What RAM do i have?

Placebo

Do i need to open up my pc to check what type of ram do i have?
For instance if i have a type of DDR ram , do i need to purchase one with the same pcXXX # aswell ?


also best places to buy ram? i have 1GB, i probably just need one more 1GB stick

Ruu_Old

Enter your details into the memory configurator on Crucial.com (or use the system scanner) or shop4memory.com have that feature as well. Either of those would be good places for RAM.

here.from.day.1

Google and get CPU-Z, doesnt need to be installed just executed, click on the memory tab, it will tell all you need to know.

As for buying ram, one of the cheapest places I came across was www.memoryc.ie.

Placebo

thank you both the SPD tab in CPUz shows 4 memory slots, 2 of them[slot2 and 4 )have ddr2 pc2-4300 512mb, each.
I assume motherboard has only 2 used slots, would it be better to get 2 x 512 or one 1GB? thanks

dazftw

Its better off getting the same I think you can mix and match but im not sure, same is always handy!

Anti

Sometimes you can mix and match, if the timings and voltage are identical. It would probably be best to open your pc up and look at the ram up close. You will be able to tell then exactally what ram you have, and will be able to buy more of the same stuff.

Placebo

thanks guy, but theres not a wide range of PC2-4300 around so i dont think il have the same company !?

Anti

just open up your machine, take out the ram. Take a picture, post it here and we will find you somewhere in ireland that sells the same stuff.

Placebo

hey guys finally got time to open it up [the dust !! god]
anyway
1-the ram

2- the slots [i have 4 slots, two used up by 2 x 512 mb of the above]


crucial.com does a system check and tells u what is compatible so according to them "Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*" Im not sure how correct they are though.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Titanium%20MD8800


Id like to have 2GB at least anyway, could i just get ONE 1 GB and plug it into any slot or does it need to be a set?
anyway if anyone could recommend what i should get and what the difference is between the PC2-XXXX etc

also i wanted to get a new harddrive, ive no idea if its 2.5 ? 3.5 ? i take it 2.5 is laptops? IDE, SATA ? heres a pic, again suggestion of where to get one would be great, 300-500 gb



thanks alot.

here.from.day.1

Placebo wrote: »

hey guys finally got time to open it up [the dust !! god]
anyway
1-the ram
*snip*
2- the slots [i have 4 slots, two used up by 2 x 512 mb of the above]
*snip*

crucial.com does a system check and tells u what is compatible so according to them "Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*" Im not sure how correct they are though.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Titanium%20MD8800


Id like to have 2GB at least anyway, could i just get ONE 1 GB and plug it into any slot or does it need to be a set?
anyway if anyone could recommend what i should get and what the difference is between the PC2-XXXX etc

also i wanted to get a new harddrive, ive no idea if its 2.5 ? 3.5 ? i take it 2.5 is laptops? IDE, SATA ? heres a pic, again suggestion of where to get one would be great, 300-500 gb
*snip*

thanks alot.

Dust is a PC killer! Sort it out!

The RAM you need is available here.

I have used them in the past and find them very decent price and other wise.

A 4gb maximum sounds about right.

Yes you can just plug in an extra 1gb and it should run fine, the reason people buy pairs is so that they will run in dual channel mode which will give you a slight performance increase over non dual channel.

The difference between the PC2-xxxx numbers denotes the speed of the ram. Your max speed is determined I think by the FSB of your CPU which in turn is determined by the motherboard. PC2-4300 suggests a speed of 533Mhz.

This should answer any questions you have quite thoroughly, if you have the time and desire to bother reading it.

As for your Hard Drive, it is a 3.5" (Desktop) Seagate Baracuda 250GB SATA drive.
If you wish to increase your space you can simply replace this drive with any 3.5" SATA drive up to capacitys of 1000GB, or if free drive bays and free sata ports permit add another drive alongside the one you already have installed.

astrofool

A 2 x 1GB pack of DDR6400 is cheap enough these days e.g. http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=312054

For a HD, make sure there's space for it and power connector, Dell usually don't have either.

What's the make and model of the Dell you have?

Placebo

hey thank you both for those replys, very informative
i actually have a medion pc, i have an extra bay/powersupply and connector for extra drive so i can have 2 !

. Your max speed is determined I think by the FSB of your CPU which in turn is determined by the motherboard

can i check this speed? as in if my mother board can support a range over PC-4300 then would that not be a better alternative?

thanks alot guys

Placebo

can i go ahead and get a DDR2 PC6400 even though my pc has a PC2400? does the pc2400 need to be backwards compatible?

astrofool

The PC will default to the speed of the lowest RAM

gamer

thats a SATA ,Hardrive you may also have a spare ide connector on your mobo,if you wanna get an ide drive ,ide has 40 pins in the slot,bout 2 inchs wide.Get at least500gig if your upgrading.IDE takes pin pin power connector,red stripe in ide cable go,s closest to the 4pin power input.Sata hds are faster than ide drives ,if you are buying a new hd.

Placebo

thanks folks, think im getting sata[2?] Smasung spin point, over Wester digital, 500 GB. im not sure if i need to get cable seperate or wether it comes with the drive?

and getting 6400 2gb for pc. might replace the old 1 gb to that mhz later in the year.

thanks all for the help

gamer

you must put 1st memory chip in dimm 1,memory slot 1.You could put 1gig in slot dimm1 , then the old dimm 2 500meg chips in slot 2,3.Givving1.5gig ram.First slot usually nearest cpu, Must be filled,used 1st otherwise motherboard could be damaged.IF you have winxp,i dontthink theres any point in going over 2gig ram,for technical reasons.THATS a sata 3.5 hd you have, 2.5 hds are designed for laptop use.

Placebo

can you be bit more clear please? i have 4 slots. Are you saying fastest compatible MHZ should go first? i.e 1GB DDR PC2-6400

K.O.Kiki

Ignore gamer.

I leave for a year and he still hasn't learned how to use punctuation properly :rolleyes:

astrofool

Placebo wrote: »

can you be bit more clear please? i have 4 slots. Are you saying fastest compatible MHZ should go first? i.e 1GB DDR PC2-6400

Depends on the board, if it doesn't boot with them one way around, then try the other

Also, try and keep them in pairs, i.e. on the first channel, put one of each memory, and the same for the second channel, so you have 1.5 gb on each. It should work whatever way you put it in, but may drop back to single channel in some cases.

gamer

I.M saying 1st rule of memory is, do not leave 1st slot empty.4slots ,=2channels ,put fastest dimms,in slot 0,slot 1, then slightly slower dimms in slot 2,3.IF you,r happy with 2gig than it might be simpler get 2 new 500meg dimms,put it in first 2 slots,then last two use existing dimms in slot 2,3. On your mobo 1ST slot maybe marked dimm o,or dimm 1. Idoubt if anything over 2gig is worth buying on a pc running standard 32bit winxp os.Touch metal case ,plugged into esb ,to get rid of static ,be4 YOU handle memory chips. I,M trying to pass on basic advice.I do not expect to get any prizes for literary merit or fluency or profound meaningful artistic expression on a forum dedicated to pc UPGRADING.Thats akin to asking the local butcher for his reflections on eastern european poetry of the 18th century.

Placebo

hey guys I installed the RAM, took a while as i was being delicate with it at first, fingers are in bits.
-PC doesnt seem to be any faster, i timed opening up a few things, photoshop/illustrator/mozilla/mame before
and Just tested them now and they pretty much if not exactly take as long to open up.
Only increase in performance i noticed was my pictures folder , i ve 1000's and when viewed as thumbnails the refresh rate when scrolling is much faster.

Do i need to increase virtual memory or anything? My computer is showing the upgrade [3.0 Gb ram, compared to the 1 i had]
I followed this order
1 GIG [new]
512 old

1 GIG [new]
512 old


also i should have went for the flat head connector for harddrive , as i had to squeeze in the cover, il post a pic, not sure if i should have it the way it is.

thank again for replies !

gamer

my advice is ,slot o 1gig new, slot 1 , 1gig new, slot,2,4, 512meg ram each, slot 4 is the furtherest from the cpu/processor. IF your using windows on drive c:\ old hd, hd may have slow loading times,or else not much free space.or may need 2 be defraged.GO 2 control panel, hardware system, click propertys ,set for best performance.WINDOWS likes about /at least 5gig free space on drive center.
I dont know why you mixed the old and new memory dimms.Are you using sata hd as a slave,or a drive c:\ ,windows hard drive? Do virus scan,spyware scan, you may have malware slowing down the pc.

astrofool

gamer wrote: »

my advice is ,slot o 1gig new, slot 1 , 1gig new, slot,2,4, 512meg ram each, slot 4 is the furtherest from the cpu/processor. IF your using windows on drive c:\ old hd, hd may have slow loading times,or else not much free space.or may need 2 be defraged.GO 2 control panel, hardware system, click propertys ,set for best performance.WINDOWS likes about /at least 5gig free space on drive center.
I dont know why you mixed the old and new memory dimms.Are you using sata hd as a slave,or a drive c:\ ,windows hard drive? Do virus scan,spyware scan, you may have malware slowing down the pc.

It depends on the way the memory channels are arranged, most of the time it 's best to install them in the order he has them in, but maybe 5% of boards have it the way gamer describes.

It should say on the bios screen if they are running in dual channel or single channel mode.

gamer

Your pc may still be slow ,even with 3gig ram, if drive c is old, short of space,not defragged.Or you may have malware/spyware ,virus,s or loads of programs that auto load ,every time windows starts ,or you could be running unrecessary useless winxp services,which 90percent of users will never need .Press cntrl,alt,delete, taskmanager appears ,shows you cpu usage ,page file usage,click processes to show all the progs that r take up memory and using cpu resources.PROGS like itunes,norton antivirus use Alot of memory.Trend micro has online spyware/virus scanner,free to use ,no install needed.

Placebo

il clean the drive, i checked using CPU -z and it reads 512 in SLOT 1, even though i have 1 GB in there ?

is it best to install apps in windows dir? i was thinking of installing them on my new drive so windows has all the space and incase of a crash, if i had my registry backed up i wouldnt have to re install?

Most boards I've seen have the channels side by side, so slot 1 and 2 are the first channel while 3 and 4 are the second. But there are some such as AsRock boards which stagger them so you need to use 1 and 2 in this case. Either way, the BIOS should tell you what mode the memory controller is in.

3GB is a bit iffy for dual channel, since you'll have different capacities on each channel. This puts the memory controller into dual asymmetric mode which in most cases is not much better than single channel. But it depends on the FSB speed whether you'll get any benefit from dual channel anyway.

EDIT: About the 1gig showing up as 512 there's a chance that the module you have is too dense for the board/chipset, is it single sided?