Computer question

[Rick O]

I need to add more memory to my computer. What do I need to know before I head out to the computer store to buy it. I've been told this is a simple procedure that (almost) anyone can do. Is that correct?

[Junkzoo]

Rick , can offer only what i know,,,
how many spots/slots do you have for memory?
how much do you have now,,,?
100 or 133 mh ram?
is any memory "on-board"?
best i can say is,
remove the memory you have now, if you have more than one
slab o memory now, yankin one will do,,,,
see if it says anything on it,,,100/133 etc.
take it in to where you plan on getting the memory
let them match it up,,
if you have/had 100mhz memory like i did, replace all ya got with 133,,,,was told my comp. might not "see" the 100 if i add 133 to it.
if you do not have that many spots to plug in memory, i hear there are "trees" that plug in to allow multiple memory to go in one slot,,,if you don't go with just one or two big hunks o memory.
memory is cheap now a days,,,,

not sure if this helped at all, but it's all i got to offer,,,

[Rick O]

Thanks Jeff. I'll just pull what I have and take it with me. I can get 256 mg on one card so that should be plenty. Beats the 64 mg I have now.

If y'all don't see me for a few days you'll know something went terribly wrong. Send help.

[Junkzoo]

Originally posted by Rick O
Beats the 64 mg I have now.

BIG yup on that Rick!

[dbelshe]

It may not be that easy, it also depends on how old your machine is...do you have 72 pin simms, SD Ram, or DDR Ram? Is it a pentium class computer? and how much memory will your mother board "see"? And as stated above you will need to know your motherboard buss speed. Might be easier to take it to Best Buy or similar place and have memory upgraded. Hope this helps.

[Rick O]

Hi Dale.

It's not very old. Bout two years. I know that in computer age thats pretty old. It's a HP Pavillion with a Pentium III. I'll take it with me but Best Buy is usually a packed house on the weekends.

[Doug1]

ouch the PIII used a different version of RAM , It seems like it was a lot more expensive. At any rate 64 megs is not much, criminy my PII 400 has 384 megs

[TimBeR]

Rick Don't buy your memory at best buy too expensive
You probably have pc 100 memory since the pc is 2 years old
There is a Place called Ginstar computer (they have Several Locations I am sure one is near you)that has the memory you need at very cheap prices
and they can help you out if you take your existing memory stick with you.

they also have a website too www.ginstar.com if you look through there online ordering section you can see there prices

Hope you see this post before you head out

[uurt]

Rick, actually a 2 y/o prolly has ddr2100 mem. If you have a Fry's electronics go there. I have found them to be the best place of all.m The industry stopped puttind pc100 in about 4 yrs ago and 133 about 3 years ago. definetly take your owners manual if you have it, or take the 64 stick. It should have a sticker with specs on the end of it.
HTH Lee

[Rick O]

Now we're cookin. This thing is lightening fast. I went to HP's support page and printed off the specs page for my model and took it to Microcenter. They fixed me up with 512 mg for $126. I don't normally work on my own computer but this was a snap. Thanks for everyones help.

[cwby416]

OUCH!! $126 for only 512megs thats gotta hurt.....I wish I saw this post earlier. 512megs shouldn't have cost more than 60 bucks.

[Rick O]

Originally posted by cwby416
OUCH!! $126 for only 512megs thats gotta hurt.....

Nope. My computer is fast as lightening and I'm finished with it.

[Doug1]

OK I went to dell support and spec'd Le Machine
My puter has 3 mem slots and will handle 768 megs, I have 384 now, 3x128 PC100 ecc SDRAM can I use the 133 chips if I change them all?
$50 ea seems hi for 256 PC100 SDRAM

[TimBeR]

Doug1 that will depend on weather or not your system will work with non ecc memory, if you are running ecc memory right now you may need to stay with ecc type memory now you should be able to go with pc133 ecc memory for it should run at 100 mhz without any problems but ecc memory is usualy more expensive then standard pc133.

[Doug1]

Thanks for the reply timber, I copied this info from my models spec sheet
Memory
Architecture 64-bit (non-ECC) or 72-bit (ECC), noninterleaved Wait states near zero DIMM sockets three (gold contacts) DIMM capacities 32-, 64-, and 128-MB non-ECC SDRAM ("PC100" 100 MHz);
32-, 64-, 128-, and 256-MB ECC SDRAM ("PC100" 100 MHz) Minimum RAM 32 MB Maximum RAM 768 MB Memory access time synchronized with system clock BIOS address F0000h