Upgrading
Adding more RAM
(memory)
When I first came to upgrading my computer I can remember feeling some trepidation at the thought of opening the case and tinkering about. I had been told by many friends, both off-line and on-line that it was so easy a child could do it. But I was still somewhat unconvinced – I had met several children who were nothing short of whiz-kids when it came to computers. But I had added several programs for photography and video that were very memory intensive, and with my mere128 megs of RAM, my machine was giving up the ghost and taking all day to process some of the tasks. When I read on-line that with most graphic programs, 256 megs were a minimum with 512 recommended, no wonder I was getting problems.
Taking my machine in to a shop get the memory added was quite expensive, so I decided I would have a go at a little DIY. I’ve got to admit it was a whole lot easier that many other DIY jobs I had done on the car and around the home.
I found out that RAM comes in different "shapes and sizes" - SD RAM which my machine used, DDR RAM (more common in the later PCs and RD RAM. The RAM components seemed to be referred to as "modules", "sticks", "cards" "boards" and other names as I surfed around the Net. With a few enquiries with google.com, I found out the best type of RAM module for my computer model and how much memory it was possible to fit.
Fitting the Extra RAM
First of all, I disconnected all the peripherals from the rear of the tower and laid it on its side. The lid came off easily by removing two thumb screws and sliding it away. The inside of the machine was not as complicated as I had imagined.
The next task was to make sure that I did not do any damage from the static electricity that may be in my body - computer parts are very sensitive to static electricity. To deal with this I held on to the metal case with one hand and touched our central heating radiator with the other. This made sure that any static electricity went to earth and not into the computer parts. There are special wrist straps that can be purchased in computer stores that can be used to earth your body.
(In this picture, all memory sticks have been removed)
I quickly identified the mother-board which is the large
board at the bottom of the case into which everything is plugged. I then located the
RAM of which there was one stick fitted in one of the empty memroy slots.
( See picture. The broad "ribbons" are cables that
connect to the various drives). In the picture (left)
you can see that on the end of each slot there are little plastic
levers that click into place when a memory board is inserted. To
remove the old memory, press outward (away from the memory stick)
and it will simply pop out.
- This next picture (lower left)
is a typical SD RAM fitted in my computer. DDR and RD RAM cards
are very similar in looks. They are easily fitted by aligning the
notches with the socket and pressing it gently home. The levers
will click into place. The memory card would only fit one
way around when the notches are lined up properly. The entire process
from beginning to end took less time than it takes to explain how
to do it.
Once the extra RAM was fitted, I just replaced the cover, reconnected my computer to my monitor and other peripherals and powered it up. The next thing I did was to Right Click on My Computer folder on the desk top, select Properties from the drop-down menu and I could see the RAM was now registered at 512 MEGs. I had found out from the Internet that my make and model could accommodate 2 X 256Meg RAM modules which is what I fitted
The Benefits: Why fit extra Ram?
I
noticed a benefits immediately. My computer definitely worked much
more efficiently with all programs loading and responding faster
as well as a much improved performance when I was working with my
pictures and video. In fact there was a great improvement with the
machine all round.
I hope this article has helped. Thanks for reading.
Purchase Details
Computer RAM from Amazon UK
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