If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
How do I get more memory?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
I realise the title sounds as if I'm stupid but what I really mean is what do I need to do?
Do I go into PC World and get a package and insert it myself or do they send out a Techie?
My PC has 192MB RAM which kind of shocked me since I thought it had more and I figured since I'm going to have a bit of money coming in I could buy more memory to make up to 256MB. How do I do it?
Cheers
Do I go into PC World and get a package and insert it myself or do they send out a Techie?
My PC has 192MB RAM which kind of shocked me since I thought it had more and I figured since I'm going to have a bit of money coming in I could buy more memory to make up to 256MB. How do I do it?
Cheers
0
Comments
there are different types of memory, these are seldom compatible with each other. Most common type is sdram, unless its brand new where it will be ddr.
on the motherboard (the mainboard inside your computer) there are slots to put memory on. Depending how many of these are used you should have free slots. By the soudns of things I would guess you have 3 sticks of 64mb sdram, but that is just guesswork (when people put computers together they try to do it evenly, it's just good practice, though they do work with different amounts to a degree).
also, you need to find out the fsb speed of your memory, normally this is about 133mhz, but can be more or less depending.
a good way to find out how many ramslots you have free is to download sisoft sandra, but the best way is to really open up your pc and have a look.
when you buy memory (ram = random access memory) you simply get a stick. this needs to go into your computer. at pc world they will charge you to do it, but if you have someone with a bit of computer know how i bet theyd be happy to do it for £10 cos it's an easy enough job (if it's compatible memory and everything).
eta: are you sure adding memory is the most cost effective increase to performance? i mean, it probably will be, but sometimes if the rest of your computer sucks then adding extra memory wont hurt. 256mb ram is about the norm these days though.
it's hardly gonna be kingston quality though is it?
oh yes.. just knocked off
anyway yes.. 256 is fine but try for 512
I got SiSoft Sandra and I looked at the "Windows Memory" bit.
Total System Memory: 570 MB
Free System Memory: 139 MB
Total Physical Memory: 191 MB
Free Physical Memory: 47 MB
Suggestions?
go on mainboard information in sandra
then scroll down to 'system memory controller' should say something along the following lines:
System Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Error Correction Capability : None
Number of Memory Slots : 2
Maximum Installable Memory : 2GB
Bank0/1 - A0 : Empty
Bank2/3 - A1 : None None None None DIMM 512MB
* this shows the total amount of slots on my motherboard; 2
* this shows that in bay 1 i have nothing, and in bay 2 I have one 512MB.
if you scroll down further it should say logical / chipset 1 memory banks, and there it should say something like 64MB SDRAM for each bank, or whatever you have. Then where it says speed, tell me what that says. Mines 166x2 (because it's ddr) but i bet yours is 133. Might be 166 though...
It says :
System Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Error Correction Capability : None
Number of Memory Slots : 2
Maximum Installable Memory : 512mb
Bank0/1 - A0 : DIMM sync SDRAM 256MB/8 @ 133mt/s
Bank2/3 - A1 : DIMM sync SDRAM 256MB/8 @ 133mt/s
But under "system information" It says :
Main board total memory :
239mb SDRAM.
Chipset 1 :
Total memory 256mb SDRAM
Can anyone enlighten me a little here
Error Correction Capability : None
Number of Memory Slots : 2
Maximum Installable Memory : 2GB
Physical/BIOS Memory Banks
DDR0: Empty
DDR1: 256MB DIMM SDRAM Double-Bank
Max FSB Speed/ Memory Speed: 4 x 133Mhz
Chipset 1 Memory Bank
Bank 0: 256MB DDR-SDRAM
Hope this makes sense to you cause it doesn't to me
and richeh, not sure what's going on there
Its only sposed to have 256MB RAM
( ive alredy popped open the side panel on an occasion, well seen it done, and yeh it was easy..
256 - 64 = 192
ebuyer prices
but you may be able to slot some ddr ram, in there which is about twice as powerful, but more expensive. :chin:
I'll have a look around. I have an insurance thing with PC World so I think it has to be done with their products and stuff.
My pc only has 256mb sdram, i know what shyboy said about Sisoft Sandra not reading it properly but i am right in thinking it has reported that i have 256 + 256.. ie 1 x 256mb ram in each memory bank... but that is wrong isnt it
~ edit ~ Also, do i have to have ram in both[/B] the memory baks slots or can i run with say one 512mb ram stick ??
You lose 16MB because you have shared memory on your graphics card, most like the Intel Extreme Graphics which comes integrated with a lot of new motherboards. If you want to free that memory, you need to install a proper graphics card (Geforce) and turn off the onboard graphics.
Leads me to my next question how do you generally turn off your shared graphics card ?
Make sure that you have your new gfx card plugged in before turning off onboard otherwise you will not see anything!!!