Memory question

How can I tell what kind of memory my PC uses without opening it up? This computer was made by someone who built it for the school I went to so there is no brand name on it.

thanks

 

CPU-Z can do that for you

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

Don't you need a brand and model for crucial?

 

Download and install an older (free) version of Everest (2.20 or earlier) and it will give you mfg., speed, latency, configuration and about anything else you want for a quick read without opening up your case. Here You go.

 

Here is what everest says:

[ Memory Devices / J6H2 ]

Memory Device Properties:
Form Factor DIMM
Device Locator J6H2
Bank Locator CHAN A DIMM 1
Manufacturer NO DIMM
Serial Number NO DIMM
Asset Tag NO DIMM
Part Number NO DIMM

[ Memory Devices / J6J1 ]

Memory Device Properties:
Form Factor DIMM
Type Detail Synchronous
Size 256 MB
Speed 533 MHz
Total Width 64-bit
Data Width 64-bit
Device Locator J6J1
Bank Locator CHAN B DIMM 0
Manufacturer 0x7F98000000000000
Serial Number 0xB524E381
Asset Tag Unknown
Part Number 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000

[ Memory Devices / J6J2 ]

Memory Device Properties:
Form Factor DIMM
Device Locator J6J2
Bank Locator CHAN B DIMM 1
Manufacturer NO DIMM
Serial Number NO DIMM
Asset Tag NO DIMM
Part Number NO DIMM


Hope this helps. Can someone tell me what I need to look for my PC when it comes to add more memory modules, please?

thx

 

would this be compatible with my PC?

http://www.directron.com/rm12864aa53e.html

 

To install the memory you'd have to open it up anyway so why not take a note of the motherboard model number to make things easier. FWIW I'd say the above would be OK but don't sue me if I'm wrong

 

MOBO is intel corp. d945gtp. So will it be compatible?

 

Four 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM DIMM sockets
Support for DDR2 667, DDR2 533, or DDR2 400 MHz DIMMs
Support for up to 4 GB of system memory

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d945gtp/index.htm

I'd say yes.

 

Cool... thx wildfire.

 

No problem. Now if someone can help with my ACER laptop issue

 

my pc only has 512 MB in it now. If I added a gig, how much of an improvement will I see?

Read my PM to you.

 

What OS and how hard does it work?

XP (and most Linux) ... Reasonable improvement if you're multitasking fairly heavily.

Vista... Large improvement, the OS itself would use the bulk of your .5 gig.

ME/98 no point they have memory issues over ~384Mb

NT/2000... not sure I suspect somewhere between ME/98 and XP.

TBH you need to check how much memory you're using day to day (Task manager will help) and decide for yourself if you need anymore.

 

XP Pro sp3. Yeah TM would help. You are correct on that.

Under task manager it states

Total............. 514080
available........ 82664
sys. cache..... 113264

 

Consider going to 2.5 - 3 GB, you will see a big improvement with 1.5GB and if you don't use the extra RAM (which TBH is pennies/cents nowadays) you could always set up a RAM drive for temp files (making sure you don't need virtual memory first of course).

Thx for the heads up (re PM) I'll look into that tonight/tomorrow.

 

thx, too you, as well.

 

A few words of caution may be helpful. Although it sounds good to talk about 2.5-3 gigs of memory, there's more to this (re: optimizing performance) than just a bigger number.

Your post re: Everest referenced 3 memory slots although it had channel A slot 1 and channel B slots 0 & 1. That indicates you (or Everest) missed channel A slot 0. Wildfire's post with your board's specs confirmed this - 4 slots. I also believe that mfg code listed in Everest is for Kingston which is decent but nothing to get overly excited about.

OK, so where I am going with this post? Divide 2.5 or 3 by two and give me an even number - can't be done you say. Thats my point. Your board is capable of running memory in a dual channel configuration. With 2.5 or 3 gigs, you will be running in a single channel mode. Well, not exactly - We could get there by running two 1 gig sticks and two 512 MB sticks but that too is a compromise because four sticks will require T2 timings and your current 512 module isn't part of a matched pair so it probably isn't going to run very well in a dual channel mode even if you buy a similar stick.

What's the bottom line recommendation? Based on your board specs provided by Wildfire and the fact that you are running XP, you'd be smart to go with a matched pair of PC2 5300 modules (2x1gig). That can run at 667MHz in dual channel mode with T1 timings. Put your current module on the shelf and if you decide you still need more memory at a later date, buy another matched pair (same mfg and same latency) of 2x512MB. The second pair will actually slow you down a bit but if you are a big time multi-tasker it may be helpful to overall performance.

 

You should see a big improvement, I bought a $299 Christmas Special back in 06. It came with 512Mb Ram. I replace it about 3 months later with 2Gb.

Big big big improvement, now this laptop is just my toy, its 1.46 processor is no match for my desktop's 3.4 Intel Extreme. But for general work, interneting and school work this laptop is hard to beat. The addition RAM made all the difference.

My 10-cents worth