I want to add some more but i want to make sure i get the right kind.

I'm running WinXP.

you need to get a program like Everest that will show all your hardwares or just remove your ram and check whats written

bend over you hairy canadian, ill tell you what kinda RAM you need

that site didn't work that well. it told me how many available ports i had, but it thought i had 2 1GB chips when in reality i only have 2 512mb ones. I had to pop the case off the get the real answer. They were right about the type of RAM i need though, i'll give em that. DDR 3200 or something. Shit's way more expensive than i thought it would be.

I have a weird question about RAM.

My motherboard says that it can accept either DDR400/333 or DDR2 533/400 memory sticks. I currently have two 512 DDR's in teh machine with two free slots.

Can I put DDR2 sticks in teh other slots or must all of the memory sticks be of the same type?

Also, it says that it has 2 184-pin slots and 2 240-pin slots. Can the sticks fit in either one?

Damn... I'm impressed by you two.

Crucial Ballistix is the shit.

I don't think that would work for some reason. I'm not certain though.

Unless you can't find it I would just go with some DDR400. The latency of DDR2 will be higher so I don't think there will be much of a performance increase if any. You're not going to really notice either way probably.

RAM is cheap these days so you could just get brand new 2gb for less than 50 probably even cheaper than 40.


Why do you feel you need more anyway?

edit

oh I forgot, the 184 slots fit ddr, 240 is ddr2
so unless someone can confirm you can have both in at once you would have to replace your ram to get to 2gb.


i did some quick research on newegg. There doesn't appear to be much of a price difference between ddr-400 and ddr2-533. Theoretically the ddr2 should be a little faster, I'm not sure if it will be noticeable but since they're priced equally I guess it couldn't hurt to step up.

In case anyone ever wants to knows the answer to this question, apparently you can't mix-and-match between DDR and DDR2 even if your board can accept either. So I bought 2GB of DDR2 533 for about $60 and replaced the old sticks. There's not any noticeable speed increases, but the 1GB I had in there before was getting maxed out when I played Civilization, so I needed more. I was having to shut down practically everything else, such as virus security, just to play, and I was still getting crashes far too often. Much better on teh crash front since the upgrade.

Just out of curiosity, what does the rest of your system look like?

I'm glad it is working out for you so far.

Right now, it looks like a broken pile of shit on my desk. I fried my processor and so I have a new machine on order.

Here's what happened. My father-in-law built my computer and he put it in this cool looking see-through compact case. Looked really nice, but it was not very functional. First and foremost, there were not nearly enough holes in it to properly ventilate the machine. So the processor always ran a little hot (mid 40's Celsius, when it should have been running under 40). So I had to keep the case cracked open a bit to let it breathe better. This led to a chronic dust problem. My computer was in my kitchen (only place in the house where there's room), so it was the hottest and dustiest room in the house, and my computer case was not closed fully. This led to me having to remove and clean the chip fan on a regular basis (every couple months), and the sticky goo that goes on teh chip to conduct the heat to teh fan would dry up and it would have to be reapplied. Sometimes I didn't have any (like how I lost the tube the last few months). I also couldn't put in a better cooling unit because the small case didn't allow for room for a larger chip fan.

So PHOENIX WEATHER + DUSTY KITCHEN + TOO SMALL CASE = FRIED PROCESSOR

I'm sorry.

But that sticky goo is pretty essential, it's not that expensive either so there is no reason to not use it.

Are you getting a pre-built machine this time? Sometimes cases get hot if there is a mess of cables inside. If they're not organized neatly it can reduce the efficiency of your cooling system.

Anyway what are the specs of your new system?
If it is using one of the intel core2 processors it should stay pretty cool. Those things are efficient.

Yeah, I bought a Dell this time. And I believe it does have teh Intel Core 2 chip.