Upgrading a Computer, Part 5
OK, so you’re wanting to improve your computer performance and you figure you’ll start with memory. You’ve looked inside the box to see if you have free slots or you’ve decided to replace what you have.
How to tell what kind you have?
There’s a nice little tool called Hardware Info which will query your computer and present you with a nice list of everything in it. Download it, install it and when you want to upgrade things in your machine it will tell you all you need to know.
Note the memory type in your computer (write it down) and you’re ready to browse the internet for your best local price. Local because you don’t want to have to pay shipping costs on cheap items and also that way you’re protected by your local shopping laws.
Once you have your memory, it’s time to install it – WARNING, WARNING!!! Always touch metal before touching the memory. Zap your memory with static from your body and you’ve just nuked your computer. Professional repairers use an anti-static strap connected to their wrist and to an earthed metal part in their workshop to prevent this kind of thing happening, but normally touching the metal case of your computer is adequate for what you’re about to do.
If you have free slots available or if you have (say) four slots on your main board you may just want to add in larger capacity RAM modules. There is another possible catch right here – you may not be able to mix’n’match RAM module sizes. It depends entirely on your motherboard (another name for Main Board) manufacturer. Some motherboards will let you do it and some don’t.
Have another look in HWINFO32 and see what make and model your main board is. Then go to their website and see if you can mix memory size on your board. If you can, you can simply buy larger RAM modules and add them in.
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