Brief Question about RAM type DDR400/ CL3 ?

Hello,

I just have a brief question on RAM. I looked inside the computer and on the 2 x 512 MB RAM I have inside it says DDR 400 CL3. My motherboard is Gigabyte GA-8I915PM-FS and the closest I could find on the website is this one, without the S at the end.

I was wondering whether either of these 2 1GB sticks would fit: Samsung and Corsair - notice that on the Samsung one it doesn't say CL 3 at the end.

Thanks in advance!

 

Try the crucial system scanner
http://www.crucial.com/

It will advise you on what type of ram is suitable for your system

 

I just did a search for your mobo at Crucial and they dont have an entry for it. Are you sure thats the correct name? If it is correct you should use the System Scanner as mentioned in the previous post or even email them. By the way, I have just upgraded to 2 GB and I have experienced some stability issues. Hopefully your upgrade will go smoothly, but dont panic too much if things dont work first time. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the Crucial Link. That's the model 3D Mark06 showed me and it looks like it matches the one Crucial detected:

System Manufacturer: FUJITSU SIEMENS
System Model: GA-8I915PM-FS
Motherboard Manufacturer: GIGA-BYTE Technology
Motherboard Model: GA-8I915PM-FS


I'm a bit confused though because I have 1Gb installed on my system (2 x 512 MB sticks) and this is what it came up with after the scan:

Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048 MB
Currently Installed Memory: 512 MB
Available Memory Slots: 1
Number of Banks: 2
Dual Channel Support: N.A.
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz Model 4, Stepping 3
CPU Speed: 2992 MHz

I have 4 Memory slots and always though my sytem was 64-bit rolleyes.

 

you may want to download everest to recheck those stats
http://www.majorgeeks.com/EVEREST_Free_Edition_d4181.html

 

this is the closest I could find to your motherboard model
GA-8I915P-MF
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=1800#
same one you found !!

physically check on the board to see if the model number is correct
the attached picture shows its location clearly

if it is correct, It is dual channel & you do have 4 dimms (1 pair of red & 1 pair of blue = 2 banks?)
Type: Dual Channel DDR 400/333
Max capacity: 4 GB
DIMM slots: 4

If you believe this is your board
you may want to download
bios,drivers,manual & utilities from the above link

probably want make sure it all makes sense before you spend the dollars

 

I opened the case and the number it says on the motherboard is: GA-8I915PM that's it. Now, I can't find this one on the gigabyte website either but it's 98% similar to the one in the picture, above. I have the 4 RAM slots, differently coloured and my 2 x 512 MB sticks are both in the red slots.

I think it all makes sense now. After doing a search on Google, I noticed that other people are having problems finding their motherboard. I bought this computer from Fujitsu-siemens so they probably have their own contract with Gigabyte for other slight variations to the existing types. It's only about 1 year old, so that's what I think happened.

EDIT: I tried the corsair website to see what RAM would fit my motherboard and this is what I got: http://tools.corsairmemory.com/configurator/product_results.aspx?id=1966

If I'm going to buy 1 GB stick, I just hope it will be compatible with the 2 x 512 MB sticks. And I suppose this new stick will go in either of the blue slots? Or does it matter?

 

I dont really know anything about dual channel
except that you should know what you are doing before you buy the RAM

You can always search for dual channel
in the search box near the top of this page

or if you wait for a day or 2
someone with the correct knowledge, will most likely answer your question

the dimm slots are designed to work in pairs, hence, the colour coding.
I'd imagine they are set up the way they are so if you only use 2 sticks of RAM in the red pair, there is an air gap between them for cooling.

Anyway, someone should be along shortly

Good luck
shane

 

Both brands will Fit, both are 184pin DDR
Two things are So important when mixing brands of memory, Timing's & Voltages, if they cant match they wont work!
Many times when running different memory chips you would have to manually set the memory timings/voltages if your mobo supports this.

If your MOBO supports Dual Channel, I suggest you run your memory in pairs of Identical Memory
Running three sticks, if you can? Some DC MOBO's will not boot with three sticks of any memory


The Samsung is CL2.5 (click on th specifications tab you'll see) [IMO Samsung is the better of the two due to two main reasons, one Faster timings & second Samsung is probably the #1 memory chip manufacture in the world]
Most likely the Samsung will run at CL3

You noted your existing memory is CL3 so your best bet is probably the Corsair

You can refer to your MOBO manual for memory slot configurations
I'd contact retailer & ask them about return policy if you end up with compatibility issues

 

Ok, thanks for the help, both of you.

I don't know if the motherboard is Dual Channel or not but I'll buy the 1GB stick of memory. I've contacted them and they said I can return the RAM if there are any compatibility issues so I'll try my luck, hopefully all the 3 sticks will be compatible with each other.

I'll settle for the Corsair one, even though it's slightly more expensive, if you say that has a higher probability of working than the Samsung one. I chose these 2 because I knew they're 2 of the top ones.

I'm not really looking into having to make any major modifications as I'm not that expert in computing. I know a few basic stuff but never fiddled around with the more technical part, the BIOS, etc.

I'll come back if I need more help with these tricky RAM sticks.