Upgrading RAM

Colleague has a HP desktop system, about 3 years old, currently with 512 MB ram, and wants to upgrade it to 1 or 2 GB for playing graphics intensive games like SL.

Any ideas what type of RAM chips he should buy? 2 DIMM sockets, one empty, one currently housing a 512 MB DDR.

Will any 1 GB DDR chip work?

Here's a handy web tool for finding system memory info:



http://www.bootdisk.com/ram.htm

Your friend can find his current info, as well as available upgrade info.

An important thing to remember, is the FSB (Front Side Bus) speed and memory handlers are mulitplications of the core CPU speed. The motherboard will state what speed and types of Ram memory it will support. There is no point in putting memory chips into a motherboard that can't support its speed. When using more than one bank of memory chips, always try and at least use the same manufacturer and type, filling banks 0 first, followed by 1,2 and so forth. Some motherboards can support memory handlers 2 at a time, so speed gains can be made with the correct RAM chips rather than a single one. Always buy more than you think you need, but no more than the motherboard can support. Windows won't use anymore than 8gb at present. Check your BIOS settings to make sure the new memory has been detected. When in windows, right hand click the 'My Computer' icon and click Properties and see what the system has detected, to make sure all is useable.