Thank you to both of you for your answers. I am grateful for your time. My PC is a desktop PC, see hardware details at the end of this email.
Here is more info, answering your questions: * I purchased a single 8 GB module and currently the PC has a 4 GB module. My original plan was to buy two identical 8 GB modules but I decided to buy an 8 GB module now and the second later. I am aware that since the two modules (8+4) are not identical there is a possibility that they would not perform at their maximum speed. However I believe that 8+4 is better than 4 or 8 GB, am I right on this? * The 8 GB module that I purchased is this: <https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr3/ct102464bd160b/ct8815800> * The computer is used for basic office tasks and the usual internet browsing (sometimes with many firefox tabs open). I am not using any particularly heavy programs like scientific computing, video rendering etc. However I am experimenting sometimes with virtual machines (usually with qemu-kvm). Not something professional, just as a hobby (I am trying to teach my self things by performing tasks that I wouldn't normally try on my main system). * With the 4 GB RAM that I now have available, I have noticed my PC becoming slow and the memory usage going quite high. After booting, with just Gnome running, I see conky reporting that memory usage goes to something like 800 MB. Firefox adds ~800MB more and Thunderbird adds up to a total of more than 2 or maybe 2,5 GB! After launching Transmission (bit torrent client) I see that I have to restart Firefox quite often in order for the PC to be usable (especially after browsing a little and having many tabs open or even after some tabs have been closed). I have noticed that things got worst after upgrading to Stable (I was on oldstable until recently). * I haven't been checking on swap usage a lot so I don't know how is that used. * I have two HDD hard drives installed in the system. * Up to now I have only been using Memtest86+ to check the memory's integrity but I didn't know that it can be used to see other performance metrics. I will check that now. * I will also the dbench (which I haven't heard of before) as well as use the apt-cache command you suggested. If the information I give in this message helps you to suggest something specific please do, as hardware in general and especially benchmarks is not something I am particularly familiar with. David Christensen wrote: > [...] > Tripling your memory for $40 > should be a worthwhile upgrade. You should notice it when you run a > graphical desktop and open a lot of applications/ tabs. That sounds encouraging and that is exactly what I am after but I thought I could ask here for benchmark software suggestion to see if I can get something measurable. (and hopefully learns something on the way). Thanks again, Dalios ------------------------------------- Motherboard Manufacturer: Pegatron Form factor: uATX - 19.3x18.0 cm (7.6x7.1 in) Chipset: Intel H81 Memory sockets: 2 x DDR3 Processor socket: LGA 1150 Processor Intel Core i3-4170 CPU speed: 3.7 GHz CPU cores: 2 CPU Cache: 3 MB TDP: 54 W Socket: LGA 1150 Memory Amount: 4 GB Speed: PC3-12800 MB/s Type: DDR3-1600 Video Graphics Intel HD Integrated Graphics Hard Drive Size: 1 TB Interface: SATA Rotational Speed: 7200 rpm