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Upgrading RAM

R

rcook99

New Member
I am currently running 2g in one of my desktops and would like to upgrade the RAM to 4g. My question is this, it currently is using 2x1g PC2-5300U, when I went to see what is being offered at dell they show PC2-6400 800mhz DDR2 SDRAM for an upgrade. I realize they are high priced and will also check Tiger and New Egg but would like some input on what to do for RAM. It is running a Pentium 2.4, 4m, core duo-conroe, Burn 2.

:thankyou:
RC
 
Baz

Baz

New Member
What's the motherboard model? That will tell you what kind of RAM is compatible with it.
 
BobbyFosson

BobbyFosson

New Member
Also check with Crucial.com... enter your computer make and model and it will give you recommendations... Then you can shop price with Newegg.com and others after 'knowing' what product you really need.

Crucial.com usually has very competitive prices.
 
Dice

Dice

New Member
rcook I buy all of my ram from NewEgg, Dell is a rip off. Just make sure what you get is compatible. The tool shovelhead suggested is a good one.
 
R

rcook99

New Member
Thanks to everyone for the help. Thanks to Shovelheads suggestion I am on my way to upgrading the ram. I appreciate the help. Looks like $55 will add 2g of PC6400 800mhz.

Thanks,
RC
 
Dice

Dice

New Member
3 gigs is the max on 32bit XP, Vista or Windows 7. It's like 3.2 gigs or something. It depends on how much ram your video card has.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
The PCI memory addresses start at the top address of the 4 GB. The priority is from the top down. BIOS, IO cards, networking, PCI hubs, bus bridges, PCI-Express, and video/graphics cards. BIOS needs 512 KB. The other items get allocated below BIOS. Graphics cards get the next lower address according to the memory on the graphics card. A x86-based computer graphics card may take 512 MB to more than 1 GB memory.

If a Video card carries about 512MB of RAM then you get 3.5GB left for the other stuff. Subtract the other stuff and your mem will be smaller than the 3.5GB. So, fill your machine with 4GB of RAM–you’ll definitely get the max, but you won’t use more than about 3GB or less.
 
ABPGraphics

ABPGraphics

New Member
Dice said:
3 gigs is the max on 32bit XP, Vista or Windows 7. It's like 3.2 gigs or something. It depends on how much ram your video card has.
Click to expand...

Why in the world would the maximum amount of ram an operating system can support have anything to do with your video card?
 
SignBurst PCs

SignBurst PCs

New Member
ABPGraphics said:
Why in the world would the maximum amount of ram an operating system can support have anything to do with your video card?
Click to expand...

It is kind of complicated, but I will do my best to describe it:

It is not only your video card, but any hardware component with addressable RAM or any device that can reserve addressable space. The video card is the main culprit in most cases as it can have quite a bit of on-board RAM.

A 32 Bit OS can only see (address) 4GB of RAM total. The OS has to allow (give up/share) part of that 4GB of addressable space to those other hardware components.

That is why you can have a wide array of possible amounts of RAM that a 32 Bit OS can see. Everyone has different hardware and different amounts of addressable space being reserved.

64 Bit OS's don't have that limitation. A 64 Bit OS can see (address) MUCH MORE than 4GB of space (I forget the actual amount, but it is a lot), so hardware reservations don't usually come into play and you get to use all the RAM that you have installed.
 
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