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Other => General Topics => Topic started by: J J on February 17, 2007, 04:49:11 PM

Title: RAM
Post by: J J on February 17, 2007, 04:49:11 PM

does anyone know of a good and easy way of increasing RAM.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: DavidR on February 17, 2007, 05:04:02 PM

Sorry without any information on your existing RAM (size, speed, type) and your system motherboard, what RAM it supports, how many RAM slots used and available, etc. we couldn't hazard a guess.

Or are you talking about freeing existing RAM ?

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: J J on February 17, 2007, 08:43:36 PM

I have 1.00GHz, 128MB of RAM (yeah i know!).

How can i find out the other information?

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: oldman on February 17, 2007, 08:54:56 PM

If you have a brand name computer, eg dell, hp, compaq, etc, you can go to their web page and look up your particular model. You will be able to see what type of ram and how much was shipped with the computer when new and how much can be installed. To see what is installed now, righ click my computer, select properties.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: J J on February 17, 2007, 09:22:21 PM

The motherboard is a:

challenger(P6IWF)Rev C Flex-ATX motherboard.

Supports a maximum memory size of 512 MB (128-bit technology) or 256 MB (64-bit technology) for SDRAM

Supports only 3.3 V SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts

I hope this Info is useful enough.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: DavidR on February 17, 2007, 10:35:12 PM

This is fairly old RAM that pre-dates DDR and may be difficult to find.

These are the full specs for your motherboard.
http://support.packardbell.com/fr/item/index.php?i=spec_challenger&psn=023654420355

Quote

System Memory
    * Supports 2 memory banks using two 168-pin unbuffered DIMM
    * Supports up to 2 double sided DIMMs at a clock speed of 100 MHz
    * Supports a maximum memory size of 512 MB (128-bit technology) or 256 MB (64-bit technology) for SDRAM
    * Supports only 3.3 V SDRAM DIMMs with gold-plated contacts
    * ECC memory checking is not supported

This information should be enough to go to a supplier like http://www.crucial.com/ who could match the RAM and give guarantees. You only have 2 DIMM sockets (see image) one free, so your options are to get another 128MB stick taking you up to 256MB or get 2 256MB sticks replacing the original stick giving you 512MB.

The amount of RAM you need is relevant to your requirements OS and what type of programs you use (any memory intensive ones), generally the more memory the better as it should help overall performance. It won't make up for any other performance restrictions like your processor, etc. and you have to think about cost of upgrading an old system.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: CharleyO on February 19, 2007, 08:47:46 PM

***

You might also check the websites for PacificGeeks and TigerDirect for older memory sticks.


***

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: J J on February 20, 2007, 01:38:42 PM

Thanks for all the info. much appreciated.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: DavidR on February 20, 2007, 02:28:32 PM

Your welcome, let us know the outcome.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: J J on February 26, 2007, 02:10:50 PM

I've just ordered some RAM with wrist straps should get it in a few days.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips about installing them?

P.S I have read the installation guide

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: OrangeCrate on February 26, 2007, 02:31:14 PM

Quote from: J J on February 26, 2007, 02:10:50 PM

Just wondering if anyone has any tips about installing them?

Read here:

http://www.computermemoryupgrade.net/installing-computer-memory.html

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: Marc57 on February 26, 2007, 06:46:22 PM

There's a video on this page that shows how to install ram on a desktop computer.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram1.htm

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: J J on February 28, 2007, 01:11:55 PM

Just to let everyone know, (especially DavidR since you asked) I've just installed my P.C with 512mb of RAM successfully and the P.C is now running twice as fast.

Thanks to everyone who inputed Info!

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: DavidR on February 28, 2007, 04:06:41 PM

Thanks for the feedback, it is surprising just how much of an improvement you get from increasing your RAM. It has certainly given your system a new lease of life.

Title: Re: RAM
Post by: igor on February 28, 2007, 08:34:11 PM

It's not that suprising if you compare the speed of RAM and the speed of a hard disk (needed when you are out of memory and the operating system has to swap some data to disk). When frequent swapping occurs, the CPU speed is basically useless.