Learning how to upgrade my RAM

Its Only Ray Parlour

Hi, I've never upgraded the hardware on a computer before but I heard upgrading RAM is pretty straightforward.

Below are my specs:



I'm looking to upgrade to at least 8GB or more. Does anyone know what kind of RAM card I would need and where is the best place can I buy one?

milltown

http://downloadmoreram.com/index.html

Simples!

shruikan2553

Firstly you need to see what kind of RAM you have. If you download CPU-Z and run it the memory tab will probably say "Type: DDR3"

Next you need to see how many slots you have. These will be in pairs and seeing as you have 3GB I would guess you have 1 stick so there should be at least 1 slot free but there might be 3. Also confirm the RAM type.

Once you have the type and number of slots you need to get the ram which is the same type as your current ram.

Finally stick it in and start up the PC.

EDIT: is your PC an all in one? Might make it a bit more difficult.

These 2 links might be useful for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7JmxzfTW9w
http://www.mrmemory.co.uk/memory-ram-upgrades/packard-bell/onetwo/s3221

Its Only Ray Parlour

shruikan2553 wrote: »

Firstly you need to see what kind of RAM you have. If you download CPU-Z and run it the memory tab will probably say "Type: DDR3"

Next you need to see how many slots you have. These will be in pairs and seeing as you have 3GB I would guess you have 1 stick so there should be at least 1 slot free but there might be 3. Also confirm the RAM type.

I'll open it up tomorrow and check.

Once you have the type and number of slots you need to get the ram which is the same type as your current ram.

Finally stick it in and start up the PC.

EDIT: is your PC an all in one? Might make it a bit more difficult.

Yeah. CPU, Speaker and monitor.

Its Only Ray Parlour

ED E

Thats laptop ram. 1333Mhz SO-DIMMS is what you want.

Serephucus

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9-Select-Mainstream-Notebook/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1417905382&sr=8-6&keywords=so-dimm+1333

That, if you want 8GB. Should do fine.

Its Only Ray Parlour

ED E wrote: »

Thats laptop ram. 1333Mhz SO-DIMMS is what you want.

So whomever assembled my desktop put laptop RAM in there?

How do you distinguish the difference between the two?

Its Only Ray Parlour

Serephucus wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9-Select-Mainstream-Notebook/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1417905382&sr=8-6&keywords=so-dimm+1333

That, if you want 8GB. Should do fine.

I already ordered two 4GB cards in the link provided by Shruikan2553 above. Hope they work.

ED E

Its Only Ray Parlour wrote: »

So whomever assembled my desktop put laptop RAM in there?

How do you distinguish the difference between the two?

You have an AIO, which is essentially a laptop with no battery or hinges. Its not uncommon for such boards to use laptop ram as its smaller and they dont expect you to need massive sticks.

Regular dimms are longer and shorter vertically, low profile dimms are the same but shorter again and laptop SO-Dimms are the shorter lengthwise but quite tall relatively.

Its Only Ray Parlour wrote: »

I already ordered two 4GB cards in the link provided by Shruikan2553 above. Hope they work.

Yeah that'll be grand

TerrorFirmer

I'm surprised no-ones asked the most elemental question - why?

That PC is ultra low-end, I can't imagine any need you would have for 8GB in a machine of that specification!

I'm sure it gets by for web browsing and the like but you already have plenty of ram for that type of thing,anything that would actually require 4, 6 or 8GB ram would be severely bottlenecked by that processor. It was literally the lowest end mainstream processor available on the market when it appeared a few years ago. I had the same processor in a tiny 10" netbook a few years ago and even that was sluggish performance wise.

I have a feeling that perhaps you were attributing sluggish or poor performance to lack of RAM when it's actually a very poor processor that would be responsible, no amount of ram will improve that machine.

Its Only Ray Parlour

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I'm surprised no-ones asked the most elemental question - why?

That PC is ultra low-end, I can't imagine any need you would have for 8GB in a machine of that specification!

I'm sure it gets by for web browsing and the like but you already have plenty of ram for that type of thing,anything that would actually require 4, 6 or 8GB ram would be severely bottlenecked by that processor. It was literally the lowest end mainstream processor available on the market when it appeared a few years ago. I had the same processor in a tiny 10" netbook a few years ago and even that was sluggish performance wise.

I have a feeling that perhaps you were attributing sluggish or poor performance to lack of RAM when it's actually a very poor processor that would be responsible, no amount of ram will improve that machine.

I'm willing to upgrade the processor, too. Would you know what processor would be best?

ED E

Its Only Ray Parlour wrote: »

I'm willing to upgrade the processor, too. Would you know what processor would be best?

Forget that, even if you can do it youll only get a slightly faster CPU into an AIO like that. Not worth doing.

Its Only Ray Parlour

After TerrorFirmer pointed out how poor my CPU is, I decided to monitor my CUP usage on taskmanager and realised he's right. Fortunately, my dad's laptop takes the same RAM as mine so I put one of the 4GB RAM cards in there.

I'm just wondering, could I put his laptop's CPU in my computer and buy a new CPU for him? Here is the basic information for his laptop:

TerrorFirmer

No, it's new computer time really I'm afraid!

Being honest with you, a 2nd hand Dell Optiplex (something like a 780 with E8400 and 4Gb Ram) can be gotten off the likes of adverts.ie for about 80-100 euro, and would be light years faster than that.

If it's just better performance you're after, sell that All in One for whatever you can get, you wouldn't have to spend anything extra to get a much faster machine with a widescreen monitor.

However if you want another All in One, you'd have to be prepared to spend a good few hundred extra.

It really depends on what you're willing to spend.

Its Only Ray Parlour

My next PC will be built from scratch by my bare hands. I bought that all-in-one because I wanted a touchscreen as they're handy for when my infrared mouse and keyboard run out of battery. Could I get a touchscreen monitor that could work with a PC I built myself?

Also, is my dad's CPU upgradeable at all?