upgrading my RAM

balloo_2

Hi people
Right where to start i am running a Dell Dimension C521 Desktop/PC with 1gig of ram the 1 gig is made up of 2 512megs of DDR2 PC2-4200 with a AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ Model 11, Stepping 1 2104 MHz. And a 4 slot motherboard. Now getting closer my motherboard will take DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300,or DDR2 PC2-4200 if i was to put in 2 (2X1 gigs) of ram again to make 3 gigs in total and my first question is......

1, can i mix DDR2 PC2-6400 or DDR2 PC2-5300 with what i already have DDR2 PC"-4200

2, I have also been told that my processor will only work with a max of 667mhz and DDR PC2-6400 needs 800mhz will this still work.

I hope i have made myself clear to you techie People i have tried but its all like double dutch to me

Brian_Bullocks

balloo wrote: »

Hi people
Right where to start i am running a Dell Dimension C521 Desktop/PC with 1gig of ram the 1 gig is made up of 2 512megs of DDR2 PC2-4200 with a AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ Model 11, Stepping 1 2104 MHz. And a 4 slot motherboard. Now getting closer my motherboard will take DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300,or DDR2 PC2-4200 if i was to put in 2 (2X1 gigs) of ram again to make 3 gigs in total and my first question is......

1, can i mix DDR2 PC2-6400 or DDR2 PC2-5300 with what i already have DDR2 PC"-4200

2, I have also been told that my processor will only work with a max of 667mhz and DDR PC2-6400 needs 800mhz will this still work.

I hope i have made myself clear to you techie People i have tried but its all like double dutch to me

Visit this site http://www.crucial.com/uk/ and get a free scan of your memory and suggestions for upgrade.

balloo_2

Brian_Bullocks wrote: »

Visit this site http://www.crucial.com/uk/ and get a free scan of your memory and suggestions for upgrade.

Thanks for your quick reply i have already been to crucial,com thats what told me what ram i have and what i can upgrade too but as i said someone told me that my processor can only handle 667mhz and pentium processors can handle 800mhz the 6400 i would like to put in as it seems better cause its dearer lol needs 800mhz

fwor

Whoever told you item 2. in your OP does not seem to understand DDR2 specs. The 667 in the DDR2-667 (i.e. PC2-5400) spec is in Million data transfers per second, not Mhz, as is the 800 in DDR2-800 (i.e. PC2-6400).

Take a look at the table in the middle of this page and you will understand:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2_SDRAM

One thing to bear in mind - if you mix your existing PC2-4200 memory with new faster memory, chances are (often depending which slots you put old/new in) it will either clock at the lower speed or will not work properly.

If you decide to go for higher speed memory, discard the older modules (or use them in something else).

balloo_2

you are right i dont understand but thanks for putting me right and answering my questions now i have learned a little more much obliged

Airwolf1

You need 2 of the same speed, otherwise they'll run at the slower one.

basmic

This is what I would do.

Buy 2x1GB sticks of RAM, take out your 2x512MB sticks and replace with the 1GB sticks.

Just put the 512MB sticks on eBay, as a pair.

Oh, and there won't be much point putting RAM faster than 4200 in, unless you plan to overclock.

balloo_2

basmic wrote: »

This is what I would do.

Buy 2x1GB sticks of RAM, take out your 2x512MB sticks and replace with the 1GB sticks.

Just put the 512MB sticks on eBay, as a pair.

Oh, and there won't be much point putting RAM faster than 4200 in, unless you plan to overclock.

Thanks basmic and All the other kind Techie People who offered words of advice :T.
I was thinking of about 4gigs as i am running xp and again i have been told xp uses a max of 3.5gig. Overclock is that something that hangs on the wall and chimes :beer: as you may have guessed i am a complete incompitent as regards to anything techie. I am hoping to get my Son or even Grandson to fit it for me

esbo

Unless you are a gamer I doubt you would need more than 1 gig, I have 1.25 gig and it never seems to use more than 1 gig usually about 0.7 gig.
Have a look at your memory usage in the task manager.

fwor

esbo wrote: »

Unless you are a gamer I doubt you would need more than 1 gig, I have 1.25 gig and it never seems to use more than 1 gig usually about 0.7 gig.

I'd agree with that. I've got 2GB in a PC that typically runs half a dozen apps at the same time - one of which is Firefox with around 20 tabs open. I've never seen it use more than 0.8Gb.

0james0

Maximum Memory Capacity: 8192MB
Currently Installed Memory: 2GB
Available Memory Slots: 2
Number of Banks: 4
Dual Channel Support: Yes
CPU Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
CPU Family: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ Model 11, Stepping 2
CPU Speed: 2600 MHz

This is the spec from my PC, been looking around trying to find more ram to upgrade it. Was thinking of getting 2x 1GB sticks but not really sure which ones are compatable?

Anyone in the know that can recomend good, cheap ones?