LOL!  Mine is only 128 MB ram and does fine!  I just make sure i don’t hoard rubbish on here and clean it of cookies etc...and defrag often.  you’ll be amazed how much that can speed things up.  A few tweaks here and there.  Is there any higher than 256?  LOL!!!  I was thinking of getting another 128MB ram card and putting it in but if my machine goes any faster.....hehehehe.   I think a lot of the time it depends what you use your machine for really.  I don’t have a great deal on mine and don’t store stuff on there it all goes on floppy.  You’ll be amazed how much photo’s can drag things down and take up disc space.   I don’t use dial up though, I use ADSL modem for connection and there is virtually no delay with anything anyway...