My computer has a dual-core 3GHz AMD processor and two GB of RAM. Our original intention was to build it with 4 GB RAM, but when we bought the components at the local computer store they only had the one memory stick in stock. (Yes, it would have been less expensive to order components on-line, but not a lot -- my computer builder is chief engineer at the radio station group where I worked, and he receives heavy discounts on parts.)

The computer works fine with "just" 2 GB RAM (I remember when I paid over $200 to upgrade my old 386 machine from two to four MB of RAM), at least, I think it works fine, but how would I know if it didn't?

I can purchase an identical RAM strip (its a T800UB2GC5) for $21.95 plus $10 shipping, ~$32 total.

Scary thought: $21.95 is about 1/10,000th of the cost per byte of my previous upgrade!

So, two questions. (1) Is $21.95 a reasonable price; and (2) what do I gain by having 4 GB instead of 2 GB of RAM?

FWIW, I don't do computing that is RAM intensive, at least I don't think I do. I don't do video editing, for instance. I play DOOM (Z-DOOM, now that my platform is 32-bit) once in a while, spend some time surfing the internet, do spreadsheets and word processing. I'm probably using less than 10% of the capability of my computer as it sits.

tanstaafl.

edit: Better price: $21.30 + $8.25 shipping = $29.55
edit2: Better price: $23.00 + $0.00 shipping + $1.90 tax = $24.90

Worst deal so far: $174.00 + $13.90 shipping.