RAM nomenclature

**dfr200764** · #1 9th Sep 2008, 13:23

I am a bit confused (not difficult for somebody like me!)
I am trying to get some more memory for my daughters PC as although it has Windows Vista Basic as the OS, it only has 512MB of RAM. As she plays the game SIMS 2 and all the expansion packs, she has been whingeing incessantly about how slow her PC runs ! So, I have been looking at the memory she needs (after doing a crucial scan) and she could have upto 2GB RAM per slot (got 2 slots). Now I was just going to put in another 1GB stick but noticed on some web sites that you can either get PC4200 or PC2-4200 for a 1GB DIMM ? Is there any difference ? Thanks !

**Carbon** · #2 9th Sep 2008, 14:22

No, they're really the same thing.

PC2 can denote DDR2 ram, but PC4200 doesn't exist for DDR1 anyway.

Quote:

Some manufacturers label their DDR2 sticks as PC2-4300 instead of PC2-4200, and PC2-5400 instead of PC2-5300. At least one manufacturer has reported this reflects successful testing at a faster-than standard speed,[2] whilst others simply use the alternate rounding as the name, as described above.

If you're having trouble, you can always look for the easier-to-remember term: DDR2-533. Most memory sold will be under that name, the PC-whatever stuff sort of died when DDR2 came on the scene.

**serverguy** · #3 9th Sep 2008, 15:42

Its always best to have RAM in even pairs, so how about getting 2 x 1GB sticks? That should give your daughter a welcome improvement in speed.

**Bubba** · #4 9th Sep 2008, 22:34

Also Vista 32 bit will not see 4 GB's of RAM, so you may as well just put 2 in and save the extra money.

**Carbon** · #5 10th Sep 2008, 05:09

Nah, I would do 4gb, even though the OP didn't state anything like doing so. Even 32bit Vista having the extra 1.5 or so to address is always a good thing, and Sims 2 is really slooooooooooooooooooow loading so it would help.

**dfr200764** · #6 10th Sep 2008, 07:57

I got her a 1GB pc2-4200 stick and was told to swap it for the 512MB one already in the first slot and put the latter in the spare slot......something about having the highest RAM stick nearest to the cpu. So it should have 1.5 Gb but all that is registering on the system is about 896MB ? I know you lose a bit of RAM to the OS etc. but not that much ? I have checked that both are correctly fitted and the clips are in place. Could it be the second slot containing the 512MB card is not working ?

thanks

**serverguy** · #7 10th Sep 2008, 13:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfr200764

I got her a 1GB pc2-4200 stick and was told to swap it for the 512MB one already in the first slot and put the latter in the spare slot......something about having the highest RAM stick nearest to the cpu. So it should have 1.5 Gb but all that is registering on the system is about 896MB ? I know you lose a bit of RAM to the OS etc. but not that much ? I have checked that both are correctly fitted and the clips are in place. Could it be the second slot containing the 512MB card is not working ?

thanks

Have you tried taking one of the sticks out, or swapping them around?