Hey all, so i have a little cash lying around and have decided to upgrade my RAM. I currently have 2GB's of RAM running at (i think, since I'm not sure how to check the RAM speed) 600 something MHZ. I wish to get another GB, i would get 2 but i only have Vista Premium and i believe that Premium can only use up to 3GB's of RAM for some reason.

So my question is, does the new RAM I'm going to buy have to be the same make/model/size/speed as my existing RAM. And also, do i literally just have to clip it into my motherboard and its done, with no extra work needed, e.g. i wont need to install something, or configure any files?

EDIT: Also, i like to buy all my online goods from play.com, so do you have any suggestions as for what make i should go for, or preferablly could you find one on play.com. Thanks alot!

It dosnt have to be the same anything as long as its the right socket (probably DDR2 unless youre mobo is quite old). Speed dosnt matter as it will just run all your memory at the lowest speed stick you have. Best not to go slower than you have because it would slow your memory down, but it'll work all the same. As for instalation, just stick it in and off you go (turn your PC off first though ¬_¬)

On the max memory front, 32bit operating system will go up to 3gb, you can stick more in, it just wont be used. You need a 64bit OS to go higher (XP64 or Vista64) wich you probably dont have.

As long as it's the same type as the others, make, model and manufacturer shouldn't matter. Although 600Mhz is on the slow side.

Anyway, you just stick them into the appropriate slot (ground yourself, of course). You may need to short the cmos jumper before the system recognizes the addition.

The RAM sticks will work fine with one another as long as (like Feanor and Eibmoz said) its the same format (DDR2), but if your mobo allows dual channel mode then it is suggested that you use RAM sticks of similar speed for optimum performance.

Always make sure that the sticks are identical. Your computer will run with mixed sticks but this can lead to problems. There are many differences to memory modules than just the speed. You'll have some with different timings, different memory chips, different voltage settings, etc. DDR 2 & DDR 3 are much more complex than SD, RD & DDR ram were. Do what you can to get a matching stick or just buy a whole new set pair. You are usually better off going that route.

-LatinLegacy

open your case and make sure that you can fit more ram in you may only have 2 slots for ram in which case you cannot upgrade. BTW vista can support more than 3 gigs of ram vista 64 can support way more. if you have X86 which is most likely wou can support ~3.5 gigs of memory motherboard and gpu is allocated first then your ram fills up the rest of the space. if you really wanted to your Vista key is good for both X86 AND X64 tho only use one of them at a time if you post a pic we or at least i can recommend a good stick or ammount.

if its DDR2 it will run single (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145153) is a good start tho if you have 4 slots in 2 channels it would look like I0 I0 on the board where the I are ram sticks and 0 are open slots go for a matched pair pair (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590)

hope this helps

Thanks for all the help! Im pretty sure i have DDR2, so i'll get a single GB of that then. Thanks alot!

What motherboard do you have?

And you can use a tool like CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php) to see what speed memory and type you are currently running