I just did something I hope I don't regret. I bought RAM memory online. Its 128 Mg PC 100 SDRAM (?) or something or other. I know little about computers, but my friends do and they're like, yeah, it just snaps in. It should be compatible with my piece. I haven't gotten it yet. If I add it and it works (lets just assume this much, OK, but I don't see why it wouldn't. It's the same thing the store down the street was selling, just cheaper, but you never know and I ramble..) I am hoping this will radically transform my poor little PC into a better gaming machine. I only have 32 mg RAM these days and I've been playing these games and it has been tough. So, at 128, or maybe 160 depending, will it be running more smoothly with ambient sounds and so on?

Orkist, what processor does your system have?

it very much depends on the speed of the ram, perhaps it would be the best to take the 32ram block out, if it doesn't run pc 100. Though unless the RAM is directly broken, I dont see a problem.

If there is a problem, I would say you should post your stats in here as well (cpu, motherboard)

Yeah, it just snaps in, but be a bit careful with the card and ESD (electrostatic discharge). Even if you don't feel a spark, you can damage the chips, so don't go rubbing your feet along the carpet just before you install it, and touch the metal case of your computer to discharge any static you may have built up before you take it out of the metal foil and plastic bag.

If your friends say it's compatible, they're probably right, but it depends on the age of your system. If you have a manual that came with your computer when you bought it, it should tell you...

Adding more RAM is a good way of improving performance when you have too little because your hard disc (where your memory manager goes to get more memory when it runs out of RAM) is a lot slower.

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited June 23, 2001).]

Before you start putting your hands in the computer I recomend strongly that you buy an antistatic bracelet. It's a lot cheaper to just buy that than having to replace your whole computer...

Dragonslayer, he can just tap the case, if its metal. Touching any metal object will work fine, you don't need to spend the money on a bracelet.

And we can't really give you much advice until we got some technical information about your rig, Orkrist.

My computer is only a year old, its an emachine. I've removed any emachine related "software" that came with it (I got it on a return, my other PC bit the dust, this was an equal exchange). Anyway, its a 500 mHz processor, a good amount of memory but only had 32 mgb RAM, so I knew I would have to upgrade because games get choppy sometimes. As for video/sound cards, I haven't a clue. I have assumed they were generic and very basic but they do the job. I might go in for a new video card at some point, though, and I need more memory for the C drive. I don't know jack about computers, but I'm learning. I'd also like some cool speakers and a better sound get up. By the way, I have two speakers and only one works. Its not the speaker-is it my sound card?

Oh, I forgot to mention last night - My current computer, I bought almost the entire setup (case, motherboard, RAM memory, video card, floppy disk drive, CDRW drive and monitor) online and had absolutely no problems with any of it, so I wouldn't worry about that...

Thanks guys. I should get it soon. I'll just wear surgical gloves when I install it I guess and be careful. I'm excited now.

Hey, as long as we are discussing RAM, maybe someone can answer this question for me:
Are there different types of RDRAM? I went looking online to add more RAM to my PC, and the price differences between different sites was in the hundreds of dollars. One site seemed to be selling a "chip" and the other a "memory module". Are those different?
Any info is appreciated.

Just for those that don't realize, almost all plastic and rubber (surgical gloves included :) ) should be kept away from exposed electronic chips because they hold a static charge very well and are difficult to discharge completely since they are insulators (electricity does not flow through them). There are special plastics made for the purpose of being around electronic devices, but you probably have never seen it unless you work in that kind of business.

Balduran - RAM that goes into a computer is normally referred to as a module since it is composed of several memory chips on a small board.

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited June 24, 2001).]

Blackthorne-

Thanks, that was probably a life saver. I never would have thought that.

<<<Hey, as long as we are discussing RAM, maybe someone can answer this question for me:
Are there different types of RDRAM? I went looking online to add more RAM to my PC, and the price differences between different sites was in the hundreds of dollars. One site seemed to be selling a "chip" and the other a "memory module". Are those different?
Any info is appreciated.>>>>>>

There are three types of RAM available on the market today. The type being discussed in this thread is known as SDRAM. The most common speed of SDRAM is 133mhx which yields a peak bandwidth of 1.6GB/s. SDRAM is the oldest type of memory available to you today and the defacto standard.

RDRAM is designed by a company called Rambus. They partnered with Intel a few years back. Intel began designing chipsets for their CPUs that would solely function with RDRAM. Fortunately for us, they all back fired. RDRAM comes in three speed grades, PC600, PC700, and PC800, all in megahurtz. PC800 yields 1.6Gb/s in bandwidth. Outfitting a P3 with any RDRAM is too expensive and actually degrades performance. You cannot outfit a P4 with PC700, it will default to 600. And a P4 with anything less than PC800 is too slow. RDRAM is a essentially a dead end technology that has cost Intel millions of dollars. They filed lawsuits against every manufactorer of SDRAM and DDR-RAM, but had the charges dropped. Infineon then brought fraud charges against Rambus and won.

The third type is the archenemy of Intel and Rambus, DDR-RAM, Double Data Rate. DDR is basicly an evolutionay extention of SDRAm and transfers data on the rising a falling edge of the clock. DDR comes in two speed grade at present, PC1600 and PC2100. These are not the megahurtz, rather DDR modules are named after their peak bandwith. PC2100 has a peak bandwith of 2.1Gb/s. DDR Ram has already enjoyed tremendous success on video cards and is just coming to the Desktop market with AMD's 760 and 760MP chipsets, Ali's Magik1, and Via's Apollo Pro 266 and KT266.

I'm putting in the memory today, so it better work! If anything goes wrong I'm blaming all of you so be ready!

The only problem I can see is that the 100 MHz RAM won't work if your board supports 133MHz only (as my one does), but since your friends think 100MHz works - just discharge them and insert them - that´s it, done in 3 minutes (and the first "inside work" I ever did on my computers). And your computer will doubtless run much smoother with 128 MB than with lousy 32MB.

Ragusa, I think memory is usually backwards compatible, meaning that pc100 ram will work in a mother board designed for pc133 ram.
I may be wrong but I know the opposite is true. My old 440LX based mother board is designed on a 66 mHz front side bus and it functions well with a 128 Mb stick of pc133 memory.

The machine I just put together uses Ali's Magik1 chipset and 256 Mb of PC2100 DDR memory. It seems fast, but everything else is faster as well. A quick benchmark of the memory indeed shows it to be very fast.

Anyone interested in examining their system and perhaps tweaking it to optimum performance may want to check out this handy little utility:

SiSoft Sandra (http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/)

It tells you everything about your system, from memory and HD performance to CPU and network speed. Download the standard version and it's free.

[This message has been edited by Darien Noella (edited July 07, 2001).]