Upgrading Ram 29 June 2020 at 9:28AM in Techie Stuff 20 replies 191 views

carlbhoy

Hi all, just a quick question regarding upgrading ram, if I have two slots, do both slots have to hold the same size stick, ie 4gb and 4gb, or could I have one of 4gb and one of 2gb, thanks

TadleyBaggie

You'd be best reading the installation manual for the motherboard in question, there isn't a universal answer.

jonnygee2

As above, but generally you'll get the best performance and reliability from having two identical RAM sticks that are sold as a kit.

If you just have an 8gb RAM stick spare and you want to try it, you can try it and it might work, but if buying from scratch just buy a RAM kit.

But also note it will only register as the lowest amount if you have two of different sizes, so 1 x 4gb and 1 8gb (if it works) will be 8gb, not 12gb. Also if you do this and later you get system stability issues or crashes, it's ikely to be the different RAM sticks so swap them out.

carlbhoy

Hi the spec of the machine is, 

• Graphics card: VGA PCPartner GF G210 512MB DDR2 HDMI

• Processor: CPU Intel® Core i3-530 2,93 GHz

• Memory: 1x 1024 MB DDR3-SDRAM (PC3-10600 / 1333 MHz)1x 2048 MB DDR3-SDRAM (PC3-10600 / 1333 MHz)Dual Channel Memory (2/4 Slots covered; 16 GB max.)

• Motherboard: 3140

• Optical drive: DVDRW LG GH22NS50 SATA

• Hard disk: HDD 1TB WD10EARS-00Y5B1 S2 64MB

• Network: WLAN AW-NU118 b/g/n NOT FOR LC1

• Software: S-DVD MD 8338 / 8341 MULTI w/P2go

• Components: USB Mouse Chicony MSU-0718T rev

  As far as I can see, I can put unequal amounts up to 16gb, just like to hear people’s views, don’t want to put much more in but the problem I’m having is  with my desktop, I recently reinstalled windows 7 and noticed straight away it would freeze, hang for abot 30 secs then would start working again, then it would happen again, so I reinstalled again, same problem, then I thought it could be because windows 7 no longer does updates, so I then loaded windows 10, but that has the same problem, I looked on you tube adjusted the power options, to no avail, have you guys got any ideas?, drivers are up to date, as I only installed yesterday,  before I reinstalled, everything was working fine,so I wondered if by increasing the ram to something which I knew would be ok to run Windows 10, it would solve my problem thanks in advance

neilmcl

carlbhoy said:

Hi all, just a quick question regarding upgrading ram, if I have two slots, do both slots have to hold the same size stick, ie 4gb and 4gb, or could I have one of 4gb and one of 2gb, thanks

It's recommended to have memory installed as either a single stick or matched pairs.

jonnygee2

Right now you only have 2GB of Ram, which isn't really enough. Even if you put two more sticks in, you will only have 4gb, because it will only run each stick at 1gb because that's the smallest you have.

If your computer is freezing i really recommend you just take out the two stick you have and just put a new RAM kit in. RAM is so cheap now anyway and it may improve the system stability (stop it crashing) too.

TheRightOne

carlbhoy said:

Hi the spec of the machine is, 

• Graphics card: VGA PCPartner GF G210 512MB DDR2 HDMI

• Processor: CPU Intel® Core i3-530 2,93 GHz

• Memory: 1x 1024 MB DDR3-SDRAM (PC3-10600 / 1333 MHz)1x 2048 MB DDR3-SDRAM (PC3-10600 / 1333 MHz)Dual Channel Memory (2/4 Slots covered; 16 GB max.)

• Motherboard: 3140

• Optical drive: DVDRW LG GH22NS50 SATA

• Hard disk: HDD 1TB WD10EARS-00Y5B1 S2 64MB

• Network: WLAN AW-NU118 b/g/n NOT FOR LC1

• Software: S-DVD MD 8338 / 8341 MULTI w/P2go

• Components: USB Mouse Chicony MSU-0718T rev

  As far as I can see, I can put unequal amounts up to 16gb, just like to hear people’s views, don’t want to put much more in but the problem I’m having is  with my desktop, I recently reinstalled windows 7 and noticed straight away it would freeze, hang for abot 30 secs then would start working again, then it would happen again, so I reinstalled again, same problem, then I thought it could be because windows 7 no longer does updates, so I then loaded windows 10, but that has the same problem, I looked on you tube adjusted the power options, to no avail, have you guys got any ideas?, drivers are up to date, as I only installed yesterday,  before I reinstalled, everything was working fine,so I wondered if by increasing the ram to something which I knew would be ok to run Windows 10, it would solve my problem thanks in advance

Fit SSD as Boot drive.From around £20.

No reason to cheap out on RAM; https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail?id=smem9qah £14 for 2 x 4 GB or https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=smem8qaa  £36 for 2 x 8 GB.
But fit the SSD first, as that will make all of the difference. If you have a spare SATA port, you can have the SSD as a Boot drive, keeping the 1TB for storage. Though I would check the health of the HDD.

JamoLew

check the mobo will support those upgrades first tho

carlbhoy

Could I then not take out the 1gb stick and replace it with a 2gb, making  2x2gb, a total of 4gb?, all I do is email, and internet

jonnygee2

Could I then not take out the 1gb stick and replace it with a 2gb, making  2x2gb, a total of 4gb?, all I do is email, and internet

You could but for the third time, two different RAM sticks could cause system instability. For <£20 is it really worth this risk of annoyance / crashing? Your choice but personally I'd just get a new RAM kit.

carlbhoy

I’m sorry jonnygee, I did not understand your answer correctly, not knowing much about computers, so you are saying the ram sticks have to be brought as a pair, so they are exactly the same, if so forgive my imvompotence, I really am a novice