Upgrading RAM

Hi

Is there anyway to find out the make of my RAM without dismantling my computer?, also does the make of the RAM have to be the same make as the RAM I have in my computer?.

Thanks

 

I've not heard of any programs that have that feature, I have run different makers of ram but they were the same specs.

 

Crucial has a good utility for this: http://www.crucial.com/

I just upgraded an older emachine this week with ram from there. Many on this site have recommended it.

 

Hi there try memtest x86 small app not sure if it reports back to you the speed though.

Although the best bet is if you had purchased the unit brand new there maybe a list of the units specs on the purchase reciept.

If its a name brand or refurbished unit - that is a default stock build you may find information on the manufacture's home page - using the unit model and brand

Its not too hard though to remove the case lid and have a look see under the bonet, the ram quite typically will have something on a sticker that can be used to verify the speed.

If you remove the ram, very carefully, being careful not to touch the gold contacts, handle it by the end by the edges and dont put it down on carpet or plastic metal etc then you should be fine and can potentially glean the info shouldnt take longer than 5 - 10 minutes. Also you get to see if you have more slots free for ram sticks so you know you can you just add another stick or have to sell off your existing and purchase a larger stick of the same type.

Note - be very careful when handling ram, use something to earth yourself if possible to minimize the risk of damaging the ram, many times you can get away with a quick look just fine.. other times it can be shorted surprisingly easily.

Also note how many breaks (typically either one DDR ram or two SDram) there are in the gold contacts along the bottom of the ram - if there are two breaks is SDRAM if there is one then its DDR RAM or the quite rare RDRAM which i think also has one - there are different variants or speeds typically such as pc66, pc100, pc133 for SDRAM. For DDR RAM such its defined as pc2100 and other variants some may display as a number on the sticker on the ram such as DDR266 or PC3200 also referred to as DDR400. Once you find this then around this area on the sticker there is also typicaly a size of 128MB 256MB 512MB 1024MB (1GB) etc...

Good luck in your hunt, if you do remove the ram ensure you re-install it the correct way around, ensure the slot in the ram marries up with the way the ram bank that you are reinserting this into, if you accidentally get this the wrong way around when reinserting you may damage your existing ram especially if you use excessive force.

 

Try System Information for Windows.
On the left side,scroll down to Hardware and click on the Memory section.

 

It won't. It only tells you whether the RAM is still good or not.