Upgrading memory- what's compatible with Gateway?

[Wildcat1866]

Hello,
I have a Gateway 700SE and I want to upgrade the memory. Gateway told me that I can only use their very expensive memory, and I was wondering if that was true. Here are my system specifications:

Operating System: Windows XP with Service Pack 2
Hard drive: Western Digital 80-GB 7200-RPM Hard Disk Drive
Motherboard: Intel (Lexington 2) Motherboard 2.0-GHz P4
Memory: MEM RIMM 128-MB PC800 32MX2 R0 RDRAM
RIMM Continuity Module
256MB physical
90% free resources
4 memory slots, 2 free (128+128+0+0)
Processor: Intel Pentium 4, 2000 MHz
100MHz external bus, 512K Cache
Video card: 128MB NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

Gateway says my memory upgrades have to be installed in pairs, and they suggest that I get either 256MB RDRAM or 512MB RDRAM. Are there any other ones that will work with my system that aren't from Gateway?

Also, what do they mean by installed in pairs? Does that mean I couldn't just buy one 512MB stick?

Thank you for any help!

[HollisBrown]

Here you go...

www.crucial.com

I recently ordered some memory and got free shipping. I received the memory in 2 days. Also, I think that Gateways are pretty compatible with other hardware, so you should be fine with an aftermarket company. I think that by pairs they mean that, to get a total of 512mbs of ram, you'd have to buy two 256mb modules. I'm not completely sure about any of this post, so wait until someone else answers before going off and buying some.

[~Pyrate~]

RDRAM is hard to come by these days because it is and wasn't popular and is expensive ... and my understanding is that you have to use it in pairs and use all the slots or it doesn't work

[Wildcat1866]

Thanks, the website helped me out a lot. Yeah, I'm just learning about RDRAM now. Too bad I didn't know any of this when I bought the computer. At least I'm finding it cheaper than what Gateway was offering. If anyone knows a cheap place to get RDRAM, please let me know.

Thanks for the help!

[Toke]

Hi Wildcat .. I'm from Uk and over here we have 'Computer Fairs' and such ones have a stall with the sort of Ram you will need , so look around and see if any available, I'm off to one tomorrow :-)