What Kind of Memory Does My Computer Have Installed?
If you are looking to upgrade the memory in your computer, you are probably wondering how many open slots you have, what type of memory is already installed, and what you need to buy for an upgrade… without having to open your computer.
Since you shouldn't have to open up the computer just to figure out what you have installed, here's a couple of options for detecting the type of memory already installed in your system.
Using System Information for Windows
This very useful free application should be a standard in any geek's toolkit. It comes bundled as a single file, no installation required.
Once you open it up, navigate to Hardware and then Memory on the left-hand pane, and you'll see what type of memory is already installed in your computer. Looks like my system supports 4GB of memory, and I have two 1GB DDR2 modules already installed and running at 533Mhz. It also lets me know that I need the SODIMM form factor memory, since this is a laptop and all.
Using this information, I should be able to find the correct memory upgrade, which in this case would be two 2GB DDR2 533mhz modules if I wanted to upgrade to 4GB of memory.
The only question is whether I can install faster memory than the memory already installed, which leads us into our next option.
Download System Information for Windows
Using the Crucial Memory Advisor
Memory manufacturer Crucial has put together an amazing website, combined with an optional system scanner tool that will detect the memory already installed in your computer the same way System Information for Windows does… It's just not as geeky.
On their homepage, there's the two options… if you've already figured out the memory you have installed, you can use the drop-down menus on the right to select your system.
They will give you some great information about what your computer can support, along with a list of questions and answers. Turns out I can upgrade to faster PC2-5300 memory if I wanted…
If you chose the system scanner route, you'll be redirected to a web page showing you the current memory configuration, and what they recommend for upgrading, although they seem to give you less information on this screen.
I'm not sure that you necessarily want to buy memory from Crucial directly since you could probably get a better price elsewhere, but their memory advisor is extremely useful to figure out what you need.
Other Options
- You can look up the specs for your system to figure out what memory types your computer takes. I usually google for "modelnumber specs", for instance I'd type in "nc8430 specs".
- You can use some of the other memory advisors, like Kingston or PNY, but their sites are a bit less useful.
- Pull out the manual for your computer or motherboard, and take a look at your receipts to figure out what you bought last time.
- If you built a computer with parts from Newegg, you can look at your order history to re-order the exact same memory module if you know you have empty slots. (This is exactly the route I chose last month)
- If you are running Mac OS X, you can just look under your "About this Mac" and then click on More Info.
Upgrading the memory in your computer is the fastest way to better performance in Windows Vista. I'd recommend 2GB of RAM for Vista, but don't bother going over 3GB if you are using 32-bit Vista or XP because Windows won't be able to use all of it.
SIW's memory data is not always 100% accurate. On my computer, it tells me I have 2 slots. I know for fact that I have 4.
On linux you can just run (as root from a terminal) dmidecode for all of your hardware specs. AFAIK dmidecode is on literally every *nix machine I've touched. It'll give you a huge list of crap, if you want to save the output just type "dmidecode > output.txt" replacing output.txt with whatever file name you want. If you just want memory speed to show up in the terminal just grep the output (something like "dmidecode|grep "Current Speed" and your CPU and RAM speeds should show up).
Thanks for this post. I always have trouble figuring out what RAM to buy. I normally open the box, take out the old stuff, take it to the store and say, "I'd like more of this please." Thanks!
umm… could you edit your article to put the url of the that one website?
The url of what site?
Well, i don't think im an idiot (maybe i am) But i know see it (the url for the web version of "Crucial memory adviser." I think it's just the long days.
I just found out that the calculator in windows will tell you how much ram you have. Click Start>Programs>Accessories>Calculator. Then click help>about, and at the bottom of the dialog it will say how much ram you have. Probably the fastest way to check it in windows
thanks for the info on LInux jambarama. forgot that one. Funny not even on my windoze machine would I run IE.
Cart
@Ihoss there are several quicker ways to see how much memory is installed. Here's a couple
WinKey+Break
OR
right click "My Computer" and choose properties
Hi. Crucial's tool is pretty good, but unfortunately for anyone running any browser besides IE, it won't work. I work for another memory company, 4allmemory.com, and like a few other memory companies, we also have a memory advisor tool that does the exact same thing, and also works on FF. Not to mention we generally have better prices.
@Andrew:
Crucial's website works perfectly in Firefox, and is far superior to any other site out there.
They also have an automated detection tool which you can download and run, doesn't even require restarting your browser or installing a plugin into Firefox, which is probably a bad idea.
@ The Geek:
Crucial's website works fine in Firefox, but not the scanning tool. If you try to run it in FF it tells you to download an external .exe file which you can then run locally which then sends you to the appropriate page on their site. The point I was trying to make with my comment was simply to point out that Crucial doesn't have the monopoly on this kind of technology and there are several sites out there that can offer the same thing.
Secondly, our tool (and many other similar tools out there) do not require restarting the browser, and while it does install a plugin into FF, it does not save it and uninstalls itself immediately afterwards.
I had actually mentioned in my article that there are other similar sites, I just found the crucial site the most user friendly, which is why I wrote about it.
I was unable to get the browser tool from your site to work under firefox, I'm assuming because I don't run Firefox as administrator. Here's the error I'm getting:
"Firefox could not install the file at http://w4s2.work4sure.com/c/ge/w4sgeen9.xpi because unexpected installation error"
I've got no personal preference for Crucial, I buy wherever gives me the best deal.
Fair enough. You're probably right about the admin issue with FF and our scanner. I'll see if I can get the development team to look into it.
Very useful. But now I know what memory to buy, how do I install it?
Brandon.. what are you saying about this WinKey+Break?? i don't really understand what you're saying.. can you like.. explain it more easily?? and you know about the finding your like, computer number to find out the information about your computer? what if it doesn't tell you no nothing…
What Brandon means is..use the combination of 2 keys, press and hold windows key (next to ctrl key) and press the 'Pause key' you would get the system properties box with memory info.
ok… i installed the SIW or something… it's awsome… i actually got informations i needed… Also.. it was very helpful because i couldn't get in to my bro's computer because it was one of those small computers…i had to know what type of memory he had.. but this SIW really helped out.. he had DDR2 something…. Thanks.. oh yea.. by the way.. can you guys help me out with some type of game? i know it's a bit off topic but.. it would be awsome if this site can disscuss about games..
SIW gives great info, very helpful!
SIW properly identifies size of installed RAM, # slots used and available, max size of ram for my MB… but doesn't tell me speed of my current memory. (Just tells me DDR, synchronous DRAM)
Crucial website tells me speeds and sizes compatible with my MB, but not speed of what I have installed already.
I'll boot Knoppix and try dmidecode, I guess?
This is free and simple to use, look it up. Their site will give you a key to make it run for free.
Emsaflex info pro
It is as detailed as can be.
Ciao,
Miguel
Great info. RAM is the best way to speed up your PC for sure but make sure you also do a reg scan and spyware scan to make sure your system's optimal. Even with the extra ram, these things will eventually kill your performance again.
crucial scanner does not work on my 64bit vista premium….the beta for crucial scanner 64 bit just bsod me