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""I think 1GB RAM is a bit too much""

That's what someone told me when I was building this PC and wanted to get 1GB of RAM. Now my 512MB RAM just ain't enough for all the RAM hungry graphics software that I use.

So here are my questions:

1) How do I find out what RAM I can use.

2) How much RAM and in what quantities should I get it. I'll have to check later but I think I have one 512MB ram stick thingy. Should I just get another 1GB or maybe 2GB and replace the RAM I have? Or should I take into account the age of my motherboard as it might not handle that much?

Thanks in advance for your help Geek Squad!

Goddamnit! Missed the delivery and for some reason our local sorting office closes at 1pm now instead of 5pm. I'm going to call them at around 12:30 and ask if my parcel is there anyay.

On a related note, what are these new Intel Core i7 processors like? Anyone know of a good review on the web?

Will do DL :) I'm hoping it'll arrive tomorrow so I can start working on some projects again.

Machie wrote:
> Thanks for your help Dragonlance :)
>
> I just ordered 2 x 1GB, and will replace my 512MB with them when
> they arrive. Slots one and two right? Gotcha. I'm hoping I'll
> notice a big difference after I upgrade it. Especially when
> working with images files that are 1200dpi.

That's the ticket, let me know how you get on:)

P.S Try to get the Q6600 and look at BFG nvidia graphic cards.

I wanna build another PC :( everything looks so cheap now compared to when I made this machine. I think I spent over £1000 and now I see store built machines much better than this for just £300 odd.

I think my dream machine would look like this..

Windows XP
Intel Core2 Quad 2.4GHz
XFX Nvidia 9600GT Graphics card
Coolermaster HAF 932 Full Tower Case
2 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint HDD
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 Soundcard
Asus Maximus Extreme Motherboard
LG GGW-H20L Blu-Ray Disc Re-Writer & HD DVD-Rom
Hyundai W240D 24" Full HD TFT Widescreen Monitor

Thanks for your help Dragonlance :)

I just ordered 2 x 1GB, and will replace my 512MB with them when they arrive. Slots one and two right? Gotcha. I'm hoping I'll notice a big difference after I upgrade it. Especially when working with images files that are 1200dpi.

Machie wrote:
> @ Dragonlance
> I thought I could use my 512MB, I mean it did give me an option
> to use it with 3 x 1GB.

First of all let me apologise for an error in my earlier post - 4 memory slots, paired modules should be in slots 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 - must be my age!

The Crucial scan probably gave you that option because your mobo was unknown, so it matched with the existing ram module.

My point was, if your existing ram module was say DDR2 400, then any module you add should be the same 'speed'. If you added DDR2 533 MHz modules because your mobo supports that 'speed' and kept the original ram, then the new modules would run at the speed of the slowest -not really what you want. So if you find out the capability of the mobo, install ram to its heighest spec and ditch the old one. Ram is cheap enough as it is to replace all modules from new. If you replace all from new, always start installing in slot 1 - the one nearest to the processor.

To determine your mobo and other stuff, you can always try this free download -

BelarcAdvisor

I've got a Maxtor and a Buffallo, the latter has worked well for years now. I'd recommend either.

@ Dragonlance
I thought I could use my 512MB, I mean it did give me an option to use it with 3 x 1GB.

I'd love to build a new PC but I can't afford it at the moment. So for no I should just tackle the problems that are affecting my work and that's lack of RAM using programs like Flash/Photoshop/3D Studio Max and saving big files and filling up my 115GB HDD.

I checked out Amazon for some external HDD but I'm stuck for who to go for so does anyone have any recommendations? Western Digital looked good but they seem to have a lot of negative reviews which is really putting me off.

Yeah checking the mother board to see what spec ram that your motherboard has is important and the max capacity of ram. iirc, vista only supports up to 4gb of memory so you shouldn't get more then 4gb unless you are getting a processor and the relevant OS system to support high specs.


I'll be getting a new pc and i have a rough idea as to what i want, but the question of OS is an issue. Yeah windows 7 coming out soon but not until 2010 or something and we probably won't know whether its great or not. Vista is dubious at best.


Will probably get a core 2 duo processor but i have no idea how they work and i'm worried about getting quad cores because i'm not sure whether games work properly with them. some don't.