Depends on the Mobo,whats your mobo? Don't bother with cheap brands to many copmabilty issues to deal with 2GB of good ramm is 180-299$
is there a way to see what kind of ram i have w/o opening my machine again ?? if not ill open it up and look
nghtpnshr No you can skip the joys of opening it http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php the download link is in the upper left hand side of the screeen. Click over to mainboard list the info then click over to SPD and list all the ram if all the info is the same just list one but make sure all the info is the same.
ok mobo is a dell model: owf887 chipset:intel south bridge: intell sensor:smsc memory is DDR dual channel (i have 2 512's right now) frequency 167.9mhz FSBRAM : 4:5 <<<<idk what that means can you explain? CAS Latency : 2.5 clocks ras# to cas# : 3 clocks ras# Precharge : 3 clocks cycle time is also 3 clocks each DDR is as follows 512; pc3200 (2oo mhz) maunfacture : mosel corection :none registered no buffered no epp no it has the following frequency's Frequency>>>>>>>>>>133>>>>>>>>166>>>>>>>>200 cas# lat.>>>>>>>>>>>2.0>>>>>>>2.5>>>>>>>>3.0 Ras to CAS#>>>>>>>>>2>>>>>>>>>>3>>>>>>>>>>3 ras precharge>>>>>>>2>>>>>>>>>>3>>>>>>>>>>3 trans>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>6>>>>>>>>>>7>>>>>>>>>>8 that is everything it says about speed main board and memory
gtjr_ph the details are not the problem I just cant find the mobo meaning I need the brand model number since dell and the lot use their "own" parts....
http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/en/SM/specs.htm#wp1076752 http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/en/SM/techov.htm#wp1061217
nghtpnshr, Change ram frequency to 200mhz.(DDR400)as your ram is PC3200. At the moment your @ 167.9 .Thats just over DDR333(PC2700) That means your ram is on a divider and locked at that speed....IE:If your cpu frequency is @200mhz it looks like this:200x4 divided by 5=160mhz (yours is 167.9mhz)so cpuid is reading on the high side. If you put your ram frequency @ 200mhz it should read around the default 200mhz(DDR400) for your ram.
not sure to be honest. when you turn on the pc and it tells you all the parts installed, cpu, ram, harddisks, disk drives, it will tell you how to enter the bios or setup(normaly the delete button, somtimes f2). you move about with the cursor keys(arrows) and enter is ok and esc is back. now it might be on the page called advanced options or memory options and it will say something like ram frequency and you want to change it to 200mhz then press f10 and save and restart. if you cant find it just look in another page, dont worry you cant break anything by just looking. the only thing that might stop this from working is if your mobo doesnt support pc3200(ddr400) ram, so if you cant go upto 200mhz and 166mhz is the max your stuck, but you will have learned somthing new about your pc. like i said im not 100% sure as i dont know my way around a dells bios, but thats about it, nothing too scarey.