HELP! I need a crash course in RAM

Hell all,

I'm upgrading the ram in my Comaq Presario V2000 AMD Turon-34. It's been ages sence I've been inside a computer.

The stick in my notebook says 256MB DDR 333Mhz SDRAM. I'm looking for ram at Newegg.com and they sell SO-DIMM. Whats the diference between SO-DIMM and SDRAM? or does the "SD" stand for so-dimm? Whats the deal?

Thank you, any help is apreciated.

 

I believe they mean the same thing. Wait for others to reply first since I don't have a turion processor.
Tim

 

Sodimm is the type of ram used for notebooks and laptops. It is different from desktop ram in both number of pins and size. Sodimm being physically smaller. Basically notebook ram and desktop ram are not interchangable. SDRAM is an old type of ram used mostly with P2 and P3 systems and some early P4s. SDRAM is not compatible with your system.

For your Turion, you will need SODIMM DDR 333 or DDR 400 also called PC2700and PC3200 respectively. Take note that your Turion will not work with DDR2. If you do get the 400mhz ram and keep your current 256 mb ddr 333 ram, it should work but your new ram will down clock to 333. So it might be a better idea to dispose of your 333 if you decide to buy 400 mhz.

Most people belive that 1GB of ram is the sweet spot. If you can, try to get a single stick of 1GB. This way you have space for future upgrades. Some good brands are: Crucial, Kingston, OCZ and Infineon. 2nd tier would be Transcend, PQI, Apacer, Samsung ...

If you need more information, try going to crucial.com you can use the website to select the correct ram you need.

 

Yep. SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic RAM. SODIMM is Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module. The SODIMM is different than a DIMM, being that it's a smaller form factor, specifically designed for laptops.

SDRAM is an is a term indicating that the memory is "synchronized" with the clock speed of the processor(and bus now). That means it'll operate under different speeds with different setups...as opposed to older types of RAM that had set speeds to work within. It of course still has limits to what it's top speed is(hence the different speed options you see now), but has to do with it's ability to run at much higher clocks than older formats.

SODIMM's are technically SDRAM. But SDRAM is just a general description...not necessarily really defining a chip's configuration. It was popular to do so though, when it first came out.

 

Thank you guys. That cleared alot up for me. I'm thinking of getting either

Patriot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220136

OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227105

or

Gigaram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820221205

Gigaram is the cheapest, but i could get Kinston value ram for 10 bucks more. Anyone have problems with these brands?

Also I what would you chose 1.25 GB of 333mhz ram or 1 GB of 400mhz ram? Remeber I have a X200 vid card which shares 128MB of ram (and ofcourse windows sucking some up)

 

Of the 3, OCZ is the best known brand and they tend to be more recommended rather than Gigaram or Patriot. If you can check out Corsair and Crucial as well. They tend to be higher priced but are pretty reliable.

More RAM is better, the difference between DDR333 and DDR400 is quite minimal.

 

Yeah thats what I was leaning twoards. Thanks again for eveyones help.