upgrading SDRAM DDR compatibility help please

4 Apr 2005 8:50 PM

zmartha

I have WINXP, AMD1800, with SDRAM DDR pc2100 266hz non-ecc.

I bid on the same thing on ebay, a new one. It looks nearly the same, notch
8 sections, but my original has the black rectangles (chips?) on only one
side, and it has them on both sides.

Will it work? Will it overheat the PC? What does it do?

Six months ago, I bought a used one with black on both sides, and stuck it
in, but it only worked 6 months. It may have been because it was used or
may have been due to the double black sided RAM.

Help please. Thanks. I am 61 and hopefully still learning.

--
In His Name,
zMartha

4 Apr 2005 9:19 PM

Veritech

i thinks it great that your willing to mess around inside your pc, most of
us young people(i'm 18) tend to think only we can do this that and the
other.

Keep it up.

your current stick is called a "single sided DIMM" that means it only has
ram chips on one side. The one your buying is a "double sided Dimm". The
black rectangles are the actually Ram chips. Depending on what size Dimm you
have(in terms of MBs not physical size) means it uses either 8, 16 or 32 mb
chips. When these are added to together you get the size of the of the Dimm
therefore a 128mb Dimm might have 4 chips meaning each is 32Mb in size.

Now that the brief explantion of memory is over

as long as the new ram you purchased is same as what you currently have in
your system you should have no problems what so-ever.

Your pc won't overheat, but it will get a little faster.(depending on how
much you already have)
take a look in side your pc and check to make sure you've got a slot free,
if not you will either have to hope that one of the dimms is smaller than
the one you've bought.

If you have any other problems feel free to ask, but a memory upgrade is the
best way to start with upgrading a pc, it was the first time i saw the
inside of a computer way back in 1998.

hope it all goes well

Show quoteHide quote

"zmartha" <zzizithSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MsCdnWaes_wWNczfRVn-hA@centurytel.net...
>I have WINXP, AMD1800, with SDRAM DDR pc2100 266hz non-ecc.
>
> I bid on the same thing on ebay, a new one. It looks nearly the same,
> notch 8 sections, but my original has the black rectangles (chips?) on
> only one side, and it has them on both sides.
>
> Will it work? Will it overheat the PC? What does it do?
>
> Six months ago, I bought a used one with black on both sides, and stuck it
> in, but it only worked 6 months. It may have been because it was used or
> may have been due to the double black sided RAM.
>
> Help please. Thanks. I am 61 and hopefully still learning.
>
> --
> In His Name,
> zMartha
>

4 Apr 2005 9:23 PM

zmartha

Hey, thanks Veritech!
I have 2 extra RAM slots, so that's no problem. So I guess I can safely
plug it in to the slot and if the PC shows 512 mb RAM then I am in. You
started young! :) Thanks a bunch.
Show quoteHide quote

"Veritech" <avis.dalrym***@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:abi4e.7626$S9.7236@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net...
>i thinks it great that your willing to mess around inside your pc, most of
>us young people(i'm 18) tend to think only we can do this that and the
>other.
>
> Keep it up.
>
> your current stick is called a "single sided DIMM" that means it only has
> ram chips on one side. The one your buying is a "double sided Dimm". The
> black rectangles are the actually Ram chips. Depending on what size Dimm
> you have(in terms of MBs not physical size) means it uses either 8, 16 or
> 32 mb chips. When these are added to together you get the size of the of
> the Dimm therefore a 128mb Dimm might have 4 chips meaning each is 32Mb in
> size.
>
> Now that the brief explantion of memory is over
>
> as long as the new ram you purchased is same as what you currently have in
> your system you should have no problems what so-ever.
>
> Your pc won't overheat, but it will get a little faster.(depending on how
> much you already have)
> take a look in side your pc and check to make sure you've got a slot free,
> if not you will either have to hope that one of the dimms is smaller than
> the one you've bought.
>
> If you have any other problems feel free to ask, but a memory upgrade is
> the best way to start with upgrading a pc, it was the first time i saw the
> inside of a computer way back in 1998.
>
> hope it all goes well
>
> "zmartha" <zzizithSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:MsCdnWaes_wWNczfRVn-hA@centurytel.net...
>>I have WINXP, AMD1800, with SDRAM DDR pc2100 266hz non-ecc.
>>
>> I bid on the same thing on ebay, a new one. It looks nearly the same,
>> notch 8 sections, but my original has the black rectangles (chips?) on
>> only one side, and it has them on both sides.
>>
>> Will it work? Will it overheat the PC? What does it do?
>>
>> Six months ago, I bought a used one with black on both sides, and stuck
>> it in, but it only worked 6 months. It may have been because it was used
>> or may have been due to the double black sided RAM.
>>
>> Help please. Thanks. I am 61 and hopefully still learning.
>>
>> --
>> In His Name,
>> zMartha
>>
>
>

4 Apr 2005 9:30 PM

Veritech

always happy to help

if you have shared graphics your ram may appear to be lower by either 16,32
or 64 mb eg. if it should show 512 it might show 496; dont worry its normal,
just means that your motherboards onboard graphics processor is borrowing
the stated amount for its own use.
Show quoteHide quote

"zmartha" <zzizithSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:QL-dndtDVu_4LczfRVn-oQ@centurytel.net...
> Hey, thanks Veritech!
> I have 2 extra RAM slots, so that's no problem. So I guess I can
> safely plug it in to the slot and if the PC shows 512 mb RAM then I am in.
> You started young! :) Thanks a bunch.
> "Veritech" <avis.dalrym***@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:abi4e.7626$S9.7236@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net...
>>i thinks it great that your willing to mess around inside your pc, most of
>>us young people(i'm 18) tend to think only we can do this that and the
>>other.
>>
>> Keep it up.
>>
>> your current stick is called a "single sided DIMM" that means it only has
>> ram chips on one side. The one your buying is a "double sided Dimm". The
>> black rectangles are the actually Ram chips. Depending on what size Dimm
>> you have(in terms of MBs not physical size) means it uses either 8, 16 or
>> 32 mb chips. When these are added to together you get the size of the of
>> the Dimm therefore a 128mb Dimm might have 4 chips meaning each is 32Mb
>> in size.
>>
>> Now that the brief explantion of memory is over
>>
>> as long as the new ram you purchased is same as what you currently have
>> in your system you should have no problems what so-ever.
>>
>> Your pc won't overheat, but it will get a little faster.(depending on how
>> much you already have)
>> take a look in side your pc and check to make sure you've got a slot
>> free, if not you will either have to hope that one of the dimms is
>> smaller than the one you've bought.
>>
>> If you have any other problems feel free to ask, but a memory upgrade is
>> the best way to start with upgrading a pc, it was the first time i saw
>> the inside of a computer way back in 1998.
>>
>> hope it all goes well
>>
>> "zmartha" <zzizithSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:MsCdnWaes_wWNczfRVn-hA@centurytel.net...
>>>I have WINXP, AMD1800, with SDRAM DDR pc2100 266hz non-ecc.
>>>
>>> I bid on the same thing on ebay, a new one. It looks nearly the same,
>>> notch 8 sections, but my original has the black rectangles (chips?) on
>>> only one side, and it has them on both sides.
>>>
>>> Will it work? Will it overheat the PC? What does it do?
>>>
>>> Six months ago, I bought a used one with black on both sides, and stuck
>>> it in, but it only worked 6 months. It may have been because it was
>>> used or may have been due to the double black sided RAM.
>>>
>>> Help please. Thanks. I am 61 and hopefully still learning.
>>>
>>> --
>>> In His Name,
>>> zMartha
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

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