Bellow is an attached picture of my system specs..
A pretty old computer, 4 years to be exact.
Its starting to run slow, So i was going to do a re-install of windows 7 on it
And maybe... install more RAM and an SSD <-- (Do you think its worth it?)
Anyways.. Im not sure what RAM I should be looking for online to ADD to this system (I will still use the ram installed with it, but it needs to be Dual channel? or something like that?)
Any idea on what I should shop for.. I already know the DDR2 part, but what speed should I buy?
I guess I can get 8GB in my system? or maybe 6GB?.. im not sure a friend was telling me about some RAM limit with AMD processors?.. AMD and some 3GB limit?
According to the Crucial Memory Advisor, your V-M3A3200 can take up to 8GB RAM of DDR2 PC2-8500. Each of the 4 slots can handle a maximum of 2GB. The memory advisor gives all the other specs for RAM. Shop around for the best price and if you do decide to use the currently installed RAM, try to match what you already have.
Ok Im not to sure about what I am reading there....
I also just did the system scan with Crucial's application and got these results... should I be matching the exact RAM i currently have installed? or I can use a "PC2" with a higher number? I have DDR2 PC2-6400 installed... but they are recommending that I buy PC2-8500
And also what is the difference with the PC2 number higher?
Screen shot bellow from the results after using their application..
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Confusing, isn't it? Sometimes I think they do it deliberately just so they can laugh at us.
The PC2-6400, PC2-5300, etc refers to the "speed" of the memory. 6400 is "faster" than 5300, while 8500 is "faster" than either 6400 or 5300. In most cases you can install two memory sticks rated at 8500 with two rated at 6400 and the computer will simply adjust things to use the slower speed (that's what they mean by backwards compatibility.)
The motherboard will clearly label the slots for the memory sticks. The slots may be color coded (two yellow and two green just as an example) or A1/A2 and B1/B2. Put both 8500 sticks in the same color slots or in the A slots (just as an example.)
Now that you know what your RAM specs are, shop around for better pricing. Since you already have 6400 sticks I'd stay with that. No point in getting 8500 sticks since the computer will throttle back to 6400 anyway. And the 6400s should be slightly cheaper than 8500s. I found this on eBay for about half the Crucial price for 8500s:
