Computer RAM Questions

you dont need an antistatic strap, well its ideal but you should be sweet without it. open up your case (take off the left side panel) leave the power cord pluged into the computer but switched off at the wall (this will ensure the case is earthed) get your ram and open the packet but don't take it out yet. touch a metal part of the case to earth yourself. remove the old ram by uncliping the 2 clips at each end of the existing ram (they will probably kinda unclip halfway, then push then down all the way). earth yourself again and put the new ram in, push it down and clip it in place and you're good to go!

^Thanks man, im pumped to get this, I hope the computer runs quicker.

oh, and if you're running XP go to control panel/system/device manager. it shows all the hardware that your system is running. since you've got 248mb ram at the moment you will probably have 16mb shared with your video card which will be built into the motherboard, in the future you could upgrade to a new video card, other than that it kinda depends what you wanna use your computer for

ya. if you play games or shit. get a new graphic card. you can get a really nice one for about 100 on newegg.com.

you were asking about if you'll notice a difference in speed....yes you will...i upgrade from 240 or 518 a while ago(yeah my computer is shit) and i noticed a huge difference

What everyone else said. You don't need a wrist strap. Just unplug your computer and your most likely fine. Thats all i did when i replaced my ram.

after you install it you wont be calling it a piece of shit computer. I have 6 computer (dont ask) and one of them has more Ram then all of them and it's the only computer i use. Once you pass 1GB in RAM you'll never go back

Its true. My old computer has 256 and it was slow as fuck. And I've used a computer with half a gig, it was still pretty slow with xp. My laptop has 1GB, its fuckin fast.

So newer vidoe cards can utilize more ram?  Is there a way to devote more ram to my existing video card?

Sorry for the double post but I want to be sure, what do I need to hold on when im doing surgery on my machine?

you dont need to hold onto anything when doing it, just touch the case to earth yourself

the videocard that you've got at the moment is a built in one, 16mb is probably the most that you can allocate to it. if you upgrade to a new video card it will have its own memory that is independent of the system memory

Just make sure to touch the case of your machine before actually going in. It grounds you so you don't ruin something inside your computer with a static shock.

you really dont. all you do is just pop it in and it takes about 2 seconds. i have 1.3 gb now and its soooo much faster.

Would I be able to run games better even with my stock video card? A new vid card is something I want to get but I don't know how long it will be until I can get one.

It should run way faster, i remember i had 256mb of ram, and i got 1 512gb chip and put it in and it was soooo much better. But now i have 2gb of ram on my mac...

I finally remembered that I could run dxdiag and get some nice info....

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 6/18/2007, 16:53:04
       Machine name: YOUR-XB2X7J77GN
   Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Compaq Presario 061
       System Model: PC159A-ABA SR1023W NA510
               BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
          Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.70GHz
             Memory: 248MB RAM
          Page File: 365MB used, 243MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode


---------------
Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
     Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
        Chip type: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller
         DAC type: Internal
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2562&SUBSYS_57781462&REV_03
   Display Memory: 64.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: COMPAQ FP5315 Flat Panel Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1024,768
      Driver Name: ialmrnt5.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.3889 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 8/20/2004 17:11:36, 37951 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
              VDD: n/a
         Mini VDD: ialmnt5.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 8/20/2004 17:26:00, 737874 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-6622-11CF-E378-7277A2C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x8086
        Device ID: 0x2562
        SubSys ID: 0x57781462
      Revision ID: 0x0003
      Revision ID: 0x0003
      Video Accel:
 Deinterlace Caps: n/a
         Registry: OK
     DDraw Status: Enabled
       D3D Status: Enabled
       AGP Status: Not Available
DDraw Test Result: Not run
 D3D7 Test Result: Not run
 D3D8 Test Result: Not run
 D3D9 Test Result: Not run



So does that mean I have 64mb of video memory?  Or is this something else?

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only fags use the wrist bands, so dont worry about that, and pretty much just unplug it and stick them in, its all plug and play, so your all set. you can right click "my computer" and go to properties just to make sure they are both in right. and yes it will be a lot faster, but what you really want to do is get rid of that celeron processor, get a another mother board. (www.tigerdirect.com) get one with a pentium 4 processor, and make sure the bus speed is at least 633mhz. 800 mhz would be optimal.

Could you suggest some? Under 100 Bucks would be optimal but I dont know if that will get me the power I need.  Also, how hard are these to install yourself?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3163858&Sku=MBM-P4MSD-640A

this is one of the cheapest, without getting too shittty. its acualy nice, 800mhz front side bus, 3.8ghz processor

get a better graphics card, yours is really shitty.

yeah im upgrading ram and video card

any recommendations for a video card under 100?

getting more RAM was the best thing i ever did. especially if you don't have a shitload already. like if you have a gig or something to start with, don't really bother, but like i went from 512MB and added a 1 GIG SD ram stick, was awesome.