Tech Help

[UnfluffyBunny]

Ok, I figured I could prolly get a good answer here than trying to translate all the mumbo jumbo i'm finding @_@
lets say, as far as hardware goes, and the insides of my pc, i'm clueless. my problem being I want to upgrade my ram, i'm currently at 512 and i'd like to get atleast 1gig, but I dont know how to check what kind I need, if it stacks? or even what I need to check to see if y pc will take more (where to install it to? @_@ ) any insight would be -greatly- appreciated :)

[Lunarman]

hmm, it would be easier to explain this to you when you can open up your computer and look at it at the same time. But I'll try

1) I do belive that most computers nowdays use DDR ram although it should say on your current ram stick what type it is.
2) RAM does stack. Some people even say it is faster to have 2 512 sticks rather than 1 gig stick
3) You need to take the side of your computer off
You are looking for a sequence of ports that look like the blue ones in this picture
If there are some spare then you can install more ram
In short, you buy the ram stick and insert it into an empty slot making sure that all metal teeth on the stick match up with other metal teeth on the port itself.
Then you have to clip the locks back in place
There is no desktop installation process/software to adjust. It will just work

(bare in mind that this is not the same for every computer, each box has a different layout)


Hope that helps,

maybe someone can do a better job of explaining

Lunarman

[Dweomer Knight]

If you have a store with knowledgeable staff, you can take your RAM chip with you and show it to them.

DK

[Midnight]

I always forget what type of ram my computers have. SiSoft Sandra can usually tell you the type/speed, etc. of your RAM. It's a little complicated to find, but it *should* be under the hardware tab, in mainboard. It should be under the "Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks" header.

[UnfluffyBunny]

thanks alot for the help guys :) i'll take the cover off in the morning before I turn it on I think, then if I can work it out i'll try Middy's link :)
Oh Dweomer, yeah there's a few stores about with knowledgable staff, but all the ones around here charge £30-£50 just to take off the case and look for 3 seconds @_@

[UnfluffyBunny]

bought my ram today, guildwars loves me again :P

[Dweomer Knight]

Oh Dweomer, yeah there's a few stores about with knowledgable staff, but all the ones around here charge £30-£50 just to take off the case and look for 3 seconds @_@

Wow.  I would've said screw that, too.

DK

[UnfluffyBunny]

hmmm, for some reason since installing the ram, my screen keeps having flashes of yellow to the screen.... (like a sepia kinda effect) anyone got any insight? @_@

[Lunarman]

I've never seen this and it shouldn't be created by the ram as the ram only opens up more space to save bits and shouldn't affect the look of the computer at all. You might have accidently touched something else whilst you were installing the RAM other than that I just don't know.

[stumpy]

This can happen because many graphics cards grab part of main memory for video use. If there is a problem with main memory, these video glitches sometimes show up.

I am not sure what the lines mean, but I would want to check that there isn't some incompatibility between the new and old RAM. Did you just add new RAM to the old or did you replace your old RAM with new? With the former, differences in latency (how quickly the RAM responds to requests for its data) can be an issue. Did you take one of your old RAM DIMMs (sticks) in when you bought the new stuff?

If you combined new and old RAM, you can do some testing by popping out the new RAM and see if the video problems go away with the old. Then replace the old with the new and leave the old out and see what happens. Then put both in, but switch their slots. That sort of testing can help isolate what's wrong.

Just be careful to be grounded when doing all the swaps. It's easy to get careless about static when doing so much of this.

[UnfluffyBunny]

thanks for the info :)
yeah I did take the old ram in with me, but to be honest I wouldnt put much faith in the guy who told me which one was compatible...
tho since restarting my pc I havent experienced it again (crosses fingers)