[Jaekus]

I want to upgrade my RAM in my desktop PC which I inherited from my girlfriend a couple months ago when she bought a laptop.

I don't know much about the hardware so I downloaded a program to check out the components called SIW.

On the memory category from the left hand menu it says in Slot 1 the capacity is 1024 MB, memory type is DDR2 (PC2-5300) and speed is 333MHz (DDR2 667).

I says I have two slots in total so I assume there's one free.

Do I need to get a RAM stick of the same type as the one installed? I seem to remember reading something about that a while ago somewhere.

Cheers

Edited by Jaekus, 22 May 2009 - 09:34 PM.

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Yes. Get a similar RAM stick. Using the correct memory is vital!

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• Great post from dsenette
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Edited by DragonMaster Jay, 22 May 2009 - 10:36 PM.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Yes. Get a similar RAM stick. Using the correct memory is vital!

• Worth reading
• Helpful post
• Great post from dsenette
• Helpful from Facedown98

Edited by DragonMaster Jay, 22 May 2009 - 10:36 PM.

[Jaekus]

Thanks for the helpful post

I found this on eBay, would this be appropriate?

http://cgi.ebay.com....:1|293:1|294:50

[DragonMaster Jay]

On 18-May-09 at 08:21:00 AEST, seller added the following information:

Please be aware this RAM is 512MB and NOT 1GB.

You are bidding on 512MB Ram removed from Lenovo Ideapad that was upgraded to 1.5GB.

Please DO NOT bid if you want 1GB of Notebook Ram.

Thanks

I hope you knew about that.

----

Please run the Crucial Memory Advisor tool, which may help you find what you are looking for!

Edited by DragonMaster Jay, 25 May 2009 - 12:24 PM.

[Jaekus]

Ah yeah...

What about this one then? I don't know what long DIMM is though.

http://cgi.ebay.com....:1|293:1|294:50

Edited by Jaekus, 23 May 2009 - 01:06 AM.

[Troy]

You should be able to pickup the same stick of RAM from your local computer shop in the $25-$30 range (if you're in Australia), which would be cheaper once you added in postage.

DIMM stands for Dual Inline Memory Module, just a fancy technology term to help us techies differentiate.

[DragonMaster Jay]

Troy is correct. If you take your computer to a repair shop, they can look at your RAM and instantly know what you need!

[Jaekus]

Thanks for the replies guys, I think I'll go into a shop and pick some up. I know the memory currently on my motherboard type and speed so I can just get the same again, or upgrade and get 2x 2GB (it said in SIW my max memory capacity is 4GB so I'm assuming this means I can get 2x2GB... ?)

[Troy]

Possibly... what did the Crucial scanner results say?

[Jaekus]

Here's a screenshot, I hope it helps:

Attached Thumbnails

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[Troy]

That's SIW, a great tool but I'm not very familiar with it, and the information there doesn't actually give me what I'm after.

Please run the Crucial system scanner from post #4 and advise the results here, a screenshot would be good.

[Jaekus]

Ah no probs, thanks and here's a screen shot, I hope it has the info you require.

Attached Thumbnails

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[Troy]

I see your motherboard is the M2N-MX SE. Upon searching the ASUS website for this, I find the "M2N-MX SE Plus" version. If you can confirm this is what your motherboard is (using SIW or the board's POST info), then here is the support page for your motherboard:

http://usa.asus.com/...n...l3=345&l4=0

Where we find this information:

Dual channel memory architecture
2 x 240-pin DIMM, support max. 4GB DDR2 1066/800/667/533 Non-ECC,un-buffered memory

Confirm that and you're good to go with that information. If it's incorrect, report back and we'll take a closer look.

Troy

[Jaekus]

Using SIW it makes no mention of my motherboard being the "Plus" edition. Some of those things are different; for example, I only have 4 instead of 8 USB ports at the rear. The chipset is the same though.

I must admit I'm finding this a little confusing.

[Troy]

You'll find your motherboard has 4 USB ports on the rear, but has internal connectors to add an extra 4 - an example of this would be the front USB ports on a case - they connect to the internal headers.

Would you feel comfortable with opening the case and having a look inside? You wouldn't need to touch anything, just see if you can spot the model number on the motherboard.

Troy