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RAM compatibility question

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  • RAM compatibility question

    Hi Everyone,

    I'm new here, so I apologize if this has been asked before. Anyway, I recently purchased a new HP Pavilion a574n (here's a link for reference: http://www.compusabusiness.com/shop/...7&pfp=EXTERNAL). The factory-installed memory is 1GB of PC2700 RAM @ 333MHz. I haven't cracked the case to confirm that yet out of fear of voiding the warranty; having said that, though, I'm a little disappointed that I'm not able to run certain high-end games (namely Doom 3) as well as I'd think a 3.4GB processor should. I've installed some older games too, and even then the auto-configurer comes up and says that my machine does not meet the minimum speed requirements, but I just don't see how that can be, especially for a year-old game running on a 3.4GB processor. Thus, I'm considering upgrading the RAM.

    I'm looking at these RAM chips as replacements: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....9&type=product

    First of all, has anyone had any experience with these chips, and if so, do you think that there would be any compatibility issues? Secondly, due to budgetary constraints I'll probably have to buy one chip at a time, and I was wondering if it's possible to have one PC2700 and one PC3200 chip running at the same time, or if I would have to wait and install them both at the same time.

    Lastly, I don't have the best video card on the planet (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200XT, 128MB) and I think that might be contributing to the problem, but I'm not sure. Yesterday I purchased a VisionTek Xtasy 9600 (256MB) but, again, I haven't installed it yet as I had some last-mintue doubts about cracking the case and voiding the warranty. Has anyone used either of these cards with a system similar to mine, and if so, would it be worth my while to go ahead and install the 9600?

    Anyway, sorry if that last bit belongs in a separate forum, but I think the main issue is the RAM. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

    Cheers,
    Andy

  • #2
    Re: RAM compatibility question

    Wow you sure wasted your money buying a store bought computer. I'm pretty sure everyone agrees. For you rams, that looks good. I'm pretty sure it was CAS2. 2-3-3-6 I believe. Even thought those aren't the best timings, it's pretty good. Maybe you can change the timings. It's clearly better than your PC2700 RAMs. It is compatible btw. I have lacking knowledge on how NVIDIA is compared to ATI so I'm going to recomend the ATI 9800XT. I'm pretty that would work. I have the 9800 Pro and it runs good at high on DOOM 3 if I turn my AA 4X. In Ultra, it gets laggy. my AA can only be turned up to 4X max btw. Anyone knows y? In the game, you can turn it all the way up to 16X.

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    • #3
      Re: RAM compatibility question

      Thanks for the reply. I had considered building my own machine, but I shopped around a bit and the price difference was pretty negligible, plus I got the advantage of the whole "instant gratification" thing. Anyway, my main concern was whether or not the 3200 RAM would make that much of a difference over the 2700, and if it would be compatible.

      Any tips on how to tweak the performace on those chips? I'm pretty new to the whole system modification thing.

      Thanks again!

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