How can I tell what kind of RAM I have?

Roken

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 20:04 - 1
Im on a Dell Dimension 2400, and the motherboard says it takes DDR SDRAM. I thought DDR and SDRAM were two diffrent types of RAM? Im looking to purchase another 512 stick (Gives me 254 + 512 = 766), but Im sort of new to upgrading PC's. Im also looking to buy this graphic card for my PC (I can only use PCI), but my dad asked me what the sys req's for it were... I thought all you needed was a PCI slot and your good to go. (He did say he knows almost nothing about graphics cards, but he does work on computers for a living)

I know I need atleast these upgrades to play GW effectivly, or Im stuck on lowest settings . Thanks for any help!

Loviatar

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Join Date: Feb 2005

09 Apr 2005 at 20:13 - 2
there is sdram in sdr and ddr flavors

if all you have is a pci slot at least the card has direct x 9 support

EDIT

that says 256-512 mb memory (the others in the comparison have higher figures)

it may be that it will only take a TOTAL of 512

check to see if the maximum is 2 sticks of 256 only or if it will allow 512 in a single slot

check to see if you have 1 or 2 memory slots

Darkmane

Darkmane

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Join Date: Feb 2005

09 Apr 2005 at 20:22 - 3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roken
Im on a Dell Dimension 2400, and the motherboard says it takes DDR SDRAM. I thought DDR and SDRAM were two diffrent types of RAM? Im looking to purchase another 512 stick (Gives me 254 + 512 = 766), but Im sort of new to upgrading PC's. Im also looking to buy this graphic card for my PC (I can only use PCI), but my dad asked me what the sys req's for it were... I thought all you needed was a PCI slot and your good to go. (He did say he knows almost nothing about graphics cards, but he does work on computers for a living)

I know I need atleast these upgrades to play GW effectivly, or Im stuck on lowest settings . Thanks for any help!
I have the same dell let me pull out the ram and take a look exactly what brand/ it is. The video card you want to get is a nice one ... but you can get the same card for 99.00 at newegg. You dell will support this card just fine.

Ill edit this post later when I find out exactly one kind of ram is in it.

Ok although I cannot find the brand, according to crucial the standard type of DDR SDRAM by the way DDR = Double Data Rate and SDRAM is Synchronous Dynamic Ram.

What does that mean? Well the kind of memory is SDRAM and DDR means that it is the 'newer' type of SDRAM which is double data I believe its the technology that is on the driver chip that allows for signals to be sent on the Upside pulse of the electrical wave AND the down pulse, where as older ram only sent data on the UPside or the Downside, but not both.

Anyway you can get a stick of 512 this board will take 1.5 gig of ram if my notes are right. it is PC2700 nonecc unbufferd cl 2.5

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 20:23 - 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loviatar
there is sdram in sdr and ddr flavors

if all you have is a pci slot at least the card has direct x 9 support

EDIT

that says 256-512 mb memory

it may be that it will only take a TOTAL of 512

check to see if the maximum is 2 sticks of 256 only or if it will allow 512 in a single slot

check to see if you have 1 or 2 memory slots
I have 2 memory slots, and one 256 stick. I dont know if it will allow 512 in a single slot, as I have not buaght the RAM yet. But you did say there is a diffrence between SDRAM and DDR?

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 20:25 - 5
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkmane
I have the same dell let me pull out the ram and take a look exactly what brand/ it is. The video card you want to get is a nice one ... but you can get the same card for 99.00 at newegg. You dell will support this card just fine.

Ill edit this post later when I find out exactly one kind of ram is in it.

Thanks for the help, DM . Ill be checking out newegg.com shortly. I was about to head off to BestBuy and buy this card for $122. =o (I do live in America, so I can get order from NewEgg. Yay )

Loviatar

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Join Date: Feb 2005

09 Apr 2005 at 20:37 - 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roken
Thanks for the help, DM . Ill be checking out newegg.com shortly. I was about to head off to BestBuy and buy this card for $122. =o (I do live in America, so I can get order from NewEgg. Yay )
newegg.com is the place i have been buying at for several years

top reseller ratings as well as excellent prices

you have ddr ram not sdr

there is

sdr sdram (single data rate) 1 action/clock

ddr sdram (double data rate) 2 actions/clock

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 20:43 - 7
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loviatar
newegg.com is the place i have been buying at for several years

top reseller ratings as well as excellent prices

you have ddr ram not sdr

there is

sdr sdram (single data rate) 1 action/clock

ddr sdram (double data rate) 2 actions/clock
Ahh, thanks. Your first post confused me when you tossed 'flavor' in there.

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 20:56 - 8
Are there any major componies (IE - BestBuy, Target, CircuitCity) that sell ram for cheap? I found a 512 stick for $35, but I checked BestBuy and everything thats 512+ is $150! My dad doesnt really trust ordering off the internet, but for that price range, Ill get my mom to do it :P

Darkmane

Darkmane

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:03 - 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roken
Are there any major componies (IE - BestBuy, Target, CircuitCity) that sell ram for cheap? I found a 512 stick for $35, but I checked BestBuy and everything thats 512+ is $150! My dad doesnt really trust ordering off the internet, but for that price range, Ill get my mom to do it :P

Give us the link to that memory we'll check it out. Also... did you click on the link that I added up there for memory?, Memory at cruicial for 54.00. I have bought a lot of ram at Crucial, they have always been good at providing good memory. And the way they package it is top notch, unlike some other places I bought ram.

Anyway .. give us the link so we can check it out.

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:10 - 10
Yes, Dark, I did go to the link above. My dad is just going to buy the graphics card from BestBuy becuase he doesnt know if its going to work, even though I already showed him the minimum req's, and if it doesnt, he wants to know that we can just head down the street and return it.

Also, the link to the outragous RAM prices can be found here.

The 512MB stick for $35 can be found here.

And Im on my way to BestBuy to buy the card when my dad gets ready

Loviatar

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Join Date: Feb 2005

09 Apr 2005 at 21:12 - 11
just be sure to check on the total ram it takes as it would be a shame if you bought a 512 stick and the biggest it would accept is 256

the only place i can recommend in complete confidence is newegg.com

i have also had reasonable luck with tiger direct if you dont mind sending in those rebates they have

also you would gain an extra 32-64 mb of memory when you add the video card and the cpu doesnt have to share the memory for video duties anymore

EDIT

one thing

play safe and contact dell to see if there is some dell reason you cannot add the video card

they might have some weird setup that prevents it

Roken

Roken

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:16 - 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loviatar
just be sure to check on the total ram it takes as it would be a shame if you bought a 512 stick and the biggest it would accept is 256

the only place i can recommend in complete confidence is newegg.com

i have also had reasonable luck with tiger direct if you dont mind sending in those rebates they have

also you would gain an extra 32-64 mb of memory when you add the video card and the cpu doesnt have to share the memory for video duties anymore

EDIT

one thing

play safe and contact dell to see if there is some dell reason you cannot add the video card

they might have some weird setup that prevents it
Ah, yes. I heard about the Dell setups where pretty much Dell PCs can only use Dell products. Someone has told me that this MoBo should be able to support up to 1.5 gigs, though I don't know where he got that information from.

EDIT:
Dell is offering 1gig upgrades for this MoBo, so it will work.

Darkmane

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:18 - 13
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roken
Yes, Dark, I did go to the link above. My dad is just going to buy the graphics card from BestBuy becuase he doesnt know if its going to work, even though I already showed him the minimum req's, and if it doesnt, he wants to know that we can just head down the street and return it.

Also, the link to the outragous RAM prices can be found here.

The 512MB stick for $35 can be found here.

And Im on my way to BestBuy to buy the card when my dad gets ready
Let us know how that video card turns out! The memory, (viking) that you gave the link to (should) work just fine. I am only wary because I have never heard of viking memory. Good Luck with your video card!!

Sin

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Join Date: Mar 2005

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:33 - 14
Viking has been around a while. I believe more a consumer brand, run more class "c" (consumer) than "b" (industrial) or "a" (commercial and military) quality. Didn't go to the link just remember seeing the name at mostly retail and internet venues.

Loviatar

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Join Date: Feb 2005

09 Apr 2005 at 21:35 - 15
make a note that you have pc3200 (400) ram i think and what i saw there was pc 2700 (333)

Darkmane

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09 Apr 2005 at 21:40 - 16
Quote:
Originally Posted by Loviatar
make a note that you have pc3200 (400) ram i think and what i saw there was pc 2700 (333)

Good point, Dell was shipping both kinds at one point though. pc2700 and pc3200. So to be sure, he'd have to pull out the ram and give us the number on the chip to be sure.

Roken

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10 Apr 2005 at 17:34 - 17
My video card is up and running smoothly, I can play UT2004 offline with max settings (Im on dial-up, so theres no way I can play it online. Hopefully I can get DSL soon), and I also have 768 MB of RAM .

The video card took us awhile to get going, becuase my dad skipped about 5 steps (Including plugging your monitor into the video card...). But, I finally showed him how to handle buisness , and Im good to go for GW!