Too much Ram?

[texasboy]

Have read through several articles where exceeding ram limits on your PC will actually cause it to slow down as the processor has more area to cover etc.
Today I removed my 2x128mb sticks and installed one 512mb. Instant difference in speed and data searches. This is on the old family PC HP710  1.3GHZ.
Running info from HP and others the recommended ram is indeed 512mb. Most things in this world have a safe working load (SWL) and earlier I remember that (maybe Everest scan) a figure of 650mb was maximum supported. Yes I realise that manufacturers specs are to keep us safe and simple.My question is if I put back one stick of 128mb in the empty slot bring my total ram to 640mb will this  in fact help further?
cheers

[Quantum]

My mate downstairs runs 1GB, I run 2GB, my housemate I built a computer for has 3GBs and someone else in my society has 4GBs. None of us have ever noticed a slow down when installing more RAM.

Furthermore, I've noticed signficant improvements in the server we run downstairs when either installing more RAM or faster RAM.

[Quantum]

For a bit of clarification, RAM does have a certain amount of latency, but it is measured in the nanoseconds. Usually there are a bunch of numbers after the amount and speed of a ram when you but it, something like 5-5-5-12, these tell you the latency, the lower the better.

[texasboy]

Many thanks for the input Quantum.
Carefully installed one 0f the 128mb sticks. On boot up it showed the usual windows error  due to hardware or other conflicts. Tried last good config ,tried starting normally. It boots up to the end of the winxp logo  run and then screen goes blank.Tried switching to the other spare stick and same thing happened.
Removed stick and left 512mb one in and as you can see its back to normal
Maybe there is a limit on this board? The only other question would be,if the different sticks are compatable with each other?
128mb by Implex
128mb by PNY europe
512mb by Kingston
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial122.html  Some good info here.

any thoughts
cheers

[Quantum]

RAM is a complicated thing, also from my experience of computers the peice of hardware that will fail most. Some mobos are very good and accept all sorts of different brands of RAM, others do not. Fraid the best I can advise is to run the most possible RAM that actually works.

[weera]

Many thanks for the input Quantum.
Carefully installed one 0f the 128mb sticks. On boot up it showed the usual windows error  due to hardware or other conflicts. Tried last good config ,tried starting normally. It boots up to the end of the winxp logo  run and then screen goes blank.Tried switching to the other spare stick and same thing happened.
Removed stick and left 512mb one in and as you can see its back to normal
Maybe there is a limit on this board? The only other question would be,if the different sticks are compatable with each other?
128mb by Implex
128mb by PNY europe
512mb by Kingston
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial122.html  Some good info here.

any thoughts
cheers

Hi Tex,
I've tried once to add RAM to my GF's PC (Kingston 512MB installed) with different brand (V-Gen 256MB) and I experienced the same thing as you were. I don't know if it is the Mobo or the RAM did the error on booting

[TheHalf™]

Many thanks for the input Quantum.
Carefully installed one 0f the 128mb sticks. On boot up it showed the usual windows error  due to hardware or other conflicts. Tried last good config ,tried starting normally. It boots up to the end of the winxp logo  run and then screen goes blank.Tried switching to the other spare stick and same thing happened.
Removed stick and left 512mb one in and as you can see its back to normal
Maybe there is a limit on this board? The only other question would be,if the different sticks are compatable with each other?
128mb by Implex
128mb by PNY europe
512mb by Kingston
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial122.html  Some good info here.

any thoughts
cheers

It's not RAM all together, since your on (using) an older PC (OS doesn't matter) it comes right down to your PC's BIOS. You can see if there's an upgrade to your PC's BIOS and if so you may be able to install more than 512MB of RAM. If there's an upgrade available and you aren't able to install more than 512MB of RAM then there's no sense upgrading.

Click there----> http://www.unicore.com/biosupgrades/

TheHalf™

[texasboy]

Again guys,many thanks.
Looking into the BIOS as we speak.cheers

ps. Just did Everest Ultimate scan on Phoenix Tech Bios, which suggested that the BIOS is well over 2 years old and should be updated. Will let you know.
cheers


Waiting on reply from E-Support on bios.
27/9/06 and still no reply, will check out "Overclockers forum"

[texasboy]

  As usual no support or answer from e-support.
Will try switching slots on mobo. ie. put 128 mb in first one and add 512mb in second. Unless mass produced pc is trying to pull another fast one on innocent buyers
cheers

[texasboy]

No luck on any of the above. Help from all you pc experts.
cgeers

[Synbios]

AFAIK, most 32-bit proc motherboards can handle up to 4 gigs.
With that being said however, having 640MB ram is not necessarily better than 512.

The explanation is basically:
If the computer stores all it's data on one chip it will be faster to find it. It would probably be better for you to only gave the 512 chip, especially in this case since 512 is so much bigger than 128.

Some computers support dual channel ram, in which the ram must be entered in sets (ie, 2x128, 2x256, etc). I doubt this is what you have (as it came out a little later), but just a heads up anyway.

Also another thing you have to consider besides CAS latency (what Quantum was talking about) are bus speeds and voltages.

If you have a more advanced BIOS you can change some of these things. You should try upping the voltage on the chip that isn't being detected. Also, make sure the chips bus speeds match (PC100=100Mhz, PC133=133Mhz, or if it's DDR PC3200=2x200Mhz, etc)

RAM is a very confusing thing and was the key problem when I was first making this computer a few years ago. One thing I learned is that too many sticks (I had 6x256MB) causes a lot of problems. I had to reduce it down to 4x256MB.