = death

Really? Tell me this then (if you know) - is it possible to change/upgrade the processor on my new Laptop? It's only a dual core @ 1.50GHz but the RAM (3Gb) is fine.

My Dual core laptop with 3GB RAM almost processes FM2010 as fast as my quad core 4GB pc, pretty strange actually, seems like threading doesn't work that well. But the more RAM is great, you'll feel the game will run smoother, less crap to write on the hard drive

Wee Aja, the big trouble with laptops is the limited (perhaps very limited) upgrading one can do to them. That's what you have to sacrifice in order to get portability. Perhaps that will change in the future though.

To upgrade a CPU, whether on a laptop or desktop, you have to find out if the motherboard on your machine will be able to handle a new CPU. This info can be found on the web or in the documentation that comes with your computer (laptop). Also, one other thing you should consider is the age of your laptop. If it's like 5 years or older, then it's probably not worth messing around with it. You might screw up something, and plus the upgrade would cost more money then it is worth.

In general, laptops are just more complicated and expensive to upgrade. Often times people will only upgrade the RAM for them, and perhaps the hard drive, and just leave everything else alone because it's not worth the hassle or the money to go any further with upgrading them.

If it's like 5 years or older.

Closer to 5 weeks. Actually, it's barely 2 weeks....

Really? Tell me this then (if you know) - is it possible to change/upgrade the processor on my new Laptop? It's only a dual core @ 1.50GHz but the RAM (3Gb) is fine.

Everything else about this laptop is fine except for the processor which is a little slower than what I would like. I'll look it up online because at the minute I can't play FM10

Is it possible to take it back to the shop and get your money back on it?

I'm not being funny but there isn't really anything you can do to upgrade the processor and that's where your problem lies. e.g my processor is a dual core also but it runs at 2.16Ghz and the game is fine - I have 3Gb of ram also. To get a better CPU into yours, you'll have to think about upping the power supply to your motherboard (in fact you'll probably have to buy a new motherboard and cpu which will work out to be very nearly the same cost as your actual laptop).

Once you have more power running to your laptop you'll have to consider the cooling for it. Laptop manufacturers (especially around the price range of a 1.50GHz machine) generally put in components that are just able to serve the machine as specced. Changing out your cooling fan for one more powerful is easy on a desktop but well nigh impossible to get one to fit for a lappie.

All in all, if it is even possible, you are looking at spending almost the same amount that your laptop is worth to do so, which is why I would recommend taking it back to the shop if possible to get your money back and saving up an extra 250 bucks or so to get a better spec. as an example mine is

2.16Ghz Dual Core

3Gb Ram

250MB Radeon Graphics card

and it cost me 700 Euros and runs FM fine (game bugs excepted obviously)

Hope that helps mate.

This Laptop came as part of my new broadband package and is actually in the missus' name. She is happy with it (it serves her purposes) and is obviously not in the slightest bit sympathetic about my inability to play FM10

I'm currently playing FM09 on it, which runs just fine, but there is so much I'm missing out on that it bothers me. Not a lot, mind. It just gets to me a little.

I guess your stuck with it then unless you can get her into playing FM

I wish they gave out free laptops with broadband in Spain. When I got my package they gave me 5 nights free in a hotel anywhere in Spain or Portugal which sounds good until I read the small print to find that I had to have breakfast lunch and dinner in the hotel (had to pay the total for food for 5 nights up front). 1 days worth of food cost a standard 80 bucks no matter where I stayed, so my free five nights would have cost 400 quid!! Shocking innit!

My CPU is a neural-net processor; a learning computer.

If I was you, I wouldn't upgrade a laptop if you don't know what you're doing. I've worked in the technical support industry for several years now so if it's anyones advise you should take, I would say take mine aswell as a few others that are saying DON'T DO IT!!!

My laptop isn't the best spec (low end Intel Centrino processor) and 3GB of RAM and FM2010 is running quite smoothly, surprisingly, with 6 nations loaded all the way down to the lowest leagues. It can't be that slow surely?

Don't want to scare anyone, but when I used to get constant crash dumps playing FM 2006, it turned out that it was because I had two different types of RAM in my computer. After I had removed some, the game stopped crashing. So it may be better to remove old RAM when buying new.

If I was you, I wouldn't upgrade a laptop if you don't know what you're doing. I've worked in the technical support industry for several years now so if it's anyones advise you should take, I would say take mine aswell as a few others that are saying DON'T DO IT!!!

My laptop isn't the best spec (low end Intel Centrino processor) and 3GB of RAM and FM2010 is running quite smoothly, surprisingly, with 6 nations loaded all the way down to the lowest leagues. It can't be that slow surely?

Mine is (as I've said) a dual-core Intel D220 @ 1.50GHz with 3Gb RAM. The thing is, I'm on Windows 7 and that apparently needs a 2GHz processor, whereas XP only needs 1.4GHz so I didn't even bother trying once I realised my new laptop falls well below the required processor speed.

Anyway, after seeing your heartening post I decided to try and install the game - it installed no problem and I'm currently downloading an update via Steam (must be 10.2 patch). I'll report back on how the game performs once it's ready. I'm quite excited that I may be playing FM10 again sooner than I thought.

Looks like my laptop will run FM10 just fine and dandy \o/

I upgraded my PC prior to release of FM10 and theres a big difference, going from 1GB to 4GB.

Not only improves performance on fm but allows me to do many things in parallel with FM.

If you have a 64-bit processor, you should upgrade your RAM to 4GB. It makes a whole lot of difference!

Sorry, been offline for a few days. My processor is Intel Core 2 CPU T5500 @ 1.66 Ghz which to be honest doesn't mean much to me! FM09 worked lke a charm on this and FM2010 started to, is it worth me upgrading my RAM from 1GB then do you reckon?

Just a question as this topic seems to be attracting people with computer knowledge (I have some but not much)

Which will run a game faster

-2.2 GHz Processor, 3GB Ram

-2.1 GHz Processor, 4GB Ram

I dont think either is dual core or anything.

Just a question as this topic seems to be attracting people with computer knowledge (I have some but not much)

Which will run a game faster

-2.2 GHz Processor, 3GB Ram

-2.1 GHz Processor, 4GB Ram

I dont think either is dual core or anything.

Could be either TBF.

Depends on other things like chache and type of Ram.

Could be either TBF.

Depends on other things like chache and type of Ram.

Same cache and both DDR2