Reference number: CH000910
Determining what type of memory to use in a
memory upgrade?
Question:
Determining what type of memory to use in a memory upgrade.
Answer:
Determining the type of memory
required
By far the best and recommend method of determining the type of
memory /
RAM that should be used with your
computer is through the computer and/or motherboard manufacturer
documentation. Thankfully today even if you don't have your product
documentation you can still find it online through the
computer manufacturers web
site or motherboard manufacturer
web site.
- See document CH000504 if you need
additional help with determining the type of motherboard your
computer has.
For example, your motherboard documentation features may list
something similar to the below example.
Supports DDR 400/333/266 SDRAM
Supports up to 3 unbuffered DIMM or 2.5 volt DDR SDRAM
Up to 1GB per DIMM with maximum memory size up to 3 GB
In the above example you can see this motherboard supports
DDR
SDRAM
DIMM at speeds of 400/333/266.
Alternatively you can open the computer being aware of
ESD, remove one of the memory sticks
currently installed in the computer and physically examine the
memory for any stickers or printed labels identifying the type of
memory.
Finally, there are several services on the Internet that allow
you to enter the manufacturer and model of your computer to
determine what it is compatible with. These services are found by
searching for
computer memory upgrade
What to look for
Below is a short list of what you should look for or
determine when trying to determine the type of memory your
computer has or needs.
Memory type:
What type of memory does the
computer use? Some examples of the different types of memory
include: DDR-SDRAM,
DDR2-SDRAM,
DIMM,
DRAM,
EDO,
FPM,
SDRAM,
LIMM, RDRAM (RAMBUS),
RIMM,
SIMM,
and SODIMM. Often many computers today use a variant of
DIMM/SDRAM memory.
Amount of Pins
How many pins does the computer accept? 72-Pin, 30-Pin,
168-Pin, 184-Pin, 240-Pin, etc.. This will often be related to
the type of memory.
Speed of memory:
Earlier memory was listed in
nanosecond (ns) speeds
such as: 70ns, 60ns, 10ns, etc. However, today speeds of memory
are often expressed in MHz
such as: 266MHz, 333MHz, 400MHz, 500MHz, 533MHz, 667MHz, 800MHz.
Make sure you get the correct speed of memory for your computer.
Note: If you mix the speeds of your memory in your
computer the computer will run at the speed of the lowest
speed memory in the computer. The computer will still work,
but if you get faster memory and have slower memory in the
computer it will run at the speed of the slower memory.
Error-checking:
Does the computer require error-checking memory? For example:
Parity
or Non Parity /
ECC
or Non-ECC. The option between the two is often only required on
older computers using SIMM or older types of memory. New memory
and computers only use memory with error checking. If you're
uncertain going with parity, ECC, or other memory that has error
checking will cause no issues with the computer, only increase
the price on the memory when compared with memory with no error
checking.
Voltage:
What are the voltage requirements? Make sure you determine
the voltage requirements of the memory, ie: 1.8v, 2.5v, etc.
Contact material:
The contact material on the memory is important for users who
are looking to purchase memory. Memory modules will be coated in
either gold or tin to match the slots that they're connected
into. Mismatching the memory contact material with the
motherboard memory slot contact material can cause issues to
arise, not always immediately.
Proprietary:
Finally, is the memory in your computer proprietary, and if
it is not, is there a manufacturer that your computer company
recommends? Often today this is no longer an issue for desktop
computers and all major memory should work in desktop and the
majority of laptops. Click here
for a listing of different memory manufacturers.
Before purchasing memory
Make sure you have the available slots
Make sure the computer has the available slots for the memory
you're installing in the computer. For example, if you're
installing an additional 1GB of memory into the computer and
plan on using two 512MB memory sticks make sure you have two
available slots. If you do not have the available slots to
install memory you can remove pre-existing memory and install
new memory. However, memory that is removed will be subtracted
from your total. Below is an example of a possible scenario.
Computer has 512MB of memory, from four 128MB sticks of RAM
using all available four slots to install RAM. User wants to
have a total of 1GB of memory so each of these sticks would be
removed and replaced with either four 256MB sticks or two 512MB
sticks.
Installing the memory
After purchasing your computer memory see
document CH000423 for additional
information and help with installing the memory in the computer.
Additional information:
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