Are all RAMs' alike?

Discussion in 'hardware' started by AaLF, Oct 28, 2012.

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  1. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    My oldish PC is now running windows 7 Pro x64. But its only has 2 Gb RAM installed. And it's a tad averse to multi-tasking in x64 mode.

    Is PC RAM like drivers and you have to match the correct ones to the PC or can I run down to the shop & grab any pair of 2x2GB sticks of DDR2?

    Here the original M/Board http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2669#dl
     
  2. Aventador

    Aventador Registered Member

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    No all memory is not the same. Your mobo supports DDR2 667/533/400 MHz as clearly stated in your link that you provided. You should have gone with Windows 7 32-bit. Getting more memory at the same time as installing Windows 7 64-bit would have been better but its ok. Go here to get the right ram for cheap.

    http://www.crucial.com/
     
  3. Dark Shadow

    Dark Shadow Registered Member

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    No there not and You should always use the proper ram EEC or non EEC SO-Dimm or Dimm and a matching set. I dont know about all ram but some are backwards compatible speed. If your not sure what ram is recommended you can go on crucial.com and enter your computer manufactor,processor etc and it should give the correct ram. I ordered my ram from them it was cheap with free shipping and I had it at my door in three days.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2012
  4. nosirrah

    nosirrah Malware Fighter

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    1. tells you what ram type, maximum total and recommended voltage
    2. tells you that perfectly matched sticks of ram will function as 1 doubling throughput
    3. tells you that DDR2 667 is the fastest ram that your board will take

    Put that info into newegg,com, sort by lowest cost and then pick a brand with a good reputation plus good reviews and you get:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134193

    Unfortunately your motherboard is so old that its own ram list is not up to date and only covers a few sticks so you have to revert to google:

    "GA-945GCM-S2L" "KVR667D2N5K2/4G"

    There are multiple instances where this ram is recommended for your motherboard so you should be good.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2012
  5. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    The most important thing to know is which type of RAM your motherboard uses, so you already know it's DDR2.
    The second thing to check what type of DDR2 it supports, which is up to 1066/800/533.
    So basically you're good to go with any DDR2 RAM with speeds of 1066/800/533

    If you get any RAM that supports higher speeds than what your motherboard can handle it will get throttled down automatically.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2012
  6. Meriadoc

    Meriadoc Registered Member

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    timings, CL.
     
  7. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    Thanks for the replies guys. That online scanner is a winner.


     
  8. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    Oh-oh. Trouble. Hopefully human error.when to the mall & bought 2x.........
    Kingston ValueRAM 2 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 800 MHz ( PC2-6400 ) - 1.8 V. ;;;;(As recommended.)

    I've inserted & re-inserted a couple of times. But I only see one stick 1x2gb (says CCleaner & control paemL). Yiiiiiiiii. Even plugging in 2 sticks of RAM is a hassle? And a new problem with RAM(?) - on shutdown the monitor switches off but the PC goes through the process but does actually shutdown now.



    Guidance plz?
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2012
  9. Meriadoc

    Meriadoc Registered Member

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    Swap them over to see if they both work, if they do it'll more than likely the slot - that may of been taken down by the ram a ram module or dust.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2012
  10. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    Slot #2 doesn't respond to any of the RAM. Some good news though. The 2 unmarked sticks were always 2Gb each. So looks like slot #2 has always been 'dead'. I've never bothered to look. Didn't have any reason.

    So for a long-term non-responsive slot, is there a remedy? I really dont want to take the PC to the shop.
     
  11. Meriadoc

    Meriadoc Registered Member

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    If 2Gb is max per slot and you want more then cheapest option probably would be a mobo from ebay or second hand from computer shop.

    edit: it maybe prudent to use memtest
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2012
  12. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    Replace the PC? I'd rather toss Win7 in the bin & go back to x32. That's the cheapest option. What's a memtest??
     
  13. Meriadoc

    Meriadoc Registered Member

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    I have a tool which is a combination of pcie+software (not a simple post report) that pin-point problems on the mobo, these tools are expensive and usually bought by oem and repair shop but there are free software tools such as memtest that may give you more information.

    I agree with you, if that slot is dead just use the one slot until you upgrade although I have picked up new mobo's for older machines off ebay for as little as $48 (£30)
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2012
  14. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    Trouble is I'm a user not PC builder so D.I.Y. is o.u.t. How about I plug in 1x4Gb RAM into slot one?? Will I turn half the street instantly to particle dust on 'boot' or may it work?

    http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2669#dl
     
  15. nosirrah

    nosirrah Malware Fighter

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    In case it has not been mentioned, get some canned air and spray out the slots.

    I have had more than one older system refuse to accept new ram where this fixed the issue.
     
  16. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    A glimmer of hope. Thanks. I'll chase it this morning, God willing.
     
  17. Sir paranoids

    Sir paranoids Registered Member

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    pc tech in the house ;)

    btw remember to loosen your timings "slow it down" big time when messing with this kind of thing if you end up with problems.
    my self i all way start off very slow then bring up the speed on the ram and see what happens, the auto tune spd topic is a joke all too often.

    btw do you know how to work your memory timings manually ?
     
  18. AaLF

    AaLF Registered Member

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    UPDATE: Tried some air to clean the RAM slots to no avail. Took the ol' box down to the Repair shop & we replaced the M/Bd with a Gigabyte GA-41M-Combo. Nice & inexpensive. I finally get both sticks of DDR2 RAM working & there's room for 8Gb of DDR3 for the future. Win7 with 4Gb of Ram is definitely superior to ye ol' XP. :thumb:

    http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4213#sp

    Perhaps someone can have a quick glance for me and let me know the correct answer about the Gigabyte GA-41M-Combo.

    • Technician One says it will hold 2x2GB DDR2 or up to 4x2Gb DDR3.
    • Tech 2 says it will hold 4x2Gb DDR2 or 4x2Gb DDR3.
    (both agree you cannot mix n match)
     
  19. nosirrah

    nosirrah Malware Fighter

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    This means that you can install 2 4 gig sticks of DDR2 800 or 2 4 gig sticks of DDR3 1066 without changing any settings. If you tweak your BIOS you can install 2 4 gig sticks of DDR3 1333 or 2 4 gig sticks of DDR2 1066.

    In either case 8 gigs is the maximum. I would not use 8 gigs of DDR2 due to the price and speed. If you ever updated go with 2 4 gig sticks of DDR3. You will save a lot of $ and can even go way over spec for speed. The ram will automatically down clock but in the process you will get very good memory timing.

    For example these should work fine in this board:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550

    The CAS on those may get as low as 5 or 6 after down clocking which is great for DDR3.
     
  20. Noob

    Noob Registered Member

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    If youre not into gaming, virtualization or anything ultra intensive then 4GB is more than enough, i upgraded recently from 4GB to 6GB of DDR2 and theres NO difference at all, only a 50$ hole in my pocket. (Yeah DDR2 are not common anymore i had to pay a premium to get this outdated hardware :D)

    As people have said, the best thing you can do to speed up your old PC is getting a SSD.
     
  21. Sir paranoids

    Sir paranoids Registered Member

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    agreed you cant mix ddr2 and ddr3 on the same mobo.
    more then that and the info for your mobo is saying max 8 gigs so i guess with out doing bios research and chip-set research ill just go with the 8 gigs limit.

    as for the ddr2 topic i wouldn't bother its the older stile of ram so ddr3 all teh way just keep in mind the mhz numbers on ram are more or less a lie, last i looked in to it sdr vs the fastest ddr 3 is only about 2x faster at most.

    as for mixed ram of the same kind on a mobo i do it all the time and it works though i do all my memory timings by hand.

    and last but not lest well its a shaim you didn't do a firmware update on your old mobo and full manual memory timings,id be willing to bet my self i could have gotten it to work ;)

    in the end it worked out for ya, cheers :thumb:
     
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