Make Up Your Mind, and The Rest Is Easy!
Aug 13 '00
Let's just get this out in the open. Ram upgrades are the easiest thing you can do to your computer, aside from turning it on. if you have the right ram, it literally is two snaps and you're done. But what about getting the right ram, how do you go about that? Let's see...
You Could Guess...
Ah yes, buying ram by guessing what you need, and hoping and praying it works out.. Sounds like more fun than it is, especially when the store won't take back your opened box of ram
You Could Ask Someone Who Might Know
Sure, your next door neighbor never leaves his house, spending hours away pecking away at his/her keyboard, furiously planning to help his friends take over the world, One nerd at a time... he might know, he Could tell you, he Might be able to help.. Or maybe that cute but clueless Circuit City guy who works in the radio department might know but....
YOU NEED TO CONSULT YOUR COMPUTER GUIDES AND/OR TECH SUPPORT
It seems amazing that I have to shout it, but great many people won't read the guidebook that came with their computers, nor will they call the computer companies. i don't know why, perhaps the magic 8-ball told them not to, but what people don't realize is the number of different types of ram on various computers. there's DRAM, SDRAM, RDRAM edo-ram.... tons and tons of different types, and then you have to contend with bus speeds. perhaps it's 100 MHz Sdram, or 133 MHz SDram, or 66Mhz Dram.... You don't know what this stuff is do you? You don't have to! All you need to know is the name of it. Look in your guide! call your company, they will say "ma'am/Sir you need PC-100 SDram" and that's all you need to know. Now, you can go to a store, or go online and order this PC-100 Sdram in the increment of your dreams. (I say if you've got the cashish, go with a single 128 meg piece, it's sweet).
So, you now know what kind of ram you need, and you can choose between the increments that they come in, usually increments of four, but in this day and age, you want to buy in increments of 32 of larger, for instance, you could get a PC-100 32 meg piece, or a PC-100 64 meg, or 128 meg piece, or if you're really daring (and wealthy) a 256 meg piece. but that's single pieces... you have another (cheaper) option. Since the ram slots in a computer are non-expandable (you cant add more slots to hold ram, it's not like a house, you can't build spare rooms) people charge more for single pieces of ram, so if you've got the room, don't be afraid to buy two smaller measurements instead of one piece.
For instance, let's say right now you have 32 megs of ram (you poor thing), but you just won't feel complete until you have 96 megs on your computer, which ofcourse is a 64 meg difference. Decisions decisions.. Do you buy one 64 meg piece, or 2 32 meg pieces, which costs less but takes up precious space in your ram slots? the choice is yours. Decide now if you think you're going to keep your computer long enough to NEED another ram upgrade (which is where having those two pieces of 32 could get annoying or wasteful) or if this is a temporary improvement because you're going to buy a new system in a few months (if that's the case, get those two pieces, save yourself some cash!)
So really, this is a very simple operation once you determine what type of ram you need and once you decide how much ram you want to add. You go out, buy the ram you want, snap it in place, and boom! instant upgrade...
Just do it.
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ConvinceMe
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Member: Baby Jesus
Location: Canada, Ayy!
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