Memory upgrades

[a Silly Person]

I was thinking of upgrading my DDR memory so I went to a website called "Crucial.com". They have this scanner that scanned my system and it told me that my present memory is a double 512 (1024) DDR2 PS2 5300 non ECC. They also gave me a list of compatible memory upgrade sets, (pairs) that I could purchase. This is where I became confused.

I know that the maximum Ram that Vista 32 bit will acknowledge is either 3 or 3.5 gigs of Ram. Upgrades seem to go by full gig, not gig-and-a-half. I was thinking of going with the full 4 gig upgrade, (pair of 2-gig'ers). The prices were pretty much all over the place. Some were quite high while others, for what appeared to be the same product were a lot cheaper. The confusing part is that this web site told me that my computer is compatible with DDR2 PC2 4200 or 5300 or 6400.

What is this last 4-digit number, 4200, 5300 and 6400? What does it signify? I am guessing that the 6400 was the best, (at whatever it does) because it was the most expensive. In my business, being the most expensive, isn't always the better choice.

I tried to do a search in the forums here to see if there was anything previously discussed regarding this but couldn't find anything...really I did, lol. I noticed that for Vin's new Monster-PC, he chose the 6400, so again I am led to assume that it is better than the other types?

Does anyone have any input on this for this old-dog who is beginning to struggle with new-tricks?

By the way, when I do upgrade the ram, I will have the afore mentioned memory available for anyone who may need it..... for a very good price

[vinsanity]

Silly,

Here is a page that helped me in clearing the smoke in the confusing world of RAM terms. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM
I chose the 6400 speed RAM because in the world of RAM, that last number does represent overall speed, the higher the number the faster the speed. Important to note is that you must ensure that whatever memory you decide to go with is compatible with your motherboard. I hope this helps somewhat.

[Urumii-Previously ThePresident]

Those numbers do signify speed. It is the bus transfer speed, in otherwords how fast the memory can transfer data to and from the CPU. I think 6200 is 600mhz, something like that. But yes, the higher the number the better. I think they come in pc12000 now, maybe higher. But you shouldn't need that. That is only for extreme crazy gamer freaks (like me, I have pc10000). Also check the memory CAS latency specs. It should look something like 4-4-4-12. The lower these numbers the better. With higher bus speeds you will have higher CAS latencys too, 5-5-5-15 is still good though. Hope the confusing lingo helps

[Marauder(CDN)]

as Vin said not all RAM is compatible with all boards, since I purchased OCZ PC6400 XTC Platinum I had to find a board that was certified with it. That is why I went with DFI plus it also had all the options I was looking for. My board automatically set the mem divider to the 800 mhz and the timings I had to tweak. Pres is probably thinking of DDR3 with the higher numbers so that should not concern you. Just stick with a name brand DDR2, Corsair,Crucial,Kingston,OCZ and Patriot are some of the top names. Memory has dropped and is dropping rapidly in price plus alot of companies are offering rebates, to insure the best compatibility I would find out exactly what ram you have and buy the same again.

www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?ps=UE&lang=en

here are 2 programs that may help.

[a Silly Person]

Thanks you guys for the rapid responses. I was able to understand a little of what Wiki was describing. From what I read on that site, you were correct regarding the bit-transfer speed. Now I just need to figure out which brand of memory is a good one.

(ddr, ddr2, non ecc, error correcting, dual pumping, prefetch buffers.... excruciating painful pressure is developing rapidly in my head, OW OW OW! )

[vinsanity]

As to WHO to buy from, I am completely satisfied with newegg.com. Stay FAR away from Tiger Direct, especially if a rebate is involved. In my experience newegg is the way to go.

[a Silly Person]

Are computers set up to be either ECC or Non ECC?

That web site Crucial.com told me mine was a non.

[Marauder(CDN)]

you usually would only find ECC in a file serving mainframe..not to often in a desktop PC

and on a side note..I have had good luck with tigerdirect.ca, just got my rebate last week for my PSU and other than they are expensive on shipping have no complaints.

[a Silly Person]

So can I go with this then?

From this (Original) double 512 (1024) DDR2 PS2 5300 non ECC


To this (Upgrade?) double 2-gig DDR2 PS2 6400 non ECC

Remember that I am running Vista and actually do need more ram than others. If you read the requirements on many computer games, most of them say "If using Vista, XXX amount of additional ram is advised"

[Marauder(CDN)]

so you are leaving..or pulling the original memory?...because you should stay to the same bandwidth..that is 5300....also make sure your motherboard does not require all 4 slots to be occupied by the same size DIMMs...most boards are dual channel nowadays and having the ram in a 512/512,1024/1024 dual channel may BSOD you.

[vinsanity]

Does your motherboard have TWO or FOUR slots for memory? If I read your last post correctly it seems that you are saying that you currently have TWO 512K sticks for a total of 1GB of RAM? If that is correct then you are planning on buying TWO sticks of 2GB for a total of 4MB of RAM? I would suggest filling all slots.

[a Silly Person]

Yep, 2 slots only, presently filled by 2-512 Megs of DDR2 PC2 5300 ram for a total of 1024.

Crucial site did the scan on my system, couldn't find the computer name but found the motherboard info. It said that this mother board was compatable with the 4200, 5300 or the 6400.

Oddly enough, Newegg is recommending the 4200 for the Gateway GT5428 computer.

[Marauder(CDN)]

google it..see if you can find any references to higher speed ram working on it...also DL the CPU-Z and see what motherboard you might have.


also ...this is the site where I buy most of my online computer parts from now...the shipping out weighs my gas and time to drive 1/2 hr to go pick it up and come home.

www.ncix.com/

[RedRock]

....shaking head in utter, utter disbelief.......

Thank God I....well, you know!

[a Silly Person]

This is for you RedRock. I am no longer using gasoline, but rocket fuel. LOL

I found this "rating" done on my computer while I was "ramming" all of this new information into my cranium.

"Gateway GT5428 Tower PC - Versatile and Powerful but RAM is inexplicably half of capacity.
Sep 30, 2007
Pros: Versatile, Powerful, Quiet, Tower Case, Price.
Cons: Finicky Operating System (Vista). INADEQUATE RAM

The Bottom Line: Fast, Powerful, Quiet, Versatile PC. Inexcusable reduction of factory installed RAM. This, in spite of bloatware 2007 versions of VISTA and Office! No longer considered "Above Average" overall."
(end of rating)

Something else that I found interesting is that every site I go to in order to try to find out the proper speed of the memory says that I should use the 4200. Two separate scans have told me that I have the 5300 installed.... I guess I am going to have to Operate anyway and open her up. ::

(This is what that guy said about Vista)


"OPERATING SYSTEM
- "Genuine" Windows Vista Home Premium

My son would tell me that the Hardware Guys have caught up with the Bloatware Guys. The Gateway 5428 runs this massive
program quickly - only seconds to boot-up. Something as complex as Picasa2 Searching for and sorting all of your image files takes little time, I never think to measure the time required because it is done before I can react.

The street chat worried me very much - Vista would not run older/earlier application software. In fact, several months after the major impact and cries of agony began to filter in; I saw that John Dvorak (PC Mag) mentioned a life extension for Windows XP, extinction for which has been moved out from January to July of 2008. It seems that certain manufacturers and lots of disappointed users have balked and are DOWNGRADING from Vista back to Win XP. Fortunately, my installation is not creating too many problems for me (yet) so I plan to stay with Vista. I will, however, retain XP on my Partner's PC for future insurance against more monkey business from Washington State.

On this subject, I did run into a compatibility issue with "Tri-Peaks", an antique game that runs fine on XP but does not on Vista. After some give and take, a very Lame Video is coming up that does not fit the screen and has an ugly grainy background/wallpaper. This is not a critical problem. See comments below on MS Application/Activation problems. Tri-Peaks must be closed before opening, say, Epinions. Otherwise, the 'accommodating' resizing affects everything else opened afterward.

I HAVE had trouble with "NOTEPAD". For some arcane reason, Notepad prints out in bursts of 2 LINES at a time. I was able to cure this partially by forcing NotePad to reformat the text but errors creep into, say, Epinions output. Also, the Select All command in Notepad picks up the same double spaced data. Microsoft has something new that could be the successor to Notepad but I did not explore it.

I understand that Microsoft/Gateway installs a complete Vista "Ultimate" operating system in every PC. In minimal versions, only certain features of Vista are made available. The rest can be 'turned on' if the user pays for the 'upgrade'. Just what one gets with each version is printed on the outside cover of the Vista Package.

I was very apprehensive about dealing with the pre-installed Vista Home Premium ESPECIALLY since I realized that Gateway created the potential for trouble with half the RAM capacity populated in the Factory. VISTA has given me little or no trouble with one major exception: The file system is goofy. Once upon a time, there would be a list of directories and the files contained therein. Now, we have an upper layer of Directory and Sub Directories, including the ones that used to stand alone. It is difficult for me to predict just where a given new file will be when I go to fetch it. If it were not for the search commands that have to do with "RECENT" files, I would be in trouble. I have not resolved this yet but I think I will remove that upper layer Directory Set. Even "Picasa2" is unpredictable. One has to study the "Save As" choices by careful navigation using the "BROWSE" option but it is easy to get lost. It is especially awful while running and editing HTML Documents."

Vista has been a hard pill to swallow for many others too.