Memory Upgrade

[troublewolf]

Perhaps someone can give me some pointers. I need to upgrade my memory. right now its only 56MB. I have a compaq 7478, do I have to order from compaq or are there other manufactuers of memory out there and if so, who should I try? I'm preparing for AOD.....I hope!

[Saba]

You can order from Compaq if you'd like, but you can buy memory from pretty much any store that sells computer products. The memory itself is not made by Compaq; Compaq just builds it into its computers along with other computer components like your processor, hard drive, and motherboard. Try Bestbuy, Electronics Boutique, Office Depot, or Circuit City. If you'd like to buy the memory online, amazon.com, officedepot.com, and dealtime.com are some pretty good picks. As far as the manufacturer, Kingston, Pony, Viking, and VisionTek are trusted, reliable brands. Oh, and don't pay more than $20-30 for a 128 MB stick.

[mulder]

If you really only have 56mb of memory, you probably don't have a video card or CPU to play AOD.

May be time to upgrade more than just your memory....

[troublewolf]

Thanks for the help...I have to do the memory first then see about a video card. what are the best cardfs out there?

[JunoJIm]

I studied all that a while ago, and my best guess is you'll need at least:

850M CPU, 128M RAM, 32M video card

I was thinking all the specs would be higher, but puters aren't selling very good - so I'm guessing the specs won't be as bad as we originally feared - anybody ???

[DaveJ]

I don't think games manufacturers work like that....they target more the computer you are hoping to buy some day, rather than the computer you actually own now.

[dhama]

You worry too much, why not wait and see but in my opinion a decent video card upgrade would be better than a memory upgrade if you can't have both.

[Jeffers]

Only 56mb of ram?

How old is your computer, or is that a mistype?

If it is fairly old then I would maybe consider buying a new one. You will get more performance out of it that way then trying to upgrade that one.

It is true that doubling your ram will give you the greates boost in performance.

If you do want to upgrade your ram, you'll need to find out what type it is, EDO, SD ram (simm or Dimm), RD ram ect.

Then just look around for what is most affordable to your budget.

Jeffers.

[@m]

Originally posted by dhama
You worry too much, why not wait and see but in my opinion a decent video card upgrade would be better than a memory upgrade if you can't have both.

Well if you buy one of the best grapic cards from this moment (Geforce 4 Ti or ATI Radeon 9700) it will probably have the performance of geforce 2/3 on a old computer. Those cards are best @ P4 or AMD XP 1800 or so.

[PtTe2]

Originally posted by Jeffers
Only 56mb of ram?

How old is your computer, or is that a mistype?

If you do want to upgrade your ram, you'll need to find out what type it is, EDO, SD ram (simm or Dimm), RD ram ect.

What Jeffers says. Did you mean 256 Mb of ram? If your computer is old enuf to have only 56Mb of ram, you may not have slots for adding ram? (Is that right everybody?)

Upgrade your system to a basic model with many slots and add-on abilities. I think you should be able to do that for maybe $1200.00 (USD) or so. I woudl like to have a Geforce 4 TI 4300 (I think that's the name.
After you have decided what you want and made by whom, go to "the respective forums" of those components and read about what current owners are saying about their experiences with their systems? This will allow you to make the most ingenious selections for your entire system.
Finally, never stop thinking about the future when buying hardware.

[troublewolf]

actually I have 64 but 8 is given over to the dvd thingy. I appreicated all the help from everyone! I'm kind've like an idiot saavant with computers....I can do it, just don't ask me how!! I do think I will upgrade the memory first then see what AOD requires. THANKS ALL!

[troublewolf]

one last question: checked out Viking and see that I can get 64 MB for a good price...do I have to order two? I run a compaq 7478 and it has two memory slots.

[Xcom]

Originally posted by troublewolf
one last question: checked out Viking and see that I can get 64 MB for a good price...do I have to order two? I run a compaq 7478 and it has two memory slots.

You don't have to.
Check Compaq site. There you can find the specifics of your system.
Actually, I already did (but you can doublecheck).
Compaq Presario 7400 Series

They use 100MHZ SDRAM DIMM memory. Motherboard supports maximum of 512 Mb memory so you can easily buy 2 sticks of 256 MB dimm and install maximum memory.

[JunoJIm]

Hey troublewolf !!! I happen to have an extra 256M 100 Mhz 164 pin DIMM RAM. For some reason, my old puter won't recognize the full 512 I bought - email me - it's yours !!!

JunoJim@msn.com

[troublewolf]

you people are the best! I knew someone (and plenty do) had to know what to do! JunoJIm: theres an e-mail waiting!....probably two...

[JunoJIm]

Email coming back to ya !!! I can send the memory tomorrow (Monday), if you're in a hurry...

I'm waiting for a USB mini drive I ordered two weeks ago - they sent it FedEx Ground, I thought it would be a few days - the anticipation is killing me !!!

Plug it in - it should work with only one slot full, and 256M should give you all the memory you'd need - I checked out that link to compac - it looks like you have an AMD 533MHz K6-2 CPU - hopefully you'll see a dramatic improvement !!!

PS - of course, don't forget the standard safety (for your puter) turn the power off, touch something metal on the case - (screw, etc.) B4 replacing the memory. If my mem works, you could try putting yours in too, my old puter worked fine with one 64M and one 32M...

[troublewolf]

Jim. Your e-mail hasn't come through yet...been having trouble with aol, think it's fixed now. let me know...

[JunoJIm]

OK - I'll send the memory in the next couple days...