I have a HP Pavillion a420n Example here  It came originally with 512Mb of memory

Would upgrading the memory to the (2GB max of DDR SDRAM 333Mhz PC2700) be worth it for anything other than gaming.

Or whould my computer slow down less when clicking on some of the threads here with the excessive amounts of large pictures.

Ram = good

Quoted: Ram = good

Care to elaborate?

If you're using Windows XP, the more RAM you install, the merrier.  It will help with games, but it will also help when viewing picture-heavy websites.  You'll experience less hard disk thrashing as well, as Windows will have to rely a lot less on the virtual memory (swap file) as a substitute for actual RAM.  Plus, RAM is so cheap these days, you might as well get as much as you can afford, or as much as your motherboard can accomodate, whichever comes first.

you usually can tell if you need more ram by the drive trying to write to the HD and slow performance. I ahve 1 gig on mine with a good video card and it runs fine and fast.

Quoted: I have a HP Pavillion a420n Example here  It came originally with 512GB of memory

Holy crap!  

Would upgrading the memory to the (2GB max of DDR SDRAM 333Mhz PC2700) be worth it for anything other than gaming. Or whould my computer slow down less when clicking on some of the threads here with the excessive amounts of large pictures.

The sweet spot with Windows XP is 1 gig.  Up to a gig, you will see significant improvement.  Above a gig, a diminishing return.

Is your system restricted to PC2700?  If not, why not buy a gig of faster ram (about $100 for PC3200)?  Can your system use a matched pair in a dual-channel configuration?  If so, this will boost performance a small amount too.

I noticed an overall system improvement (OS speed, application speed, web surfing, everything) when I boosted my workstation from a single 256 meg PC2700 stick to a pair of matched 512 meg PC3200 sticks in dual-channel configuration.  

Jim

this is all the specifics I have and I would presume them to be the max I could install.

(2GB max of DDR SDRAM 333Mhz PC2700)

no more than 1gb will do you any good.  i recommend every pc have at least 512 for windows xp, and i wouldnt have a pc with less than 1gb.  but its not like an additional gig of ram is going to make anything run even noticeably faster.  if you're looking at it solely as a performance gain, after 1gb you will be sorely disappointed.

the slowest parts are the cheap ass motherboard companies get in bulk for their pcs, and your harddrives.  if you got a 10,000 rpm harddrive you'd notice a huge difference.


edit:  and i think the 'slowing down' for websites with many pictures is more of your internet connection speed than anything.  i'm in college and on a very nice connection, but when you get a ton of high res. pictures, it will take time.  memory doesnt play into that at all.  i have a program that shows how much free i have, and it doesnt dip when i load picture threads


if it says it will only support 2700, just stick with that.  pick up another 512 stick of pc2700 on ebay and see how it works.        if you havent defragmented your computer, i'd definitely start there.

Im beginning to think its just because I always have far too many windows and tabs open in Firefox mabye

More RAM is good, as is a faster disk/disk system.  Go to crucial.com to see how easy or hard it is to upgrade RAM.

Quoted: Ram = good

yep, and it's easy to prove it too.

take your RAM out, and computer == bad.