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RAM question

THEFERMANATOR

FRANKENBURBAN
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I'm in need of some computer help of the variety I am COMPLETELY lost on. I have a cheap desktop(about a 3 year old EMACHINE, it was CHEAP!) I use for surfing the web and building my tunes on, here lately my wife has started using it for work and I have ran into a problem with the RAM in it. It has 2, 1 GB RAM cards in it now, and I would like to double it or more. The board is stamped DDR3 1066, but it gets wierd because it currently has 2 1GB GDDR3 1333's in it now. I haven't been able to find much on the GDDR3 other than it is supposed to be for a graphics card and can read and write at teh same time for improved graphic output. They are plugged into the slots marked for DDR3 1066. Most all of the GDDR3 cards I coudl find were actual graphics cards, but these are nothing more than standard RAM cards. Wanting to know if I would be fine runnign a DDR3 in it, or if there might be some special reason they put GDDR3 1333 in it. I found a few cards on Ebay that were GDDR3 that look like mine, but they were all used and wanting what I can buy a new DDR3 for of a larger capacity.
 
Used ram is usually not a problem. Some machines need the BIOS reflashed to 'see' the extra ram capacity. Pretty sure the 1066 and 1333 refers to the front side bus speed. (FSB). OK to use the 1333 just not anything under 1066.
 
Ram is temp memory. Just find new our used ram sticks and swap them out. The ones you replace them with will have to match. Not size but kind.

The mother board probably has a cheapo graphics car built in.

You could add one of you think you need it. If there is a slot on the mother board.
 
RAM trucks???

Maybe you are running out of Hard Drive space? What is the exact reasons you think you are low on RAM? A page file adjustment could cure the issue.

Jump into the BIOS/CMOS/setup by F1, F2, ESC on booting the PC. The Bios info may give you the memory speed settings. You can run 1333 MHZ memory at a lower clock of 1066 MHZ if that is what the markings mean. Best to ask one of the vendors below to make sure you get the proper memory.

You likely have 32 bit Windows on the PC. It can't use more than 3.5 Gig of RAM. You can shove 4 GB in the PC and watch 500MB get wasted due to really technical 32 bit BIOS RAM reserved space specifications... You need a 64 Bit Windows 7, Vista, Windows 8 to use more than 4GB of ram.

I recommend you give the "Yugo" Emachine aka POS to Err... wait a min. Get your Wife a new good (read: not cheap) Windows 7 PC for work and write it off on the taxes as a business or work related expense. (Unless divorce is in the works then give her the Yugo and get yourself a new PC...) There really isn't a more wear gloves to touch it cheap PC out there. I mean they have you mail the desktop in for repair vs. in home repairs or take it to a shop...

Couple places to get memory from:

http://www.lifetimememory.com/

When only the best will do:

http://www.crucial.com/

On a final note:
The slowest thing in your PC is likely the cheap Hard Drive. A good upgrade is to replace the Hard Drive (Likely 5400 RPM) with a Western Digital 10,000 RPM Raptor or extreme speed SSD, Solid State Drive.

Sadly everything in the cheap PC is low performance so you may have other bottlenecks.
 
What is the exact reasons you think you are low on RAM?

^ X2

To strictly answer the question, use the Advisor Tool on Crucial's web page to figure out the max memory that the PC will use and then go shopping with that knowledge. I have also used PNY and Kingston memory with good success.

Chances are good the PC has a 7,200 RPM drive in it which is fairly responsive and not doggy like the 5,400 RPM drives. If the PC does have a 5,400 RPM drive, I agree with WW and it has to go (dissect it to keep the high power magnet(s) for catching additional metal shavings in in the truck's oil filter).

At the risk of insulting by suggesting things that may have already happened, the common reason people want more memory is to speed-up the old machine, so toward that goal:
> Free Stuff:
-- Uninstall any 'Toolbars' that got added into the browsers.
-- Check to make sure that there is only *one* antivirus (not uncommon for freeware to trick people into installing multiple antivirus products) and uninstall (all but one) if necessary.
-- Run the Disk Cleanup to dump old stuff (native to Windows) including browser cache.
-- Get CCleaner from Piriform to clean even more stuff.
-- Run the defragmenter to recapture more of the space you just cleaned (native to Windows).
-- Check for more current BIOS / Firmware / drivers from eMachine and update if appropriate.

> Adding Hardware (in order of preference / benefit):
-- Max out the RAM if it not already.
-- Add a second 7,200 RPM hard drive (aka HDD) and configure Windows to use it for the Swap File (aka page file), IE Cache, and Temp files (a Google search will give good instructions); even better, move the whole Users Profile over to the second HDD.
-- Upgrade the video card to the best that you want to afford.


Doing the Free Stuff will likely get a small but noticable bump in performance right now and then start going after the hardware.
 
I'm in need of some computer help of the variety I am COMPLETELY lost on. I have a cheap desktop(about a 3 year old EMACHINE, it was CHEAP!) I use for surfing the web and building my tunes on, here lately my wife has started using it for work and I have ran into a problem with the RAM in it. It has 2, 1 GB RAM cards in it now, and I would like to double it or more. The board is stamped DDR3 1066, but it gets wierd because it currently has 2 1GB GDDR3 1333's in it now. I haven't been able to find much on the GDDR3 other than it is supposed to be for a graphics card and can read and write at teh same time for improved graphic output. They are plugged into the slots marked for DDR3 1066. Most all of the GDDR3 cards I coudl find were actual graphics cards, but these are nothing more than standard RAM cards. Wanting to know if I would be fine runnign a DDR3 in it, or if there might be some special reason they put GDDR3 1333 in it. I found a few cards on Ebay that were GDDR3 that look like mine, but they were all used and wanting what I can buy a new DDR3 for of a larger capacity.

The RAM that goes into the slots on your motherboard is not GDDR3. I'm guessing that what you're reading is something like "1GDDR3-1333". The 1G is to indicate it's a 1 GB stick. Like you found, GDDR is only used on graphics cards. What you have on your mobo is DDR3 1333. You can successfully put 1333 in a 1066 motherboard without any ill effect. The RAM will run at the slower speed of 1066. Like 3500GMC said, a BIOS flash might get you the faster speed, but I doubt you'd see any performance increase. The amount of RAM will be noticeable. If you can find the specs of that machine online, there will probably be a "Max RAM supported" that will tell you what your upper limit is.
 
I've already took out all the un needed stuff when I first got it to get it up to speed. And I frequently clean it out as well as run CCLEANER, defrag and all of that. Used to be the only times I ran into problems was if I was surfing the web and watching videos on youtube at the same time, but since my wife had to install some of her school software on it it is REALLY slow now. She just got a new school laptop from work, but the problem is they haven't upgraded software yet and it won't work on new machines. So to my old desktop she has to go until they upgrade the software.

I'm mainly trying to figure out if there is some special reason behind them having put GDDR3 RAM in slots marked for DDR3? The only thing I could find on the GDDR3 is it is an updated version of DDR2 that can read and write at the same time, and is on par with regualr GDDR3 memory sticks. I've been into quite a few PC's back in my high school days, but that has been 15 years ago now and technology has changed a bit on me since then(last time I had to buy ram, it was PC100). I've had no problems finding DDR3 sticks, but the GDDR3's I find look nothing like mine except for a few used ones I have found.

These are what is in it now. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gddr3-1333-...2651211?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item4627a22fcb

I know ditching the old EMACHINE would be a good idea since it is a cheapy and all, but for no more than I do it worked fine until my wife had to add software for work. I use my laptop for 98% of the stuff i do, my phone for 1.5%, and on that rare occasion I use the desktop for the other .5%. So I don't want to go spending more money for another machine when my only issue is I'm running out of RAM(verified this by going into the windows task manager, going to the performance tab, and monitor how much I'm using VS what I have. And hard drive space is of no concern. I think it has a 60GB HD, and I don't even have 15 gigs worth the stuff on it.
 
Did some more digging, and it appears around the time I bought this one emachines was cutting some serious corners, and using the regualr ram for the graphics card ram, hence the reason behind using the GDDR3 instead of DDR3 like the MB says. So it looks like I need to hold out for a GDDR3 card that is pretty hard to find. The price I pay for having a cheap machine I guess. Now to see if I can find another set of 2 GB GDDR3's for it since it only has 2 slots in it, and both are currently in use.
 
Windows likes to cache hard disk data and use all the RAM to do so. So in use RAM is tricky to pin down.

When it running slow is the hard drive rattling with the light on solid? If so it's paging memory to disk or the drive is having issues. Look in the windows system log to see if there are "errors" from "disk" indicating the C:\. Some use Sticks will show up as noise in the logs with disk errors.

Ebay: get a used Dell Precision or HP Z420 Workstation with whatever old software OS the school needs. They will kick the Emachine around the block and take it's lunch money. They can kick a new PC around the block depending on the new PC's specs and cost. Cost would be around $500 or less. Because they are built with high speed and extreme cost components ($2500 on up most going for $5000 each new) they age well to do trivial tasks vs. the HD work they used to do.
 
Windows likes to cache hard disk data and use all the RAM to do so. So in use RAM is tricky to pin down.

When it running slow is the hard drive rattling with the light on solid? If so it's paging memory to disk or the drive is having issues. Look in the windows system log to see if there are "errors" from "disk" indicating the C:\. Some use Sticks will show up as noise in the logs with disk errors.

Ebay: get a used Dell Precision or HP Z420 Workstation with whatever old software OS the school needs. They will kick the Emachine around the block and take it's lunch money. They can kick a new PC around the block depending on the new PC's specs and cost. Cost would be around $500 or less. Because they are built with high speed and extreme cost components ($2500 on up most going for $5000 each new) they age well to do trivial tasks vs. the HD work they used to do.

I paid less than $300 for this one after tax, and REALLY don't have any spare money right now. When it rains it pours per say. It looks like the GDDR3 is an EMACHINE only deal for the ones like I have. I have found a place that has 2GB cards for $40 new.
 
Any chance you have some standard DDR3 lying around? I'm willing to bet $1 it works. In the picture you posted, there are 48 pins to the left of the notch. Standard DDR3 has 48 pins to the left of the notch. As long as it physically fits in the slot, you won't hurt anything. It'll just beep and not put out video if it won't work.
 
After doing some digging, I decided not to roll the dice on DDR3, and found somebody selling some NOS GDDR3 from an EMACHINES repair facility. Dropped right in, and worked fine. Took care of my memory problem as now I rarely go over 75% useage even with her memory hogging program going. I also used CCLEANER to kill it on startup so it only runs when she needs it to. Runs better than she did when I bought it.
 
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