One of the ways to significantly improve your PC system speed is to upgrade your RAM. Sometimes this seems pretty simple, just turn the power off, open the chassis and press the memory stick into its slot. However, this is only really simple when you choose the right type of RAM for your computer. There are so many types of RAM on the market today, and to get it right, you need to know what your motherboards really are, SDRAM PC133 or DDR SDRAM PC2700, PC 3200 ...? To find out what kind of memory your motherboard supports, consult the documentation that comes with it. If you lose this document, you can find more information on the mainboard manufacturer's website. Or simply go to the Crucial Technology Website or Kingston Technology to download the utility that will help you find the right type of RAM that your computer needs. Here are some key features that you need to consider before upgrading RAM: Maximum module size: This is the maximum amount of RAM that each slot on the mainboard (slot) can support. So do not buy memory modules that are beyond the capacity. Types of RAM and Slots: Find out which of the four main types of RAM are available: DRAM (EDO or FPM), SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM. Four of these are plugged into one of three slot types are SIMM, DIMM, RIMM: + DRAM slot SIMM slot + SDRAM and DDR SDRAM plug in the DIMM slot + RDRAM plugs RIMM slot In the above four types of DRAM is almost no longer used, because it is only used for the 386, 486. And to upgrade this type of memory, it is difficult to find the upgrade components. Currently, most motherboards support only one type of RAM (the same type of slot). However, there are several types of motherboards that allow you to plug in and run multiple types of RAM simultaneously. RAM Speeds: SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, RDRAM are set to the same speed as the system bus (FSB - Front side bus, data transfer rate between CPU and RAM). If your system is running with PC66 SDRAM then replace it with SD100 PC100 for faster speed. However, if you combine multiple types of SDRAMs at different speeds, the system will only run at the lowest speed. Bank slot: On some motherboards, the closest CPU slot (usually bank 0) must be attached to the first RAM, followed by the next bank. In other words, bank 0 must have the highest capacity memory stick (if you use more than one bar at a time). This does not seem to matter much, but learn more about the type of motherboard that you are using if you have more than one memory stick with uneven size. Nonparity or ECC: If the system supports error correction (ECC) and has more than 512MB of ram, the purchase of ECC memory modules will be worthwhile. Random error, which can be repaired by mainboard if using ECC RAM. However, you can run both nonparity and ECC simultaneously without any problems, and of course the error correction function will not work. The simplest way to find out whether your RAM is nonparity or ECC is to count the number of memory chips on the memory stick, if this number is divisible by 3, then you have the ECC (parity memory) RAM bar, otherwise it is nonparity type. Parameter CAS (Column addressing strobe): The smaller the CAS (or CL) parameter, the better the RAM. SDRAM is produced with CL2 or CL3. DDR SDRAM has a CL2 or CL2.5 specification. Unless your motherboard requires a specific CAS or CL parameter, you should also choose the lowest available CAS (CL) RAM because the difference in price is negligible.
