Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 14, 2004 Report Posted February 14, 2004 I've just added 256Mb PC2700 DDR memory to my PC. Not being an expert at this sort of thing, I am wondering: a) Aside from putting the memory in the DDR slot, is there anything else I need to do to? System Properties is saying 480Mb of RAM so I'm assuming it's all running OK. :) What is the difference between PC2700 and PC2100 standards? c) Where will I really notice improvements on my system (had 256Mb previously). Cheers in advance!
Guest Stuart P Posted February 14, 2004 Report Posted February 14, 2004 DDR memory can shift data at twice the clock speed of the front side bus, hence Double Data Rate. PC2700 runs at 333MHz, which is twice the speed of a 166MHz front side bus. It can shift data at 2.7 GB/second PC2100 runs at 266MHz, which is twice the speed of a 133MHz front side bus. It can shift data at 2.1 GB/second If you've got several applications open at the same time, which collectively require more than your original 256MB memory, windows has to 'page' out chunks of memory to the hard drive. It then swaps these chunks of 'virtual memory' around between the hard drive and the real 256MB memory as and when the applications need to work on their respective bits of info'. Obviously all of this paging backwards and forwards to the hard drive takes a little bit of computer time; transferring data to/from the hard drive is also much slower than transferring to/from a memory stick. In short, if you've got lots of apps open simultaneously or you're running an app with a HUGE data file (3D art rendering; movie editing, etc) you should feel an improvement in your computer's response time. Hope this helps! Stu.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 14, 2004 Report Posted February 14, 2004 Cheers Stu - I was getting a bit concerned about the running speed of the memory and if I should have bought something else. I think my motherboard is 533MHz - is that OK? I've opened sopme bastard Photoshop files and yes, response time is much better!
Guest davo141 Posted February 15, 2004 Report Posted February 15, 2004 u shud also notice a great improvement when running games, loading times will be drastically improved! upped mine from 512 to 1gig, and all games are perfect..
Guest Stuart P Posted February 15, 2004 Report Posted February 15, 2004 So it's probably a Pentium 4 machine? The P4 is capable of 'quad-pumped' transfers, which basically means it can manage 4 signal transfers for each clock cycle. So if your 'real' bus clock runs at 133MHz, the P4 can run its front side bus at an 'effective' 533MHz. Hope that makes sense! How it achieves that is down to your mainboard - it could either run with very fast (=expensive) rambus memory, or it could have two channels of DDR handling half of the work each. Best to check your mainboard manual to see what spec it recommends, or alternatively have a look at what's already there and buy the same spec! Stu.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 15, 2004 Report Posted February 15, 2004 Yep, its a P4 2.66MHz. Motherboard already had 256Mb of PC2100 memory. I was just thinking 'did I f*** up?' by fitting PC2700 memory.
Guest siu99spj Posted February 16, 2004 Report Posted February 16, 2004 Well installing faster memory is never a problem. However, what is slightly worry is you've only got 480MB, not 512MB. Based on the fact that you've lost 32MB, it seems to indicate one of the chips has gone. I'm going to suggest you take the stick out and try to claim its faulty. Unless you only has 224MB before you bought this, indicating your original memory is a tad dodgy. Basically take each one out in turn and see which one makes your system clock to only 224MB. This is the dodgy stick and should be replaced. I wouldn't run with a defective stick, your much more likely to screw something else up more seriously, just lose more memory chips, or start getting errors. None of which is nice.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 16, 2004 Report Posted February 16, 2004 I did only have 224Mb to start with under system properties - so does that mean there is a blown chip on the original memory board?
Guest Stuart P Posted February 16, 2004 Report Posted February 16, 2004 Don't Panic - You've probably just got graphics integrated onto the mainboard, using 32MB of the main system memory (hence the slightly lower figure than expected when you check in windows). If you also have a separate AGP or PCI graphics card installed in the machine, and therefore don't require the on-board graphics, try exploring the settings in your machine's BIOS. There may be a setting to disable the on-board graphics. Stu.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 17, 2004 Report Posted February 17, 2004 Yes that's it I think. I also looked at my works laptop which is supposed to be 512Mb memory - it was saying something like 448Mb on system properties. This has been a real learning curve for me - thanks again for your help all. :)
Guest siu99spj Posted February 17, 2004 Report Posted February 17, 2004 D'oh. Sorry, I've been using self-built systems way too long. I just naturally assumed he had an add-in card. Obviously, an in-built card would swallow system resources. Sorry to scare you morpheus2702.
Guest morpheus2702 Posted February 17, 2004 Report Posted February 17, 2004 Heheh no worries mate, I'm grateful for any advice I get!
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