an n00b wit ram - plz help

GangsterAngel

GangsterAngel

GangsterAngel

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Joined
11 Nov 2004
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267
Location
Macclesfield, Cheshire, U
Hey guys. i have no idea what im doing with ram, or the insides of a computer to be honist lol, i have changed ram before but along time ago. two questions for you guys. How do i find out what ram will fit my motherboard? , and does new ram require a format?
 
im not sure, i downloaded something called blearc to findout, and i cant see it in the details. whats the best way for me to findout plz ? ( Without havin to open ma pc )
 
Its simple... from one noob to another.

find out the make of your computer, google it, then look for what motherboard you have.

Once you find out google the make of the motherboard and look for either:

DDR or DDR2 or DDR3. Which everyone of these its say it takes you will need to search for it. For example: If its says DDR2, you search overclockers for 4GB DDR2!

DDR, DDR2, DDR3 all have different fittings, but each one is unique to a mothboard meaning if your mobo takes for example DDR3, you can literally buy any RAM that has DDR3 written on it.

On the newer motherboards they can some times take both DDR2 and DDR3, all you have to do in this case is chose one, check the manual for the motherboard to see what DIMM slots (where the ram goes) they fit into. DDR2 slots are different colour to DDR3 slots a lot of the time.

ANSWER2:

No Ram does not need to be formatted, RAM means Random access memory, which as its says deals with infomation but does not store it like a HDD

MOTHERBOARD RAM EXAMPLE:

Say for argument sake you have this motherboard, to find out what ram you would need look at the bold section
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-172-GI

Product spec:

- Revolution energy saving design with DES Advanced featuring hardware based - Dynamic 4-Gear switching
- Supports 45nm Intel Core 2 multi-core processors with FSB 1600 MHz
- Dual channel DDR2 1366+ for remarkable system performance
- Ultimate graphics performance with PCI-E x16 interface
- Features high speed Gigabit Ethernet connection
- Features SATA 3Gb/s with RAID function
- Patented DualBIOS with dual hardware BIOS protection
- Home theatre quality 8-channel High Definition Audio

Hope that helps.
 
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thanx gud plan, but sadly its custom build. i just diddent build it :(
the details blelarc gives me is.

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United Kingdom)

2.40 gigahertz AMD Athlon LE-
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Not hyper-threaded

160.03 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
65.66 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ASUS DRW-2014L1 [CD-ROM drive]
HUAWEI Mass Storage USB Device [CD-ROM drive]
OX3113K CTY358I SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive]

Hitachi HDS721616PLA380 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n PVG904ZF0AYLRV, rev P22OABEA, SMART Status: Healthy
HUAWEI MMC Storage USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1

Standard floppy disk controller
NVIDIA MCP61 Serial ATA Controller (2x)
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller

but dont think any of that helps
 
Cant see the motherboard on there for sum reason.

Ok if your comfortable with take RAM out, simply un-plug one stick and look for a bit of paper with writing on it, it should say on there what RAM it is, whether its DDR, DDR2 or DDR3.

If you can tell me that i'l give you a link to buy RAM.
 
You might as well get 4GB, it's cheap enough. You sure you need DDR2? If you don't know, download CPU-Z, and click on the memory tab. It'll tell you what you're currently running.
 
yeh, got a CPU thing workin, 1024 mb (1 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM )
unless that SDRAM makes a diffrence?

edit, thanx a lot for helpin me guys! , got to take ma son to doctors appointment now tho.
ill get str8 back to this asap. thanx again.

edit:
those Corsair's look sweet!
4 times what i got now :) , i think i gotta have em :D. thanx "Thegoon84"
 
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Yeah no problem mate, SDRAM doesn't make a difference. its DDR2 you need.

Remember this tho, if you buy 4GB (its cheap enough) and you dont have a 64bit OS then your RAM will only read between 2.5GB - 3.5GB of the RAM, so dont be disappointed if you dont see in system spec "4GB DDR2 RAM".

It might be an idea to buy 2GB of RAM with High bus speed i.e 4GB 1066Mhz you should be looking for ram with anything above a 1066Mhz bus speed, i.e 1333MHz, 1600MHZ 1800MHz 2000MHz etc etc etc. if you have a 32bit operating system you might find 2GB of high end RAM will run better than any 4GB RAM sticks, its a lot to take in, but by all means reply here if your not sure.
 
Thegoon84 said:
you should be looking for ram with anything above a 1066Mhz bus speed, i.e 1333MHz, 1600MHZ 1800MHz 2000MHz etc etc etc
Click to expand...

Except 1333Mhz, 1600Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2000Mhz only comes in DDR3 flavour which would obviously not work in the ops pc ;)

Tbh the cheapest PC2-6400 4gb kit would do him, as by the sounds of it he won't be doing any major overclocking. Something like this would be more than adequate, cheaper too.
 
coupe69 said:
Except 1333Mhz, 1600Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2000Mhz only comes in DDR3 flavour which would obviously not work in the ops pc ;)

Tbh the cheapest PC2-6400 4gb kit would do him, as by the sounds of it he won't be doing any major overclocking. Something like this would be more than adequate, cheaper too.
Click to expand...

My bad so used to seeing tho's figures!
 
GangsterAngel download CPU-z, useful little app that gives you most essential info like what motherboard you have, what memory you have and what speed its running! :)

If it's DDR2 memory you need then 4GB(2x2GB) of Kingston HyperX PC2-8500 is a safe bet! :cool:
 
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That's laptop memory! :)

You just need a few more posts then you can activate your trust account and walk into the OcUK members market where there are dozens of people waiting to take your money off you in exchange for a used set of ram! :cool:

You can sometimes mix ram with no ill effect but sometimes it all goes to hell, better safe than sorry maybe! ;)
 
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Download CPU-Z and tell us your motherboard model number, tell us how much (in gigabytes) ram you want. We will suggest some for you.
 
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