Computer Memory......I'm an idiot.

[PyRo]

I remember when I was afraid to open up the computer to install my cd burner :)
Its not a hard thing, just pop the memory in.

[vf-xx]

Look around on www.pricewatch.com

I think that's the best place to start.

[Jaasper]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=0&submit=Go&description=pc800

I'll have to go with newegg.com on this to.

Pc800 is old, nothing really uses it anymore and even when it was new it was expensive. Newegg.com is prolly gonna be your best bet outside of a swap meet.

[sarpadian]

Cliff,

These guys are right, go with NewEgg. I now do all of my PC parts business for home through them, which is quite a bit I must say. They have fast shipping, and they are great when it comes to needed to return or replace something. It's hard to beat their price while getting the level of service that they will give you when you need it.

[fire1811]

just got a set of Logitec Z-680 speakers from new egg
and have bought stuff from them before good company IMO


also you need to make sure that your ram is either
ecc or noecc as far as i know and have been told they cannont be enterchanged


i have rambus(rdram) in the system i have now a gig of it actually the bad thing about rdram is the price it is very expensive.

[Cliffio]

how do i know if i need ecc or non-ecc?

[fire1811]

it should say on the memory itself
if your lucky

[Cliffio]

right now ive got two sticks of 64 in and a 40g hard drive, i just bought a new 80g hard drive and i need to know if i should buy 2 128's or 2 256's, turns out theres a bigger difference in price than i thought, now of course 2 256's is going to be alot of memory, but do i REALLY need that? i mean ive gotten by this far (since 2001) on 128 so tripling my memory cant be bad if i just get 2 more 128's

[fire1811]

well i personally have a gig in this machine and the computer that is being built right now have
2 gig of DDR PC3200

if it was me i would definatly go with 512 or more
also there is a bunch of memory on ebay just make sure you check feedback

[Wolfen]

RDRam is being phased out with the popularity and cheapness of DDR ram, so that's most likely why you can't really find it in stores. Right now DDR is becoming faster than rdram anyways.

One way you can go is find really cheap sticks of DDR ram and buy a motherboard that supports it. That would be cheaper in the long run.

Otherwise:

ECC - Error correcting code. Logic designed to detect and correct memory errors.

I don't think you need this kind. Memory now-a-days is good enough to not need error correcting.

Make sure that your new memory is the same type as your old memory (i.e. FPM/EDO/SDRAM, parity/non-parity/ECC, buffered/unbuffered)...

Hope this all helps. If you need any more just look around on Crucial's website, they have a fairly good FAQ and troubleshooting tips that I got all my info from.

[RT pRo AuToMaG]

Get 2 sticks of 512. You are using a P4 and only have 128mb of memory? Are you running Windows XP, because I am with 512 and it seems sluggish.

[Cliffio]

yes im running xp pro 128

but there is no way im gonna buy 2 512s i dont care that much, i dont spend my life on my computer

[xmetal2001]

Its a safe bet you want non-ECC

[RT pRo AuToMaG]

Originally posted by Cliffio
...i dont spend my life on my computer...

but I do . But definately go with at least 512

[sarpadian]

It really depends on what you do with your computer Cliff. I don't know what it's used for, so I can't really tell you how much RAM to throw at it. If it is something that you surf the web and do a little finance work on, 256 meg will suit you just fine. However if you do anything much more intensive I would recommend 512. However, for Windows XP I would definatley not recommend anything less than 256 meg of RAM.