Gaming PC Memory Ram Upgrade

[DbGt]

Hi, i dont really know too much about the internals of pc. i just formated my pc and installed win 7 (from xp), i want to upgrade the ram also because i only have 1 gb.... but what is the maximun memory my motherboard can handle??

i use SIW (system information for windows) and it told me this:

Motherboard:

Property Value
Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Model MS-7312
Version 1.00
Serial Number

North Bridge VIA K8M400 (VT8380) Revision 00
South Bridge VIA VT8237 Revision 00

CPU AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+
Cpu Socket Socket AM2 (940)

System Slots 4 PCI, 1 AGP

Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 2
Error Correction None

Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed


Memory:

Property Value
CASA-PC (MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7312)
Memory Summary

Maximum Capacity 8192 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 2
Error Correction None
DRAM Frequency 237.5 MHz
Memory Timings 4-5-4-11 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Device Locator Slot 1

Part Number RM1GB383CA-43DC
Capacity 1024 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 (PC2-4300)
Speed 266 MHz (DDR2 533)
Supported Frequencies 200.0 MHz, 266.7 MHz, 266.7 MHz
Memory Timings 3-3-3-8-11 at 200.0 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 4-4-4-11-15 at 266.7 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Memory Timings 5-4-4-11-15 at 266.7 MHz, at 1.8 volts (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC)
Data Width 64 bits
Manufacturing Date 2007, Week 20
EPP SPD Support No
XMP SPD Support No


Then i checked the internet and every single site tell that my motherboard (ms-7312) can only handle 2 gb ram maximum (1 gb max per slot), when SIW told me is 8 gb max....... so what do i believe???

Every site also tell the north bridge is a VIA k8m800 and that the motherboard has only 3 PCI slots........ but SIW tells another thing...

I hope you can help me

Official Homepage of my specific motherboard
Other site with specs


Thanks a lot!

 

[Cermage]

tbh i wouldn't bother. ram costs too much these days.

also trust the actual manufacturer site. 2gb max.

 

[Tripp]

can't tell you what is true for sure but, try link...

http://www.crucial.com/

I'm not saying you need to buy from them just that their memory recommendations worked for me in the past but no promises...

good luck...

 

[Law]

Just download some RAM from here: http://www.downloadmoreram.com/

Totally free and only takes a few minutes

protip though: From what you've said about SIW I wouldn't trust it much, it probably isn't very accurate when it comes to older tech, and probably isn't accurate with new tech either. Just use the information you found on the web.

 

[DbGt]

Thank you all for your advice, i will follow what other sites tell about the ram upgrade, i dont think 1 gb ram cost too much and its worth it

another question, can i do something about the video card or video memory?? Because i downloaded an episode from full metal alchemist (eclipse fansub, the 480p one) and it had little problems playing it.... with the audio especially, and video doesnt play fluid. so i thought it had something to do with the video card...

I dont really use this pc, is old and no one care about it here in my house nor they knew what to do..., i always use my laptop... so after a lot of time i finally decided to fix it to the best i could, it was full of virus, spyware, adware, toolbars and all the things you can think of, it was super slow and full of stupid programs no one used.....i cant imagine how it got to the way it was!

thats why all this questions..


Property Value
CASA-PC (MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7312)

Video Adapter Tarjeta gráfica VGA estándar

Video Processor VIA K8M800
Adapter DAC Type 8 bit
PCI ID 0x1106 / 0x3108 (VIA Technologies Inc / VIA/S3 Unichrome Pro VGA Adapter)
PCI sub ID 0x1462 / 0x7312 (Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI))
Memory 64 MBytes
BIOS Date 05/16/06
Driver Version 6.1.7600.16385
DirectX DirectX 9.0
Driver Name vga.dll
Driver Description Standard VGA Graphics Adapter


Monitor Monitor PnP genérico
Model SDM-S51
Monitor ID SNY1E50
Manufacturer (Tipo de monitor estándar)
Manufacturing Date 2002, Week 17
PnP Device Id DISPLAY\SNY1E50\5&11748862&0&12345678&01&00
Input Analog Input Voltage - 0.700V/0.300V
Serial Number 4041418
Display Size 14.9" (30 cm x 23 cm)
Horizontal Frequency 28-61 kHz
Vertical Frequency 48-65 Hz
Current Resolution 1024 x 768 @ N/A
Supported Resolution 1024 x 768 @ 60Hz - Aspect Ratio 4:3
EDID Version 1 revision 2
Max dot clock (video bandwidth) 100 MHz
DPMS Mode Support Active Off, Suspend, Standby

 

[Scorpei]

Aside from the mem upgrade slightly being worth it (x2 3600 is slightly crippled in a windows 7 enviroment, not so much in XP though), you're still stuck with AGP. Aside from that, first try installing CCCP (preferably when the machine is relativly clean; do a clean install if you haven't already):
http://www.cccp-project.net/
That should work wonders at least for the 480p video you are trying to run (should work easy on the CPU alone). 720p should work too but I;m not too sure (my single 3200+ has some problems with it). Then, as far as the video card goes, AGP is pretty dead. The best you can get for it is pretty much a 3850 (I think, could be a 3870 you need to google that and availability probably sucks) but that will be expensive and useles if all you do is watch video. You could get a PCI video card of the newer series or for example a HD2400pro (I have one in AGP, driver issues are pretty big though; getting UVD to work properly isn't all that easy). Regardless you won't be using it for gaming that much, but it can help with video playback (hence you need to look for a card with UVD / purevideo).

 

[DbGt]

Aside from the mem upgrade slightly being worth it (x2 3600 is slightly crippled in a windows 7 enviroment, not so much in XP though), you're still stuck with AGP. Aside from that, first try installing CCCP (preferably when the machine is relativly clean; do a clean install if you haven't already):
http://www.cccp-project.net/
That should work wonders at least for the 480p video you are trying to run (should work easy on the CPU alone). 720p should work too but I;m not too sure (my single 3200+ has some problems with it). Then, as far as the video card goes, AGP is pretty dead. The best you can get for it is pretty much a 3850 (I think, could be a 3870 you need to google that and availability probably sucks) but that will be expensive and useles if all you do is watch video. You could get a PCI video card of the newer series or for example a HD2400pro (I have one in AGP, driver issues are pretty big though; getting UVD to work properly isn't all that easy). Regardless you won't be using it for gaming that much, but it can help with video playback (hence you need to look for a card with UVD / purevideo).

i did a clean install when installing win7 (upgrading from xp) 2 days ago, and installed win7codecs package (2.4.1), but regardless of that, it had problems playing the 480p video file fluid

thanks for your help, i will search about UVD /purevideo cards, whats the difference with other cards??

I almost dont do any gaming (very very rare), i just want this pc to be able to play 1080p content fluidly, blu ray, multitasking (a lot) without slowdowns or freezing. I want also to upgrade the monitor to a full HD (perhaps the alienware monitor).

But to be able to do all this, i need first to upgrade what?? video card, processor and ram?? or only video card and ram??? or i need a whole new motherboard??

Any suggestions?

Thanks =)

 

[Scorpei]

Most new cards have UVD/purevideo. That means they can handle the video decoding (depending on what iteration UVD/purevideo more or less) thus freeïng the CPU for other things. Useful when you are trying to decode some bigger streams that the CPU isn't capable of handeling on its own.

An upgrade isn't a clean install, but afaik you can't "upgrade" from XP to 7, so you probably did a clean install and I'm not reading your sentence right

. But please install the CCCP rather then the other pack, I'm not sure how well those work and CCCP has yet to fail me (used it to playback h264 on my 3200+ fine with 720p content)

. If you don't like it you can always remove it

.

If you want to play bluray you will need a blu ray disc reader, however I assume you mean MKV's and the likes. As for multitasking and whatnot, you realise this machine isn;t the latest greatest and it will never be. If you want a 'real' server you will need to buy new hardware, if you just want to have a download, multimedia box and file server this should do probably. Ram: I'm not sure about but using 7 on 1 gig ram, it isn't that nice (works, I used it a while, but it is slightly cramped) better switch back to XP (cheaper then adding ram

). For 1080p you probably will need a new video card (with UBD/purevideo) same for even outputting full HD, but only testing will tell you that.

All in all remember that any money you put in the machine might be spent in better ways

.