A RAM upgrade is often a quick and inexpensive way to get a large performance boost. Check your motherboard specifications to see what type of RAM you need. If you have an older system, RAM may be hard to find, and you should probably add as much as you can afford. For newer systems, a 1-gigabyte upgrade is a good place to start; if you have a specific RAM-intensive use in mind, a 2- or 4-gigabyte (or more) upgrade might be more appropriate.
Source(s):
personal experience upgrading multiple computers

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Bigger is better. Is you are still using a 32-bit windows version, 3GB should suffice. If your system is 64-bit capable, go for 4 GB.
Memory is quite inexpensive nowadays, so don't save on that.

Unless you are a serious gamer, you won't need to get overclock-able or extra-hyper-speed memory though.
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