I have been advised that my computer could run faster if a new, upgraded card was obtained.
Please–
[ol]
[li]How do I find out what kind of card I have now?[/li][li]How do I find out what kind of card I need?[/li][li]How do I do it? I have never done so before.[/li][li]Anything else I need to know?[/li][/ol]
Many thanks.
I think you mean RAM, today a memory card is a smallish card meant to expand the storage on pda’s, cameras and things of that nature.
What you need to know is what kind of computer your running
Desktop or laptop
What kind of operating system your using , MAC or Windows
Subset of the above , are you running a 32 or 64 bit windows , Mac I am not sure about you would have to wait on someone else to come in
How much do you currently have, if it is RAM that you mean.
Last but not least ,is your computer under warranty. Opening the case will most likely void your warranty if you have one.
Declan
Yes, RAM, sorry.:o
Desktop
Windows
I need some help with this.
No Warranty . Too old.
Before we put the horse behind the cart, at this point you should have asscertained what kind of ram you currently have and have gone to a store that sells ram, optionally you can buy it online if you want to wait for the postal service.
You should be able to go into control panel> system and I believe it should be on the front page of that panel that comes up.
First remove the power cable from behind the box, remove your mouse and keyboard usb cables, disconnect your monitor and appraise the box part.
Depending on how old the computer is , its just a matter of laying the box part of the computer on its side, remove the screws that are on the edges at the back and either a side panel will come off , or the whole outer casing should.
Locate the ram modules , by first looking at the ones in your static bag or plastic casing , there will be usually two or more slots containing sticks of ram and the slots they go into will have levers on the end that you push down , to pop up the ram.
The installation of the new ram will be the reverse, align the ram stick the way the old one came out and push down firmly, the lever should pop back up.
Reverse every step and fire up the computer ,and your new ram should be recognized.
Knowing what kind of ram you have is important because if your computer is old enough, 486dx old , p1, p2 etc. the ram was different.
Hopefully this will have given you enough information to decide if this is what you want to do , on paper its easy and most of the time , it is ,but some people have had problems doing this and bad things have happened.
Declan
Go to www.crucial.com and run their System Scanner wizard. It will figure out precisely what your computer needs.
256 megabytes of ram
Umm…this kinda sank out of sight.
Did you go to Crucial and run the tool suggested by gotpasswords?
It tells you not only how much RAM you have, but what type it is; how many memory slots your computer has in total; how many memory slots are free; and whether or not you need to buy RAM sticks in pairs. It will also offer you options for RAM kits to buy from Crucial that will work in your computer.
Crucial is a good company, and you could do far worse than buying memory directly from their site. You can, however, probably get some slightly cheaper memory from a site like NewEgg, although you have to make sure that you pay close attention to the Crucial scan so you know what type to get.
I’m going to go out on a limb and – just based on the total RAM in your system – I’m going to guess (note that word!) that you’re looking for PC100 or PC133 RAM, but until you run a diagnostic it’s impossible to tell. Once you run the diagnostic, Crucial should pop up a web page that shows you some faded grey-green sofa-looking icons – these are meant to represent RAM modules installed in your machine. There will either be one that says 256MB, or two that say 128MB, or possibly four that say 64MB (but Og help us if that’s the case) and then below the sofa it will say something like SDR PC133 or possibly SDR PC100. If you can let us know what that says I am confident that I (or one of the Teeming Millions) can Google you some good links for high-quality RAM. If you include additional information from the utility – like motherboard model – we can verify that the scan utility got the right answer.
Don’t buy it in a brick-and-mortar store unless it’s your local PC repair place and you’re fine with overpaying a little in order to build up a relationship. Online vendors – especially NewEgg – have a huge selection and great prices, and NewEgg’s return policy is basically perfect.
Installing it is a little scary if you’ve never opened a PC, but it’s fairly straightforward once you look at the visual clues the motherboard gives you: there should be long open slots with a nearly-identical-looking RAM module, for example, and that module’s orientation should give you a hint about how to orient the one you’re installing. Older RAM can be inserted backwards but I think everything since PC100 is keyed so that you can only place it in the correct orientation. It’s only marginally harder than changing a lightbulb or a windshield wiper blade.
Here are some illustrated guides so you can get familiar with the process:
Yes, Crucial’s scanner will tell you exactly what you can do and how much it will cost.
Gonna give this a go on Saturday
When I upgraded my RAM it wasn’t recognized until I updated the BIOS too.
Don’t forget to ground yourself before handling the RAM sticks.
And do yourself a favor and carefully vacuum out all the dust bunnies while you’re in there and before you remove the old RAM.
This is important. Try some light yoga to a CD of whale songs, followed by a hot cup of chamomile tea.
Then call your father-in-law and ask what he really thinks of you.
I know this is GQ, but that was damn funny!
Go ahead and make fun of the foreigner.
Seriously, did I make a grammatical error? What so funny?
Nah, you were fine. It was a dumb joke based on an alternate sense of “to be grounded”: something like “to feel balanced,” or emotionally/spiritually healthy, typically associated with meditation or self-help or some other vaguely flaky (and wholly non-technological) discipline.