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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 01:05:27 PM

Title: Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 01:05:27 PM

Currently I have:
512 MB of Ram
1.53 GZ AMD Athlon

Where would I get more benefit?

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: ScottT on February 18, 2004, 01:18:56 PM

RAM!!!

Unless you constantly use your computer for hard core processing...

RAM will improve overall system performance, and the upgrade is cheaper!

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 01:21:54 PM

Double it?

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: mirth on February 18, 2004, 01:31:05 PM

You can never go wrong with one gig.

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: Wes on February 18, 2004, 02:03:56 PM

I just upped my lappy from 384MB to 1GB..  Greatly reduced boot up time, pages load faster when surfing, flac encoding/decoding time is nearly cut in half. It made a great overall improvement, gotta say go with more RAM.

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 02:12:34 PM

How do I figure out what type of RAM I have/need?  Does it show in device manager anywhere?

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: Nick in Edinboro on February 18, 2004, 02:20:30 PM

RAM.

Kevin, the RAM you need is dependant on the motherboard.

I'd wager it's DDR, either 2100 or 3200...

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 02:22:47 PM

Hmmm...don't think I have the mobo manual anymore.  Gotta dig around when I get home I guess.

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: firmdragon on February 18, 2004, 02:25:26 PM

BOTH!

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: nic on February 18, 2004, 02:25:51 PM

if you built the computer, look at the mobo specs...many are limited to a certain amount of ram...same applies to dell,hp, etc....

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: BJ on February 18, 2004, 02:27:11 PM

Turn off your comp..and take your current stick of ram out.  Notice that it has either 1 or 2 U-shapes in the bottom(in b/w the gold plates) for guiding the chip in the right way.  this will tell you what type of ram you need.  IF it has 2, you need the older SDRAM, which is a little cheaper right now, but slower.  If it has only 1, you need the DDR ram, alot faster, and only slightly more expensive.  I agree with the other posts...you will DEF see more bang for you buck by going to 1gb ram.

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 02:47:07 PM

Thanks for the help guys.  The pc was home built but I had a friend help since I am not the best with hardware.  I will try and figure out what kind of mobo it is and go from there.

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: bagtagsell on February 18, 2004, 04:32:43 PM

crucial.com
you can download a program that will tell you what type of ram you have (not just ddr vs pc but also speed) very helpful

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 04:51:05 PM

Ah..good info...thanks.

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 07:22:48 PM

Ok, think I have found what I need/want but I have one last question.

This is link to memory for my mobo.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=A7V333&DetailMB=Y&cat=RAM (http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=A7V333&DetailMB=Y&cat=RAM)

At the bottom at says
DDR SDRAM Frequencies: PC1600, PC2100, and PC2700  

If I get the 2700, and what is in my system now is only 2100 or 1600 will it be a problem or will the 2700 just run at either 2100 or 1600?

I tried running their tool to try and find out but it keeps locking up my IE.

-Kevin

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: BJ on February 18, 2004, 07:57:33 PM

the new ram will only run as fast as the previous ram...so if you have 2100 as your first chip..expect whatever you buy to run at the same speed.

Title: Re:Back up: RAM or New Chip
Post by: blu666z on February 18, 2004, 09:53:01 PM

Just doubled my memory for $93 and free 2 day shipping.  Hard to argue with that.

-Kevin