Hey tech heads,

 

I'm currently running on 2gb RAM for my desktop (shuttup I know its getting old) and have just has two major crashes with the beep codes suggesting a memory issue. So I'm taking this as a hint that it is time to upgrade. However, I am currently running vista and I have heard that there is a problem running more than 2gb on a vista 32bit system.

Is this correct? Is there any way to get around this?

 

Any recommendations or hints for replacing/upgrading RAM? Its not something I've had to go through before on a pc I care about! My motherboard is an Asus P5B and the specs say it can support up to 8GB so I'd probably get two 4gb cards.

 

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

 

Cheers.

Upgrading RAM is really easy. Its simply removing a card and putting a new one in. No installation or anything.

 

Just removie the old RAM and put in the new cards. Slots look like this:

 

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUEb9oPCmAVYKhGz7CvjBeqcAoMQ6k29nd7tKQbl07SwuUBiIy4w

 

Look on youtube and it will tell you everything you need to know

You'll need 64bit to get more than 4GB to show IIRC?

 

I would suggest upgrading to Win7 at the same time as your RAM.

You'll need 64bit to get more than 4GB to show IIRC?

 

I would suggest upgrading to Win7 at the same time as your RAM.

 

If so thanks for the heads up. That's the kind of info I need!

 

Really want to upgrade to win 7 but that will require more work (backups & reinstall) which I don't have time for atm.

Xavo is right, if you want to use more than 4gb of RAM (thats including your video ram IIRC) then you need to upgrade to a 64bit os.

 

You could always buy 4gb now, and then upgrade to Win7 64x later with another 4gb if you need it.

pfft.... you can use 4GB ram but OS32 will recognize 3.5 GB of that.. so as i see it (and have been there before) i would buy my new 4gb kit (make sure its the right specs for your mobo bro, refer back here if you need assistance) intall it and enjoy your new ram sticks... easy as... the OS thingy can wait.. if you have been happy with 2GB then 3.5 recognised will do for the time being, keep that in mind mate..

 

let me know how you go.

if your getting random beeps at start up, this happens some times if you move your PC or it gets bumped hard. try re-seating your ram. just pull it out blow the dust off it and put it back in.

 

but just get 4GB of RAM, 3.5GB is better then 2 or better still ask people who is upgrading for their old RAM. you should be able to get some for next to nothing

 

what motherboard have you got?

Asus P5B i beleive.

Be sure to use DDR2 ram. Considering your mobo is a P5D, using any other format wouldn't fit.

To my knowledge, there is no 8gb kits in DDR2 format. Your best bet is to go with 2x 4gb kits, so you would have 4 sticks of ram.

 

Any ram is good, even the generic stuff.

This is the cheapest 4gb kit on PCCaseGear.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1133&products_id=8106

So basic arithmatic makes it $98 inc. shipping.

go cheap it will be worth nothing in 6 months

 

http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=2Gb%20DDR2&pos=5

Be sure to use DDR2 ram. Considering your mobo is a P5D, using any other format wouldn't fit.

To my knowledge, there is no 8gb kits in DDR2 format. Your best bet is to go with 2x 4gb kits, so you would have 4 sticks of ram.

 

Any ram is good, even the generic stuff.

This is the cheapest 4gb kit on PCCaseGear.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_1133&products_id=8106

So basic arithmatic makes it $98 inc. shipping.

 

Thanks for that. Just to double check: its a P5B mobo, you've written P5D (typo?)

 

What do you mean by 2 x 4gb kits arriving at 4 sticks?

Thanks for that. Just to double check: its a P5B mobo, you've written P5D (typo?)

 

What do you mean by 2 x 4gb kits arriving at 4 sticks?

 

Yea, sorry mate. I meant P5B.

 

What I mean is, if you want 8gb of ram, you'll need 2 4gb kits.

DDR2 RAM does not support anything greater than 2gb a stick.

So therefore, 2x4 = 8gb (4 being the number of sticks of ram in your motherboard)

Gotcha.

But would this work on a 32bit Vista system?

Unfortunately, no.

You would have to upgrade to a 64 bit system.

Although, I have found a way of doing it once before on a 32bit system, but my school servers have blocked the realitymod website, so i cant find it at the moment. I'll find it in about an hour when I get home

Just as I promised

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ram-memory-upgrade,review-32053-4.html

Right so I finally got around to buying a new stick of RAM to see if it fixes the problem. Unfortunately it did not.

 

Booted PC, got into windows. Shortly after that the display turned off, pc still running. Restarted and get a beep code (1 long three short). Its an AMI bios so that should be code for RAM issue (i call BS given it was a new stick). No display but the pc still running (bizzare).

 

So my new theory is graphics card or mother board. I'm hoping for the former as its much easier to replace. Any trouble shooting tips? I'm stuck as I don't have a spare gfx card and it doesn't have on board graphics. A visit to Pc Doc might be in order!

do you have one of those handy things that are sometimes lying around called a 'friends with graphics cards" (MUCH different to the F.W.B type!), you could borrow theirs for a quick test?

also if you have an external Graphics card then try plugging your display into your motherboards graphics card.

Ok I don't want to make another thread so I'm going to ask this here

Is an amd athlon 64 x2 dual core processor 6000+ 3.01 GHz a good enough Processor for a 570 GTX graphics card?

Ok I don't want to make another thread so I'm going to ask this here

Is an amd athlon 64 x2 dual core processor 6000+ 3.01 GHz a good enough Processor for a 570 GTX graphics card?

 

No. Will Bottleneck the GFX.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_345_1261&products_id=12293

Might be an upgrade option for you depending on your Mainboard .AM2/AM3 etc.

Might be an upgrade option for you depending on your Mainboard .AM2/AM3 etc.

 

How do you find out what your mainboard is, and can you recommend me a good processor?

How do you find out what your mainboard is, and can you recommend me a good processor?

 

if you pop your case open it should have it silkscreened onto it somewhere, otherwise if you can view the POST when your computer boots it should have the manufacturer & model listed there as well as the initial RAM test etc.

Right so I finally got around to buying a new stick of RAM to see if it fixes the problem. Unfortunately it did not.

 

Booted PC, got into windows. Shortly after that the display turned off, pc still running. Restarted and get a beep code (1 long three short). Its an AMI bios so that should be code for RAM issue (i call BS given it was a new stick). No display but the pc still running (bizzare).

 

So my new theory is graphics card or mother board. I'm hoping for the former as its much easier to replace. Any trouble shooting tips? I'm stuck as I don't have a spare gfx card and it doesn't have on board graphics. A visit to Pc Doc might be in order!

 

Are you using the old and the new ?

or just the new?

 

Try re seating everything GFX ram and repaste the CPU if your up to it

No. Will Bottleneck the GFX.

[Might be an upgrade option for you depending on your Mainboard .AM2/AM3 etc.

 

Ok so I have an M2N-SLI AM2/AM2+ motherboard. Although I read somewhere that am3 CPU's work on AM2/AM2+ motherboards.

 

So can anyone recommend me a good Processor to buy?

I've decided to get a AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, 3.20GHz, Quad Core because it is AM2+ compatible.

 

But if I were to upgrade to an AM3 motherboard would the performance increase?

Yep, you'd be able to make fully use of 'hypertransport 3' but if you use it in AM2/2+ it will only be hypertransport 2 iirc. Basically means the CPU will communicate faster with the other components on the mobo.

 

just check to make sure that there is a BIOS update for your mobo that will allow AM3 cpus to be used.