RAM Upgrade Help - Pics included

[Arjun Murthy 1051343]

Hi All,

 

I know totally nothing at all when it comes to computer Hardware so i was just wondering if i could please get some help from this forums.

 

I currently have XP 32 bit and after researching, i realised that it can take up to 3GB or RAM. I currently have 2GB and i realised that i could get that extra bit of RAM to increase my performance.

 

I just have a few questions.

 

Firstly, in Pic 1, it says DDR2 800. I'm sure thats the Type of RAM (correct me if i'm wrong). The Pink/Orange slots is where i put in the new RAM correct??

also, it says DDR_1 and DDR_2 up to DDR_4. Slots 1 and 3 are currently taken. What slot would i put a new one in?

 

 

Pic 2 shows FSB 1333. Just looking around a bit, the 1333 seems the be the power consumption in Mhz. Is that correct? Do i need to worry about this much?

 

Pic 3 shows that all the RAM is Corsair model. Would it just be best to get the same model?

 

Pic 4 states the mother board type (i think). I have been told that it may affect if i put the extra stick in either slot 2 or 4. How does this matter? Whats best?

 

Pic 5 is just an overlook of what it looks like

 

Thanks Very much for your replies if you do post. It's much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks very Much. Highly Appreciated

Arjun

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

You should get the same brand of RAM( I presume it is dual channel) and put it in either of the empty slots.

 

DDR2-800 is the type of RAM, 800 MHz speed DDR2.

 

If it's the same brand, the slot doesn't matter.

 

 

 

FSB 1333 is the speed of a component of the motherboard called the "front side bus". Yours is 1333 Mhz, which has absolutely nothing to do with power consumption. The FSB links the CPU and a chipset called a "northbridge" which connects the AGP or PCI-E slot with with the CPU. The FSB affects the speed of your computer.

[Ivan Kovacevic 920456]

If you put that one stick of RAM in there, you'll lose the 'dual channel' configuration, which will effectively put your memory-CPU highway on half capacity.

 

Ideally, you want to have either 2x2GB pair or 4x1GB combo, with preference on the 2x2GB for cooling and stability purposes.

 

A few incorrect [Mod - Happy Thoughts]umptions along the way. Mainly, Megaherz do not represent power consumption, they represent a frequency. The frequency at which your Front Side Bus can run (maximum). Depending on your bios settings, it may be 1333 but it may be lower. Same applies for DDR2 RAM - it can be 800MHz, but it can be higher if you set it that way in BIOS (and your RAM can take it).

 

 

You can put the new stick into any slot. It's gonna be equally as bad/good

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

Note that if you put in 4 gigs you will need to upgrade yours OS to a 64 bit OS.

[Ivan Kovacevic 920456]

Only if you want to see/use all 4 Gigs

If you're fine with 3.2, you can keep the 32bit OS, but also keep the dual channel speed

[Arjun Murthy 1051343]

Thanks Guys,

 

Arjun

[Lennart Vedin]

You can put 4G, XP take advantage of up to maximum 4G. How much depend on your motherboard and installed drivers.

 

The DDR2-800 mean DDR2 is the type and 800 is the speed.

 

You can put e.g. DDR2-1000 at your motherboard, but the speed will still be 800.

 

The print on the motherboard means the motherboard maximum memory-speed is 800.

 

If you have two different brand (or even same brand buy in pear), then typical you should but same in slot 1 and 3, then same in slot 2 and 4. You see as it is already installed a pear in 1 and 3.

 

So you may have one brand in 1+3 and one brand in 2+4. Refer your motherboard manual.

 

(RAM can be delivered as pair that are performance matched together )

Edited April 13, 2010 at 03:55 PM by Guest

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

He's using 32 bit. He needs a 64 bit OS for 4 gigs.

[Lennart Vedin]

He's using 32 bit. He needs a 64 bit OS for 4 gigs.

You perfectly right he need 64 bit to to get 4G, but he can put 4G in 32bit system to get more than 3G.

 

32-bit system can address 4G, while some of the address-span are used for different hardware access, and that part of memory can not be used by RAM.

[Brad Littlejohn]

He's using 32 bit. He needs a 64 bit OS for 4 gigs.

You perfectly right he need 64 bit to to get 4G, but he can put 4G in 32bit system to get more than 3G.

 

32-bit system can address 4G, while some of the address-span are used for different hardware access, and that part of memory can not be used by RAM.

 

Quite right there, Lennart. As far as Windows goes, Windows XP has a limitation that will only show that you have 3.25GB of memory if you have more 4GB or more of memory in your machine. So if you have 4GB, you will only see 3.25GB. 8GB? nope. only 3.25GB. So the only way to take advantage of more than 3.25GB would be to update to an OS newer than Windows XP: Vista, or 7.

 

Now, what I do not know, is if this is a limitation of just Windows XP, or a limitation of a 32bit OS. I am pretty sure it is the limitation of a 32bit OS. So since most CPUs nowadays are 64bit, let alone multicore, to get past the 3.25GB barrier and see all of the memory, optimally, a 64bit OS is needed.

 

BL.

[Darrol Larrok 1140797]

I'm fairly certain it's a 32 bit limitation

[Richard Gerrish]

its an OS limitation.

 

here's a break down from microsoft by product http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx

[Patrik Yngver]

The 3.25GB limitation is an OS limitation, the 4GB addressing limitation is a 32-bit limitation, without going into details, 4GB is as high as you can "count" with 32 bits (8 bits = byte), to get a grasp of how this work, google on how to convert IP-addresses to and from binary octets. Each "number" in an ip-address is made up of 8 bits, hence, the highest possible value is 255 as there are 256 possible combinations, 0 being the first. Add a bit (9 bits) and you'll get twice as far. Think about that and you'll realize the 64-architecture isn't what's going to hamper more memory, but rather hardware and software limitations.