Old RAM question

[Tom]

A mate has a computer with only 1 gig of RAM, and I thought it would benefit from a bit more, since its gone a bit slow (as XP is want to do).

It's got two of those in, and there are another two slots.

That's the motherboard.

Can anyone recommend the right RAM to buy? Just another gig will be fine, taking the computer to 2 gigs.

 

[nath]

RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com - use the system scanner tool, hopefully will identify what ram to buy and give you a decent price plus omgwtfbbq super fast delivery.

 

[Tom]

Computer memory upgrades for Intel D915GEV Motherboard from Crucial.com

Thanks nath, that's the one above.

Its probably easier for me to get it from Scan or somewhere. Would a couple of these:

Scan.co.uk: 1GB, DDR2 PC2-5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15

...do the trick?

 

[nath]

Yup that scan one looks about right.

 

[Bob007]

Expanding on this, naths right. just want to explain the kingston code.

On the stick you rightly photographed the kingston sticker. On here is a lot of info if you know how to use it.
In this case it was:

KVR533D2N4K2/1G

KVR stands for Kingston Value Ram.

533 is the speed of the ram in Mhz. 533, 667 and so on.

D2 is DDR2. Googling KVR D3 will bring up ddr3 ram by Kingston.

N4 is the CL (clock cycle time). Again googling KVR and n3 will return Kingston Value Ram with a CL time of 3.

K2 means this is part of a matched pair or Kit. 2 parts make up the whole kit. If it was a single unmatched stick it wouldn't have the K2.

1g means its 1 gig of ram. As its a K2 it also means both parts make up the 1 gig size.

So in this case they are 2x 512Mb sticks of DDR2 with a Clock Cycle time of 4ns matches to work as a single unit of 1Gig.

Googling things like KVR K2 will return kits or KVR N5 will return sticks with a cl time of 5. KVR K2 2G returns these.

Sorry if this bored anyone Happy if it helps anyone.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Bob. I decided to order this:

2GB kit (1GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 upgrades for Intel D915GEV Motherboard, CT454878 from Crucial.com

As I wasn't quite clear on the speed stuff, and the Crucial website chose it for me.

Can I plug these in, and also continue to use the 2x 512MB sticks, giving 3GB?

 

[Bob007]

Board specs says you can use DDR2 1.8v at either 533Mhz or 400Mhz with a Max ammount of 8 gig (4x 2gig sticks) but the norm 32bit addressable memory thing applies.

To answer you question. If it was me asking me i'd say yes. The faster 667 ram put in dimm 1 for both channel A and channel B should work fine. The board should clock it down to 533 no problems and run without issue in duel channel mode. But thats not 100%, Some times some kits give problems. If it was me buying, I'd go for it. If someone asked me, I'd say Maybe to cover myself