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Guidelines to Computer Memory Upgrade


Computer memory upgrade is one of simplest ways to improve the performance of your PC.

It is also cheap to upgrade your ram memory if you follow these instructions and consequently pay nothing for.

Whatever the model you use from Dell, Acer, HP, IBM, Toshiba or Gateway….if you have good reasons to upgrade, you better know a lot before doing anything.

If you are not an expert and do not have sufficient information, the upgrade of your computer or laptop memory probably appears to be a very difficult thing.

What you can do is to get acquainted with the most important issues connected to computer memory upgrade. There are several things you should consider before the upgrade.

  • 1 - You have to know your RAM.


    • If you have old computers you may use SDR (single data rate) SDRAM, fast page mode (FPM) or extended data out (EDO). Others operate with DDR (double data rate) and the latest ones have DDR2 (double data rate, second generation). What is more, most of the RAM types go with different speeds.

    The latest standard is DDR2 SDRAM. It can increase the typical SDRAM memory up to speeds far beyond 200MHz. The maximum that the standard SDRAM can reach is 150-166MHz while DDR SDRAM goes up to 400MHz.

    You should also bear in mind that the faster RAM only does not cause your computer to operate faster. You need to upgrade the amount of RAM in your computer system in order to achieve better performance.

    You shouldn’t forget that you cannot exceed the memory speed for which your computer was designed to run at. So you’d better use the fastest speeds for your system, which will make the potential upgrades easier.

  • 2 - You have to know your machine


    • The most essential thing when you buy a memory upgrade is for it to be compatible with your notebook or desktop computer. You have to know the amount and type of RAM you have in your machine, as well as the maximum amount of RAM it can accept. You can see your owner’s manual for this.

    Another thing you should consider is that DDR is not backward/forward-compatible, i.e. your computer should have DDR technology. Otherwise, it cannot accept DDR upgrade. Similarly, DDR2 is not backward compatible. So, your PC needs to have DDR2 technology to allow the DDR2 upgrade.

    Therefore, the conclusion is that you have to know the kind of RAM of your system, as well as the maximum amount of RAM it can accept. This is important whether you use laptop, notebook or desktop.

    You have to know also that some producers seal their computer cases and you must call a technician to install your RAM. If you install your RAM yourself, you have to check whether the warranty of your computer is void.

  • 3 - You have to decide how much RAM you need


    • For operating systems in Windows or MAC you need only 128 MB, whereas for Windows XP and MAC OS X you will need 256 MB or more depending on the type of work you do.

    As it has already been mentioned above, if you want to improve the speed of your computer, you should increase the amount of RAM in your system since the installation of a faster speed RAM is not going to do this.

    According to the amount of RAM increase you can achieve from 28 % up to 43 % increase in performance.

  • 4 - How can you order your RAM?


    • You can order in stores or online. In case you decide to order online you’ll find many stores and consult with experts to help you make a decision. If the supplier is part of Micron, one of the leading DRAM producers in the world you have reasons to deal with it.

    Some sellers have a special tool to scan your computer and show what memory is obtainable. Besides, they offer a lifetime warranty for their products.

    Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned so far is that there are desktop computers that use “non-parity” memory, i.e. it does not need ECC (error correction code) or “parity” modules.

    You may also hear other terms such as registered, buffered and unbuffered which are related to the memory module’s processing of signals. Most systems accept unbuffered RAM and depend on the motherboard controller to assist in memory processing. Registered RAM usually goes together with servers.

    The only thing that remains for you now is to follow instructions in your manual and install your new RAM after you have gathered all necessary information about computer memory upgrade.

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