RAM advice please

[saint1d]

Looking to buy some RAM but not sure what to go for. This is my memory specification..

Memory Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM sockets
Supports PC 4200 (533 MHz) and PC2 5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 DIMMs
non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
Maximum HP/Compaq approved memory is 4 GB*

NOTE: *Actual available memory may be less


I want to max it to 4gig, but dont know the difference between pc 4200 and pc2 5300. I pretty much want to get the best quality/reliability/performace rather than the cheapest (so long as not silly money). Corsair and Kingston appear to be good but I dont really know anything other than what I've seen in a couple of forums.
I'm pretty sure someone out there will be able to offer some sound advice please?

[BlackWolf]

If your using Windows XP even if you buy 4Gb you can only use 3Gb (or was it 3.3) of it... rest just dissapears :P Its "problem" of the system layout.

Difference between PC XXXX memories means that higher number is made to run with faster MHz speed. like you wrote 553 vs 667. But those are maximum numbers so your comp might not be able to use em.
Just get cheapest 5300 memories you can find. Theres no real difference between companies unless you want to overclock memories and comp a lot.

[saint1d]

I run Vista and have heard it runs best with 4gb ram.

Will prob just go with some pretty cheap ram then. Thanks ;)

[BlackWolf]

Yeah vista can take it up to 8Gb so go ahead...
Anything that your mother board supports with as high PC XXXX number and with as cheap price as you can get is good.

[saint1d]

Looking at the prices I can get some fairly cheap ram as required, but by paying a little bit more I can get some with boast lower latency and have built in heat spreaders. Is the latency likely to make much difference to me? Its only like £5 extra per gig so seems to be better value, but pointless if does nothing.

[Maxi]

You won't feel the difference on normal use much, if any. If you're not going to overclock, tweak around, benchmark etc, then the normal RAM is fine. what I do recommend is picking 'cheap' brand RAM; avoid 'no-name' sticks as it's much more likely you have problems with it(like some random incompatibility).

[Podunk]

If you order the ram from a website that uses a feedback system such as Newegg for in the US people that have trouble with a certain brand hopefully have left their feedback for that part that they ordered. Then you can make a decision whether to trust that brand or not.

[saint1d]

Ok I'll look into that then. Thanks for the advice, pointless wasting money ;)

[Charlie_B]

Yeah vista can take it up to 8Gb so go ahead...
Anything that your mother board supports with as high PC XXXX number and with as cheap price as you can get is good.

Strangely, I was reading an article on this earlier today.
It's not a question of 'Vista or XP' - the limiting factor is whether to OS is a 32 bit or 64 bit one. 32 bit Vista can still only use <3.5 gig of RAM

[saint1d]

mine's only 32-bit :(

crap really I have a 64 bit processor but only 32bit VIsta. Bummer cos was thinking about chaging the cpu for a x2 but might get pricey changing both.

[Podunk]

Well I run 32 bit vista on my laptop with 2 GB RAM. It handles it pretty well really.
I wouldn't mind having 3GB RAM though.

[f0xx]

So, what is exaclty the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit OS? I also heard that there is a 64 bit version of XP.

Also, from my lecturer on microprocessors I heard that if you want your 2 or more cores to be running at optimum efficiency you need a special OS that has been "parallel" programmed. WTF?

[BlackWolf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit
Find out yourself... :P

[f0xx]

If I want to read tons of stuff which I can understand only 1% of, I can get qualified books on the matter, not the sucky wikipedia. My point is, can someone explain to me in simple english, what is the difference between 32 bit OS and 64 bit OS?

[atsanjose]

[quote="f0xx"]If I want to read tons of stuff which I can understand only 1% of, I can get qualified books on the matter, not the sucky wikipedia. quote]

quit trying to learn the alphabet foxxy

[Maxi]

If I want to read tons of stuff which I can understand only 1% of, I can get qualified books on the matter, not the sucky wikipedia. My point is, can someone explain to me in simple english, what is the difference between 32 bit OS and 64 bit OS?

In short; a 64-bit CPU can do math/calculate with larger numbers, and be more efficient with smaller numbers. You will see some benefits by using a 64-bit CPU vs 32-bit, but because not all programs were written to take advantage of the extra power, they won’t use much of it. Some 32-bit applications/drivers won't work with a 64-bit Operating System. Usually/in theory, a 64-bit OS is faster if the programs you run are optimized for 64-bit. In a 32-bit OS you can use max of around 3-3.3GB of RAM, in a 64-bit you can use way more (which isn't really needed, yet).

[f0xx]

Thanks Maxi :)

[saint1d]

Ok so it's taken me a further 6 months to get round to buying the ram, got 2gig delivered today (Corsair value ram £12/gig) :)

Rather than making the fatal mistake of assuming I just plug it in and reboot, I thought I had better just check that's all I need to do?

[Steve_God]

Rather than making the fatal mistake of assuming I just plug it in and reboot, I thought I had better just check that's all I need to do?
Yup! That's all!
Plug it in and hope you don't have compatibility issues :)

[saint1d]

Great, will give it a whirl, thanks ;)

It says "Guaranteed Compatibility" so lets hope so :P

[saint1d]

Yeah runs like a dream :D

[saint1d]

Since installing the ram I decided to check my Windows Experience Index rating (ie click on system then index rating). When I hit refresh to recalculate the score it comes back with this message

"Windows was unable to calculate the Windows Experience Index because the user cancelled the assessment".

Ok, so it really makes no difference if it works or not as is completely useless info, but I'm just intrigued as to why it might have stopped working