Upgrading RAM on a budget

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Apologies for another N00b question guys, hope its not bothering the more experienced members.

Once I've got my grounding strap and a can of compressed air, I am going to upgrade the RAM on the home PC and give it a clean while i've got it open.

Haven't got much spare cash this month, basically, got 512mb of DDR memory in at the moment, in 2x256mb sticks, got 2 slots spare for memory upgrades.

I want to make sure I buy the right memory, so any tips on howto verify that would be great. And any links to a cheap online product would be great 2.

As I'm on a tight budget am I ok to just put another 256mb stick in one of the spare slots ? giving me 750mb total. Also, I'm right in saying RAM is pnp aren't I ?


Thanks in advance.

 

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Sorry, forgot to post spec

Maximum Memory Capacity: 4096MB
Currently Installed Memory: 512MB
Available Memory Slots: 2
Number of Banks: 4
Dual Channel Support: Yes
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.93GHz Model 4, Stepping 1
CPU Speed: 2933 MHz


Gateway D915GAG Motherboard.

 

I would go to www.crucial.com personally. They actually make the chips, which should make the RAM cheaper. not only that, but it will scan your system (with the scanner on the front page) and tell you what your system can cope with/take, etc. It will tell you your maximum RAM possible, and suggest a couple of chips for you.

Fergal

 

What he said.

 

That's some good advice!

We use Crucial Memory at work for Intel D915GAG Motherboards.

You can't go wrong with Crucial

Click here to see Memory upgrade for D915GAG

There not bad MB and are used in most of our desktop PC's although we are now moving onto Intel D102GGC2.

The only downside to the D915GAG was the onbaord LAN card. There's two types

1) Marvell Yukon which does work with the RIS server and we have to install PCI Realtrek LAN cards

2) Intel Pro 100VE.

Do you know which type you have??

 

When it boots does it say that dual channel memory is detected? If so you need to buy a *matched pair* of sticks to keep the machine dual channel. If you only buy one, the dual channel will be lost, and the memory will be slower.

Harry.

 

Here's the spec's for the Motherboard a PDF file taken from Intel

D915GAG

Yes it is Dual Channel, Nice one Harry I forgot about Matching Pairs.

 

Guys, awesome info, Thanks

Going to order 2x256mb sticks from crucial.

Monkey, is it an intel motherboard I have or a Gateway one ?? bit confused as crucial scan says I have a "Gateway D915GAG Motherboard". Is there such a thing ? or do they mean an intel one.

 

I imagine that Gateway make the Motherboard for use with an Intel processor, as apposed to an Athlon processor.

If you're unsure open up your case and have look at the model number on the motherboard. Then googlise the number you get and see what results come back.

 

What they said.

 

Thanku, will do

 

I think they mean Intel?

I know there are Gateway systems out there.

I have just found this link, that reviews the Gateway D915GAG board. Gateway make Latops and PC systems. But use Intel Motherboards

What sort of programs and Operating systems will you be using on this PC?

 

Morning monkey

Thanks. Yeah I'd heard of Gateway 2000 as a manufacturer.

Will order those RAM sticks compatible with the intel mobo.

Its an Emachines pc I've got

Intel pro 10/100 Lan

Just run Win XP on it, no plans for vista at moment.

Programs, no games really, IE, utorrent, usual antivirus/spyware progs,photoshop,nero, MS office, Ares, windows messenger, VLC media player, Itunes

Nothing really 2 resource intensive to be honest, but when I'm downloading a couple episodes of heroes, surfing forums, and maybe uploading photo's at the same time I feel more RAM would be beneficial.

 

Good Afternoon train.m3.up.bih4tch

That's a bit of a long user name??

Anyway, 384mb of ram is the min Winxp is recommended but 512MB for office and OS is just fine. Any games then you really need 1GB min. You'll be surprised just how fast Win2k would load on your PC compared to WinXP.

 

train.m3.up.bih4tch

How long have you being doing your A+?

 

Afternoon monkey mate.

Yeah kind of regret the name lol, dunno what I was thinking, but I can never remember it and have to copy and paste it in LMAO.

Yeah, I really like Win2k. Upgrading the RAM will be fun for me, see how it runs xp with a gb of RAM. Also gonna have a good clean in there while i've got the box open. Any suggestions as to which components I can safely clean with my compressed air and brush ?

Was thinking the vents on the case and the PSU fan.

 

Monkey, I bought the dummies guide to A+ a few weeks back to take with me on holiday to give me a basic idea of hardware. Read 100 pages of that and have got the meyers book coming and streetsmart one 2.

I've been working 1st line support for approx 4 years, always really wanted to do pc repair but only looked into A+ recently, my hardware knowledge is very small.

Within my company the pc repair team etc has all been outsourced so there is no chance of promotion within current company, I figured get certified and then look for pc repair work elsewhere.

One good thing about my current job is that I can study when its quiet, internet access, and there is access to lots of old pc's that I can open up and play about with.


How about u mate ???.

 

I would recommend taking the fan off the heatsink and cleaning out the heatsink good and proper. Fluff and dust on these 2 components stops the heat loss from the cpu and can cause the cpu to over heat. When this happens irreversible damage can be caused to the cpu and you then have to shell out for a new processor.

Make sure you get all the fuzz out the heatsink and give the fan blades a good clean as well.

I would also dust off the ram and blast anything that looks like it has dust settling on it.

TIP: Use the compressed air in short, sharp bursts, and always keep the can upright. Otherwise you'll end up with the liquid compressed air gas (not sure what it's actually called) on the components. Liquid and electrical things do not mix very well!

Have fun

 

What 64mb???? That's total Pants!

Not having ago at you sparky but Microsoft!

I have seen systems with 256MB DDR Memory that were running WINXP SP1. It takes almost 22 minutes to load the profiles and run open window componets. 64mb, there having a laugh!