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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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?

How ya doing, buddy?

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.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

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

I was speaking idiomatically.

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

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

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