Win xp slow and erratic

You need at least 512 MB of RAM.

This RD RAM is hard to find, and EXPENSIVE. I've searche NewEgg, 1800Memory, and a couple of other places. The results are not good. Do you think I should just replace the board and use another generation RAM?

www.starmicro.net

how old is it?

I don't know. I got it second hand from a friend. I may have a lead on the trouble. I have installed MS Office 2010 on it. I did a sys restore to before that install and it was faster. I am running a repair on the application and will let you know yea, or nay.
Thanks for replying.

Thanks Grump. I am working on a possible solution with, what may be incompatible software (MS Office 2010, OEM). I'll let you know the outcome.

You might be able to run Linux on that, but not XP. And all those newer programs are memory hungry too. Even 512 will be like a snail.

Try Open Office.

Thanks, Gray,...I uninstalled the office 2010 app and it's back to normal, so to speak. But I am going to have to up the RAM anyway. I ain't got this thing for just picture and bull ***. It's got earn it's keep. ******* electricity bill keeps going up!

eBay is probably the way to go for older technology PC parts. There are always bargains to be found.

This result is from a quick eBay search:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=rdram&_sacat=0&_odkw=r...

Not a guarantee that the RAM will be 100% good but well worht the risk in some cases and reputable sellers will refund or test the RAM integrity before selling.

Thanks for the the tip. I will give it a look-see. Because if I have to do that, I want at least a GB, and I haven't seen any for less than 299.00. Hell, I'll buy another M/B that uses DDR before I pay that. I really don't think it's too reliable anyway. Does anybody use it except HP?

Go on crucial.com first and see if your mobo can take more RAM. They have a test there on the home page.

Absolutely.

Did you check out Crucial to see how much RAM you can put in there?

But you also might have other issues besides RAM. Too many programs running in the background, malware. That could be why the performance is erratic, rather than snaily all the time.

--And drop the registry cleaner. They don't speed up performance and often damage the registry.
--Run MalwareBytes AntMalware and SuperAntiSpyware instead, at least twice a week.
--Drop the Advanced System Care and use either Avira free or Avast Free.
--Firewall--Comodo, Outpost or ZoneAlarm.

The old RAM is expensive because it's old. (LOL) It's not being made anymore, and you're buying old stock.

If you change the mobo + CPU + RAM, then you're running into money that might make it not worthwhile. Can you put a faster CPU into that mobo? I know the charts are somewhere on this site; maybe my colleagues here can point them out.

update ur ram, clean up ur system temp files, clean up internet cache, clear history , clean registry, fix registry errors, some time extra software cause the os to operate slow,
doing these things will help u
if u want to do it by some software then i'm using reginout , it do all these things well and it has a feature of defragmentation that will help u

I gutted the case and built a REAL computer. Thanks for all of the suggestions.