# Memory upgrade question.



## A-Nick4me (Jul 31, 2006)

I am upgrading my memory from 512 MB to 1 GB... I plan on purchasing another 512 chip tomorrow. 

The chip that came with the computer is a one sided 512. 

The following info. is copied from Everest. 

*Memory Bus Properties* 
Bus Type DDR SDRAM 
Bus Width 64-bit 
Real Clock 200 MHz (DDR) 
Effective Clock 400 MHz 
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s 

I tried http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/
And received the following response.

*Our System Scanner was able to find some of the data we need to make a recommendation, but we need more information to ensure a compatible match. *

They do not have my model listed, so I can not supply the information requested. 

*System Model *
Acer Aspire SA85 R01-C4 
System Serial Number: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 
Asset Tag: Asset tag number: at least 22 digits 
Enclosure Type: Desktop

Do I need to be concerned about purchasing something that will not work with what is presently installed?


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

mixing different brands of ram is always frought with danger. The fact that your ram will only run as fast as the slowest ram installed means if you spend good dollars on a faster latency ram, it will be dragged down to your slower ram.

To top this off you will find that not all brands of ram are happy working together and is a hit/miss type of affair.

What i suggest and I also personally do is to buy my ram in pairs and buy a well known brand that you can be confident of buying in the future.
I personally like corsair but that s just me, either way I would look at just buying a single 1G stick or a pair of 512's if you have a motherboard that runs a dual channel memory setup as the benifits of dual channel far out weigh single channel operation


----------



## A-Nick4me (Jul 31, 2006)

Thank you Blackduck,

How does one determine if their motherboard runs a dual channel memory?


----------



## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

Your motherboard manual is needed for that. Download it from your Motherboard manufacturer and it will say in the specifications if only single/dual channel is allowed or both.

Dual Channel will double your bandwidth so if its PC3200, it will be running at 6.4GB/s rather than 3.2GB/s.


----------



## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Usually a good indication is having 4 slots for your ram and they are generally 2 different colours. I think from memory ( no pun intended ) that dual channel is used on a 800FSB and above.
But yes it is a good idea to download the manual or at least do some googling on your board


----------



## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

Usually an FSB of 800MHz does support Dual Channel but there are many cases, i.e. one of the MSI mobo's. I have is 200MHz memory clock speed, DDR400 and it supports Dual as well as Single and it is Socket LGA775 Intel Celeron D on it.

And yes, wherever I've seen it, the Dual Channel slots are separate from the Single Channel, especially if both are supported (i.e. mine has blue for Single Channel and green for Dual Channel)


----------



## A-Nick4me (Jul 31, 2006)

I have a DDR-SDRAM PC 3200 (200MHz) memory clock speed, [DDR400]. Celeron D 352 with two memory slots.

I take it that answers my question?

Thanks to both of you. For your help.


----------



## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

Well not exactly. You'll need to know if your mobo supports Dual Channel or not. Do you have the motherboard manual?

I can't seem to find your motherboard online either for some reason.

The closest I found was this: http://tinyurl.com/tjblo

Is this your specs and mobo:


> Motherboard:
> CCU type Intel Celeron D, 3200 MHz (24 x 133)
> Manufacturer Acer
> Product E661FXM
> ...


Also have you got any links to your mobo anywhere, especially the Acer site? I think from vague memory that the above mobo only supports Single Channel.


----------



## A-Nick4me (Jul 31, 2006)

*Motherboard Properties*
Motherboard ID	03/31/2006-SiS-661-6A7I4E1AC-00
Motherboard Name	ECS 661FX-M (Deluxe) / 661FX-M7 / SF2 / Abit SG-72 / Acer E61ML / AOpen s661FXm-US

Front Side Bus Properties	
Bus Type	Intel NetBurst
Bus Width	64-bit
Real Clock	133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock	533 MHz
Bandwidth	4267 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties	
Bus Type	DDR SDRAM
Bus Width	64-bit
Real Clock	200 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock	400 MHz
Bandwidth	3200 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties	
Bus Type	SiS MuTIOL
Bus Width	16-bit

Motherboard Manufacturer	
Company Name	Elitegroup Computer Systems

*CPU Properties	*
CPU Type	Intel Celeron D, 3200 MHz (24 x 133)
CPU Alias	Cedar Mill
Instruction Set	x86, x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Original Clock	3200 MHz
Min / Max CPU Multiplier	12x / 24x
Engineering Sample	No
L1 Trace Cache	12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache	16 KB
L2 Cache	512 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

CPU Manufacturer	
Company Name	Intel Corporation

*I showed the Clerk (at the computer store) the above info, and he sold me a 512 MB chip.

I installed it and there is joy in this house, (I now have 1 GB for memory).

Thanks.*


----------



## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

Oh well. Glad you got it working


----------

