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Saida.M
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Posted: Sunday January 29th, 2006 13:55 |
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Following on from Omoshango problem I'm having a similar one in that I get the same, "need more RAM", message whenever I try to install a particularly memory hogging software. The thing is I've been told to get a DDR 400. But when I looked it up, I couldn't work out exactly what it is - I mean first of all sometimes I see images of motherboards or sometimes I see pictures of memory 'sticks' I think they are called. Also when I do see those 'sticks' there seem to be a lot of DDR 400's. How do I know which one is for me?
Crucial couldn't come up with anything specific and I don't appear to have a manual because it was custom made.
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MCP
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Posted: Sunday January 29th, 2006 15:15 |
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Hi Athaba.
Here a picture I found of a DDR memory card.
One other thing. What operating are you running on your pc e.g Win 98, Win 2000 or Windows XP??
Secondly if you do know, how much memory do you have at present running on your pc????
Here a tutorial that I found for anyone wishing to purchase a memory card but isn't too sure which one to get. Hope this helps. Any probs let us know.
http://www.crucial.com/uk/pvtcontent/memorytype.asp?model=&memtype=CHOOSE
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Saida.M
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Posted: Sunday January 29th, 2006 22:55 |
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Thanks MCP. 
My OS is Win XP. My computer says that I have 384MB. Apparently I may have 512MB but as memory is also used by graphics, according to a guy he says that Windows will only report back what is left of the total amount of RAM I actually have. 
The tutorial is good but Cruical didn't have my manufacturer in thier list nor my model so it couldn't do a thorough scan. Plus I'm not too sure myself which was why I was stuck.
The software I want to install requires all of my memory and then some. The PC was brought last year so according to Crucial I should be able to buy a DDR2.
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MCP
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Posted: Sunday January 29th, 2006 23:55 |
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It sounds like you may have 2 memory sticks in your pc. 1 at 256mb memory and another at 128mb memory. You don't have to have the same memory from the same manufacturers to use in your pc.
Nowadays with so many programs running at once on the pc, and also the fact that you are running Win XP, I would recommend at least 512mb minimum. You could replace the 128mb stick with a 256mb.
Before you do so, is there a possibility Athaba that you could provide the make and model of the motherboard in your pc. From there we may be able to determine what kind of memory that your pc uses.
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Saida.M
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Posted: Monday January 30th, 2006 11:01 |
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MCP wrote:
Before you do so, is there a possibility Athaba that you could provide the make and model of the motherboard in your pc. From there we may be able to determine what kind of memory that your pc uses.
That was part of my problem MCP. I don't know it because it was custom made and I don't appear to have a manual.
Btw is there a difference between a Processor and RAM? Also what is a CPU? I believe it stands for Central Processing Unit but what exactly is that? Is it a motherboard? What is a mainboard?
Last edited on Monday January 30th, 2006 11:29 by Saida.M
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"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast".
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cell
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Posted: Monday January 30th, 2006 15:06 |
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You should download CPU-Z
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
This program gives you information on your PC components
just click on the mainboard tab on CPU-Z program and the info there should give your motherboard modelLast edited on Monday January 30th, 2006 15:07 by cell
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MCP
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Posted: Monday January 30th, 2006 18:24 |
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athaba wrote: MCP wrote:
Before you do so, is there a possibility Athaba that you could provide the make and model of the motherboard in your pc. From there we may be able to determine what kind of memory that your pc uses.
That was part of my problem MCP. I don't know it because it was custom made and I don't appear to have a manual.
Btw is there a difference between a Processor and RAM? Also what is a CPU? I believe it stands for Central Processing Unit but what exactly is that? Is it a motherboard? What is a mainboard?
The Processor (Which is also known as the CPU), controls the speeds of the components in the pc. The faster the processor is, the faster the pc completes its functions.
This is what a Processor looks like.
The mainboard is just another name for the motherboard.
I would suggest that you try that link that Cell suggested.
If you can get the information about your pc and what makes and model you have. I would be able to recommend on what memory stick you'll be able to purchase.
I hope this helps Athaba.
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Saida.M
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 12:08 |
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Thanks Cell.
Thanks MCP for the info but what is the processor conncection to the RAM?
MCP - If we don't have to use the same maunufacturer, why does it seem so important when choosing RAM?
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People readily believe lies before they believe the truth
"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast".
Good News Bible. Rev. Ch.13 V.3
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Saint
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 13:06 |
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MCP - If we don't have to use the same maunufacturer, why does it seem so important when choosing RAM?
The answer to your question is for Compatibility reasons only.
Sorry Saint I selected 'edit' rather than the 'reply' button, so I edited your post by mistake. See below.Last edited on Tuesday January 31st, 2006 14:40 by Saida.M
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Saida.M
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 14:38 |
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Hi Saint
I was trying to avoid going into the computer!
I have been asking around and one guy said that I need to ask for an IBM compatible DDR 32000 or 400. He also said something about changing BIOS to reflect the 512MB I'm suppose to already have.
According to the CPU thing it says I have type DDR-SDRAM and I think the speed is, well the frequency keeps switching between 159.9 and 160.0Mhz.
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People readily believe lies before they believe the truth
"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast".
Good News Bible. Rev. Ch.13 V.3
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MCP
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 17:48 |
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Hi Athaba.
I've found a program that would give you the information that you require without you having to open up the PC. The program is called. "SiSoft Sandra 2005 SR3"
The link to a download can be found here.
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=75
Once you are on the site, scroll down to the bottom to find the work 'Primary Download site'. Click on this to d/l.
Once installed, open the program and you should see a section called Information Modules with lots of icons underneath it.
The second icon you see under there, you should see a icon called 'mainboard information'. Click on that and follow the instructions. Make a note of the motherboard model when it has finish the diagnostic.
Next to the 'mainboard information' icon, you should see another icon called CPU & BIOS information. Follow the same instructions there as well. Make a note of the Processor model and speed.
It will give you a detailed breakdown of what is on your motherboard. I personally can vouch for this as I have tried it myself.
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Saida.M
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 19:56 |
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Thanks for that MCP.
It seems I already downloaded SisSandra - I just never understood it (shame).
Anyway it say the model is AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 2600 and the speed is 1.60GHz.
Apparently I can hold up to 8GB of RAM
Now what?
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People readily believe lies before they believe the truth
"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast".
Good News Bible. Rev. Ch.13 V.3
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MCP
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Posted: Tuesday January 31st, 2006 23:12 |
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Glad you were able to resolve that issue with the motherboard. That at least gave me some scope of where to look for in regards.
Whatever happens, you will still need to open up the pc to install the new sticks (or get someone else to do it!!)
The hard part is over for now...lol.
If you wish to increase the memory in your pc (to make functions and applications go that little bit quicker), I suggest that you would need to increase the memory that you currently have at 384mb, especially as you have windows XP on your pc.
I'm not sure what applications you do have on your pc, but as a general rule of thumb I would go for at least a minimum of 512mb.
If you go for this I would suggest that you get 2 x 256mb memory sticks. As i stated before, this depends on many applications you are running. In addition to that, i would also defrag your hard drive if you haven't done so already.
In my pc I have 1GB memory = 2 x 512mb memory sticks.
If its a DDR 400 stick you're looking for, here are some from Crucial's website that I saw that may be of interest to you.
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=BL3264Z505
Hope this resolves your issue Athaba. Lets us know how it went.
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Saida.M
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Posted: Wednesday February 1st, 2006 12:25 |
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Thanks MCP. Thanks All.
The matter is now resolved - it meant eventually going inside the PC  but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 
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People readily believe lies before they believe the truth
"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast".
Good News Bible. Rev. Ch.13 V.3
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Hrunopi
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Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2006 02:34 |
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Athba-
hmm. The dreaded "not enough memory to run this program..." message.
I had to giggle a little bit when I read yuo were told to UPGRADE your memory, as if that would instantly solve the problem, which it certainly might not, in fact, it may even make things worse.
I realize that that the last thing some not-so-tech-savvy people want to have to do is to go into thier systems playing around-unfortunately the reality is that sometimes you're just gonna have to roll those sleeves and hack it out
The fundamental solution to program processing problems is always MORE MEMORY! and that still hasn't changed, but still remember that no matter how version new Windows gets, its still Windows, and how it runs depends on the same principles any version, since 3.1 ever depended on.
Without getting too technical here I'll just say that while DDR RAM is great, 384MB of ram is more than enough, especially if you can't afford to upgrade your entire system today-and that's exactly what you'll have to do if you're not built for DDR
The first thing are TSR [TERMINATE STAY RESIDENT] programs, that are always running and don't need to be. These days, well some just do, like software firewalls and anti-virus software. Others are there just for easy access. I don't know how many program icons are loaded on the lower right-hand side of your screen when you start -up, but if you're running an XP box and haven't changed anything about its interface its likely you don't even see the number of programs running in the background.
The great thing about XP is that you can turn off all the bells and whistles, and you really really should do that anyway. Get rid of the fades, the high-end themes, the silly noises that activated with every event, and keep it classic.
Disable Norton's auto-protect services and just run LiveUpdate manually, as well as scan new files
All those programs like burning software, media players and photo applications that are running in the background-go into thier options settings and turn them off. If you have Quicktime-and a lot of people might not agree, but I say-get rid of it, period. It wasn't designed to run on Windows anyway, and loves RAM. Same thing with i-tunes. If you need to play .mov files, just install the codec and play the files with the alternative, designed for Windows. You don't need the whole program.
Increase your virtual memory.
Add a second hardrive! Oldest trick in the book. It couldbe as small as 400MB. reserve the entire drive for virtual memory
Decrease the MaxFileCache setting in System.ini to at least 25 to 50% of your total RAM so thatthe operating system will set this amount aside went you start up
If none of that helps, well, start saving your change...
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Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2006 20:45 |
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I'm sorry, I am going to have to disagree with you on a few points. 512mb of ram is more like the recomended ammount of ram. Even if you are only using 200-300mb of ram. Windows makes use of this extra ram to cache files. This means that programs can open and/or reopen faster. I would also advise against using a small hard disk as a drive for your swap file. A 400mb hard drive would be very old and also very slow. Unless the second drive is almost as fast as your main drive I would recomend leaving the swap file on the boot drive.
Also I believe the setting you are talking about in system.ini is no longer in use in XP, even in win9x. All system settings are now stored in the registry. And TSR's were only in DOS.
Best way to check how much ram you need, is to load all the programs you use on a day to day basis, open task manager and have a look at the bottom where it says commit charge. Add 100-200mb on top on this figure and you should have a figure of the ammount of ram you need.
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Hrunopi
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Posted: Thursday February 9th, 2006 21:27 |
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hmm-
I dunno about that hard drive thing. I've always used small drive for swap space without any problem-when I needed to. At the moment I'm using a 4GB primary and a 30 gig secondary.
You are correct about system.ini, but it is still there.
As far as TSRs, my understanding-generically-of what that is includes any program loaded into memory at boot, or running in the background. The clock, screensaver, and any other software that can be memory-resident, including anyi-virus/anti-spyware, washers, and media software, unless turned off, is memory-resident.
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Nick
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Posted: Thursday February 9th, 2006 22:42 |
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My point about the hard disk was that old hard disks (anything older than about 2 years) would be quite a bit slower than a disk you could buy today. It would come to a point that if the page file disk was significantly slower than your main disk you would lose the benefit of having the page file on another disk. Anyway the best method would still be to have enough ram in your machine to reduce the need for paging. If you use perfmon you can set it up to see how your page file and memory is being used.
A TSR was used in DOS as a primitive form of multi-tasking. Instead of ending and handing control back to command.com, TSR's used to stay in memory and be able to be accessed at anytime. Since windows 95 everything is done in a true multi-tasking way (well not 100% until NT, win9x was nearly 100%) This involves launching processes for everything. The process that launches for a firewall running in the background is the same as a process that lanches word, although it might run under a different user context so it isn't visable.
Heres some more info if you are interested:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminate_and_Stay_Resident
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umbrarchist
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Posted: Friday February 10th, 2006 07:26 |
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The industry is in the process of converting from PATA, Parallel ATA to SATA, Serial ATA drives. They are saying that by the end of 2006 all new systems will be shipped with SATA drives. I built my latest computer to learn about this new technology.
Hardwarewise installation is trivial, easier if anything.
I created my own test for speed by copying 4 gigabytes of mp3 files. I tested a bunch of different drives on two machines, my 2.66 GHz ASUS mobo which has built in SATA and a Gateway 1.3 GHz machine that required a SATA host adapter to be plugged into a PCI slot.
A 30 Gig Quantum PATA/66 drive on the Gateway = 8.5 MB/sec
A 40 Gig Maxtor PATA/100 drive on the Gateway = 18.2 MB/sec
There was a significant difference in the responsiveness of Windows 2000 going from the Quantum to the Maxtor
A 40 Gig Maxtor PATA/100 drive on the Asus = 15.74 MB/sec
I found it very curious that the faster machine had a slower response with the same hard disk but maybe the designers didn't care that much and only put the PATA on for optical drives. Not using the SATA on this board would be dumb.
A 120 Gig Maxtor SATA/150 drive on the Asus = 35.68 MB/sec
Now that was a significant jump.
A 120 Gig Maxtor SATA/150 drive on the Gateway = 33.2 MB/sec
Now this was interesting. The Gateway is half as fast in clock speed and yet got 93% of the data transfer speed of the Asus mobo using a PCI host adapter. This machine was made in 2001. So lots of old machines actually have electronics so fast they are waiting on their disk drive. So a disk bound application really doesn't gain much because of hot, fast and loud computers.
Sorry to go techy on you people but I have to get a fix every now and then.
umbra
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Nick
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Posted: Friday February 10th, 2006 21:32 |
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Intresting numbers, may the difference between the gateway and asus was down to drivers, did you check they were both running the latest. Also did you check for stuff in the bios like what UDMA mode they were running in etc?
But thanks for confirming my point, even a 30gig disk is 4 times slower than a modern day disk. Although even at ~35 MB/s it still fulls far short of DDR 400 which transfers at 3200 MB/s, or nearly 100 times faster and thats not even taking into consideration latency.
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umbrarchist
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Posted: Saturday February 11th, 2006 17:16 |
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The BIOS for the Asus is wierd and complicated and the documentation sucks. I fiddled with it a lot and once set it for PIO and the spped went down to 2 MB/sec. I was pi$$ed. It still doesn't make sense to me and I dread messing with it. Once I get it working right I leave it alone. LOL
Both machines were running Windows 2000 SP 2. I made no additional changes for hard disk drivers.
umbra
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Posted: Saturday February 11th, 2006 20:04 |
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Yeah PIO is old and slow. Always set to DMA or UDMA mode.
I'm only suggesting drivers, because I had a computer once that disk and 3D performance sucked with the drivers that came on the CD, whe I installed the latest motherboard drivers off the internet performance improved, 3D peformance nearly doubled!!!!
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