Hardware Adding more RAM to Gaming PC.

[Blue]

That's really, really bad. The temps should be less than half that. Make sure the heatsink is on properly

If it makes a diffrence, it has been turned on all day.

 

[dfsa3fdvc1]

If it makes a diffrence, it has been turned on all day.

No that doesn't make a difference. 70+ idle is bad no matter how you look at it.

 

[Blue]

No that doesn't make a difference. 70+ idle is bad no matter how you look at it.

What does this affect? Will it damage my PC?

 

[DarkenedMatter]

What does this affect? Will it damage my PC?

Yes.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yes, heat can damage and shorten the lifespan of your CPU. Idling at 70 is way too hot, as mentioned it should be more like 30-ishC at idle. You most likely need to reapply thermal paste on your CPU. Youtube for detailed instructions, but basically you just remove the fan and heatsink, clean the old thermal paste off both, reapply just a dot in the center, and replace the heatsink (letting the heatsink itself spread the paste, which generally gives it a more even coating).

Before you do anything, I would strongly suggest replacing the thermal paste first. Thermal paste is cheap, it's an easy thing to apply, it shouldn't take any knowledge at all.

As for more RAM, personally I would just abandon the idea for reasons below. But, since you ask, you will have to buy DDR2 667 or 800 (800 would be "faster", and your mobo supports it so probably that), the most your motherboard can support according to Intel's site is 8GB so that's all you can do. Normally I would suggest just 2x4GB, because of dual channel mode and it puts less stress on the memory controller, but DDR2 is quite outdated, a RAM config like that can be costly. Dual channel mode essentially doubles the amount of bandwidth your RAM sticks can use, so it's usually preferred compared to having just 1 stick or 3 sticks of RAM. Google for more information on why 2x4GB would be better than 4x2GB.

So, basically, here are the choices you have. You can buy 2 sets of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207&ignorebbr=1 for ~$80.
Or you can simply buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226359&ignorebbr=1 for ~$150 (The cheapest I found on Newegg that also has good-ish reviews) and take advantage of dual channel and put less stress on your memory controller.

Keep in mind these are mostly likely not the cheapest things you can get, I imagine Amazon has some cheaper RAM sticks if you look, I'm just too lazy to actually do that. Just stay away from trash like Komputerbay if you go searching elsewhere for cheaper stuff.

To be perfectly honest, you should just scrap that whole setup minus the GPU, you may have gotten it "a couple months ago" but that thing is way outdated. Instead of upgrading your RAM you should just save your money for a motherboard, RAM, CPU and probably PSU. You could probably get something for like $300-$400 that would blow your current rig out of the water twice.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Waitwaitwait, your PC has 4GB of RAM but 3 slots are filled how does that work? Is it like one 2GB stick and two 1GB sticks?

Where did you get this PC again? If someone built it for you you should go tell them off and get your money back. They did a shit job, from the cooling to the outdated hardware to the... odd... choice in RAM capacity selection

 

[Blue]

Waitwaitwait, your PC has 4GB of RAM but 3 slots are filled how does that work? Is it like one 2GB stick and two 1GB sticks?

Where did you get this PC again? If someone built it for you you should go tell them off and get your money back. They did a shit job, from the cooling to the outdated hardware to the... odd... choice in RAM capacity selection

Yeah someone did build it in a shop and charged me £200. CPU is getting very warm and the fan is really loud.

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I have a 6 month warranty so the thermal paste not applied properly is a hardware fault and a problem caused by them right?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Yes, heat can damage and shorten the lifespan of your CPU. Idling at 70 is way too hot, as mentioned it should be more like 30-ishC at idle. You most likely need to reapply thermal paste on your CPU. Youtube for detailed instructions, but basically you just remove the fan and heatsink, clean the old thermal paste off both, reapply just a dot in the center, and replace the heatsink (letting the heatsink itself spread the paste, which generally gives it a more even coating).

Before you do anything, I would strongly suggest replacing the thermal paste first. Thermal paste is cheap, it's an easy thing to apply, it shouldn't take any knowledge at all.

As for more RAM, personally I would just abandon the idea for reasons below. But, since you ask, you will have to buy DDR2 667 or 800 (800 would be "faster", and your mobo supports it so probably that), the most your motherboard can support according to Intel's site is 8GB so that's all you can do. Normally I would suggest just 2x4GB, because of dual channel mode and it puts less stress on the memory controller, but DDR2 is quite outdated, a RAM config like that can be costly. Dual channel mode essentially doubles the amount of bandwidth your RAM sticks can use, so it's usually preferred compared to having just 1 stick or 3 sticks of RAM. Google for more information on why 2x4GB would be better than 4x2GB.

So, basically, here are the choices you have. You can buy 2 sets of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207&ignorebbr=1 for ~$80.
Or you can simply buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226359&ignorebbr=1 for ~$150 (The cheapest I found on Newegg that also has good-ish reviews) and take advantage of dual channel and put less stress on your memory controller.

Keep in mind these are mostly likely not the cheapest things you can get, I imagine Amazon has some cheaper RAM sticks if you look, I'm just too lazy to actually do that. Just stay away from trash like Komputerbay if you go searching elsewhere for cheaper stuff.

To be perfectly honest, you should just scrap that whole setup minus the GPU, you may have gotten it "a couple months ago" but that thing is way outdated. Instead of upgrading your RAM you should just save your money for a motherboard, RAM, CPU and probably PSU. You could probably get something for like $300-$400 that would blow your current rig out of the water twice.

30ish C is very optimistic, I think around 40-50C at idle would be more realistic. 70 is definitely high, but it shouldn't harm the CPU. If it goes much higher than that during load though, it might shorten the lifespan of the CPU. >90C under load is in the danger zone.

Yeah someone did build it in a shop and charged me £200. CPU is getting very warm and the fan is really loud.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I have a 6 month warranty so the thermal paste not applied properly is a hardware fault and a problem caused by them right?

You can ask them to reapply the thermal paste but it shouldn't be much trouble to do it yourself.
I wouldn't be surprised if they built the PC using used parts TBH since that is rather old hardware. Maybe the fan is failing and that's why your temps are so high, it could have nothing to do with the thermal paste at all. What kind of temps are you getting under load?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

30ish C is very optimistic, I think around 40-50C at idle would be more realistic. 70 is definitely high, but it shouldn't harm the CPU. If it goes much higher than that during load though, it might shorten the lifespan of the CPU. >90C under load is in the danger zone.

If it's 70C at idle, and he's using it for "gaming", it's almost a guarantee it's heating up to the point that it will damage the CPU under load. There's no way it's going to stay at a safe temp under load if it's 70C at idle.

I suppose it is an older CPU, so 30ish at idle might be a bit optimistic. I forget sometimes I use a liquid cooler, so my temps at idle stay around 20C and I just assume 30-ish should be normal for stock fans.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

I have a 6 month warranty so the thermal paste not applied properly is a hardware fault and a problem caused by them right?

Yeah, that's 100% on them. Tell them that the computer is heating up to unacceptable temps while idling and show them your warranty. If they try to tell you that 70*C is normal call bullshit on them

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Yeah, that's 100% on them. Tell them that the computer is heating up to unacceptable temps while idling and show them your warranty. If they try to tell you that 70*C is normal call bullshit on them

Oh, also, while you're there, see if they can't remove the two 1GB RAM sticks and replace them with three more 2GB sticks

 

[Purge]

Maybe you should consider investing in a decent CPU cooler. If you do buy one, make sure to note how much clearance you have before buying more RAM.