Choosing RAM
 

My recent computer problems led me to end up buying a new tower, which is much better then what I had. It only came with 512mb of ram which was what my other computer had, however it seems some of that is being diverted to my ati video card...as its showing only 446 mb of ram..no problem there though.

The stuff I normally run takes around a minimum of 512mb of ram...so I will need to upgrade, at least to 1g. Opening up my tower and looking at the ram and comparing it to the other 512 card that I had in my other system...made me realize that ram apparently comes in different sizes. It seemed as if the other one I had has a slightly different count of lines along that gold strip on the bottom. My question is, is there a way to detect which kind would be best suited to buy? I dont want to buy the right amount but have it unable to fit.

If this is a prebuilt PC it'd be safest to check with the manufacturer about system upgrades. If not, find out what motherboard you have and it'll be listed in the specifications.

Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com has a great memory advisor which allows you pick your motherboard manufacturer and see what RAM your system is capable of running.

This wont make me come across as too computer literate, but where can I find out what motherboard I have? Can I look in my system info, or isi t something I wil have to get on the CPU setup when I reboot?

Sorry, I ought to have posted this as well. Download and run CPU-z (link in the upper left corner.)

Program is quick with no install and offers several tabs of information covering your CPU, mainboard, and RAM currently installed.

Yeah I knew about CPU-z already...ok heres what I could determine.

Memory Tab - Type DDR2 Size 512 MB Channels Dual then lists a bunch of clocks and the MHz

On Mainboard it says

Manufactuer - ASUSTEK Computer INC. Model - NYSSA 1.01
Chipset NVIDIA MCp61 Rev - A2
Southbridge - Same as Chipset
LPCIO - Fintek F8000


I looked on that link from earlier and couldnt find it listed...maybe im looking in the wrong place for the motherboard? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to see what I should buy and where to buy from...and wanting to make sure its accurate.

It's not listed on the ASUS site as well. Is this an HP desktop? Crucial has HP (and Dell/Gateway/etc.) as a selection in their advisor.

In any case, in CPU-z on the SPD tab you'll want to take a look at the RAM that's in there currently. Even though your motherboard could potentially handle more, the "Max Bandwidth" line will at least present the RAM spec your motherboard is guaranteed to run.

Ahh ok. That clears that up, now my next question is which RAM will fit in? As I mentioned earlier...the one I wanted to try from my old pc didnt fit, the card was just too long. Is the DDR2 type the kind I want to put in or look for?

DDR2, yes, but you'll also want the speed (can be viewed on that "Max Bandwidth" line of information -- 3200, 5300, etc.).

For instance, mine says "PC2-5300 333MHz". Another way of writing that (and it might be advertised this way) is DDR2-667, so if I wanted to upgrade with another stick of RAM and couldn't find motherboard specs I'd at least know it's capable of running that specification.

Well I bought a stick of memory but its not working for some reason. When I power on with it in, my computer doesnt do anthing and it just beeps. I made sure that its compatible...its pc2 5300...and it also says on the package compatible 667 mh 5300, 533 4200 and 400 3200....am I doing something wrong? The beeping is the same sound it makes when I have nothing in either slot. And yes, I made sure it was in the primary slot

Is the RAM fully inserted in the slot (with the two tabs on each end fully snapped in)? Can you boot into BIOS at all? Also, what's the size of the new RAM and have you tried the other slot?

Yes when I inserted it both tabs were snapped in completly. No, when I turn it on the power comes on but it doesnt do anything besides making a few beeping noises. The ram size is 1g which is replacing 2 256k modules. According to crucial's info, I can use 1gb per slot for a maximum of 2gb.

When I do a Crucial scan, it says it cannot find an exact match...but it detects the following:

The following is a list of what our scan was able to detect:
System Manufacturer: Compaq-Presario
System Model: RQ416AA-ABA SR2168HM
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: NYSSA

* Maximum Memory Capacity: 2097152 MB
* Currently Installed Memory: 512 MB
* Available Memory Slots: N.A.
* Number of Banks: 2
* Dual Channel Support: N.A.
* CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
* CPU Family: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3400+ Model 15, Stepping 2
* CPU Speed: 1800 MHz


When I look up the stuff manually using that info (Compare Presaria 2168HM) I come up with this:

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*

*Not to exceed manufacturer supported memory.

# Maximum Memory: 2048MB
# USB Support: 2.x Compliant
# Standard Memory: 512MB removable
# Slots: 2 (2 banks of 1)
# Graphics Support: PCI Express x16

Here is what I bought

Kingston® KVR667D2/1GR DDR2 Memory Upgrade For Desktop Computers, 1GB, 667MHz/PC2-5300

Manufacturer # KVR667D2/1GR
memory 1 GB
memory type DDR2 SDRAM
memory connector type 240-pin DIMM
warranty Limited Lifetime
brand name Kingston
manufacturer Kingston Technology
model name KVR667D2/1GR

I wonder if that board wants two sticks of RAM to be present. Checked that model number on the manufacturer's site and it lists PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) on their specifications with a max of 2GB total. The faster memory ought to revert to the slower speed with no problems. HP and others also tend towards a locked down system so I don't know how many options you have regarding RAM in the BIOS. HP recommends removing and reinserting the RAM, making sure the RAM socket is clean (use compressed air), and checking cables in case something came loose. Or that new stick could be bad (*shrugs*, it's happened before). If all fails you could try a PC2-4200 stick and see if the board really is that picky.

Is there anything that I might have to change in the bios? Someone recommended resetting my cmos, but i didnt know how accurate that is.

Cables should be ok, seeing as I was able to put the original memory back in right? I will try using some compressed air and reinserting it...hopefully I can get this to work.

I don't know if it would allow it but RAM timings and speeds, although it doesn't matter since the PC won't boot to BIOS with that stick installed anyway. Wouldn't hurt to try resetting the CMOS. Assuming it isn't a bad stick, a last ditch approach would be an update to the BIOS (the HP driver download page mentioned something in regards to a PC Doctor physical memory test issue) but seeing as the PC does work with the original RAM I wouldn't advise doing so, as that kind've update can brick a system as much as fix everything (which is funny since tech support folks do it pretty often and pretty casually over the phone :)).

edit: lol, speaking of, HP does offer free chat/email support online. Might be worth a contact to see if they know something we don't.

Had the same problem. I know this might be too late, but in your info it read as Dual Channel ram. To run dual channel you have to have 2 equal sticks of ram. My bet is your system will NOT revert to single channel and will only allow a dual setup, meaning 2 equal sticks of ram must be inserted for it to work.