Advice needed

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
My current system is:

MB=Gigabyte GA-MA7890X-UD4P
PSU=OCZ600MXSP
CPU=AMD PH II X3 720 BK AM3 2.8G RT
RAM=OCZ2B1150LV4GK RTL
VIDEO=nVidia GeForce GTS 450

Storage:

2 x ST3750330AS Hardrives
1 Corsair Force GT ssd

I use PCLINUXOS as my main OS and then use Virtual Box to run Autocad in XP for my business.

Considering how this pc is used I started looking to upgrade my memory to 8 gig but quickly found out that this memory is no longer available. This pc is going on 5 years and the memory is pc2 and the sata controller is only 2.

So I come to my dilemma, is it worth it to add memory (I can add 4 more gig's)? I assume that a lower timing ram will work witth what I have (of course the cost is rather high).

Or should I consider changing out the motherboard, cpu and ram, keeping all else.

What do you think? Is my video card fast enough to work well with a new cpu? Since I don't do any gaming what setup would you consider? I've noticed that there are pricing for some combo kits, would these work?

Also should I stick with AMD? Or go with Intel? I've been considering getting an Intel setup with either i5 or i7 processor.

So please give me your thoughts and suggestions. :\

MCP
 

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
1
81
Check FS/FT forums and see if you can find a good price on some DDR2. From the sounds of it, your system is doing what you want, but just needs a bit more RAM.

Unless you want to spend several hundred on a complete overhaul.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,200
126
Maybe consider a Thuban to drop in, if you wanted to max out that platform. (Wait, you said you were on DDR2, does Thuban work with DDR2 too? I know prior AM3 quad-cores did.)
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
If FS/FT doesn't work out, you can pick up 4GB of DDR2 800 on ebay for $40 shipped. You'll have to downclock your OCZ to DDR2 800, but it should work fine otherwise.

That might be doable since I just discovered that I never bumped up the clock speed anyway and have been operating at 800 mHz all along. :eek:

Thanks,
MCP
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
Maybe consider a Thuban to drop in, if you wanted to max out that platform. (Wait, you said you were on DDR2, does Thuban work with DDR2 too? I know prior AM3 quad-cores did.)

What kind of improvement would this make? Are multiple cores faster? What software can take advantage of it? How would I find out if it is compatible with my motherboard? :\

Thanks,
MCP
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
Just saw and purchased this on ebay:

Corsair xms 4GB 2X2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 1066MHz 240-Pin NON ECC RAM CM2X2048-6400C5

Now please tell me that I didn't make a mistake and can use this with my current ram.:eek:

MCP
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
Got a problem. Installed the above listed RAM after blowing out all the dust. I had to remove the heat sink to install and then replaced it. When I hooked everything back up it sounded like it was starting up but The post never came up. So I shorted the pins to reset the CMOS and now the on switch does not power anything up. It is just dead.

So what do I do now?

MCP
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,570
10,200
126
Try putting just one stick of RAM in, and make sure that the heatsink is properly attached, and that you put new TIM (thermal interface material) on. (You need to do that every time that you change a CPU heatsink.)

If one stick of the old RAM works, then your system is generally good. Power off, unplug, and then install the new RAM. If that works, then power off, and install both the old and new RAM. If that doesn't work, then they may be incompatible. Either that, or your additional DIMM slot(s) are bad (or dusty).
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
Try putting just one stick of RAM in, and make sure that the heatsink is properly attached, and that you put new TIM (thermal interface material) on. (You need to do that every time that you change a CPU heatsink.)

If one stick of the old RAM works, then your system is generally good. Power off, unplug, and then install the new RAM. If that works, then power off, and install both the old and new RAM. If that doesn't work, then they may be incompatible. Either that, or your additional DIMM slot(s) are bad (or dusty).

Thanks for the suggestions. I took out my original ram and found that it still would not boot with the new ram. So I took it apart (yes I did put new TIM before reinserting the heatsink) and removed the new additional ram and put back what I had originally and everything worked as normal.

Since I didn't try to use the new ram in the other sockets I still don't know if it's the ram sticks or the sockets. :confused:

Well now I'm back to normal wishing I had more ram :\

MCP
 
Last edited:

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Maybe you could try POSTing with the new RAM, manually setting the speed in the BIOS to DDR2-800, powering down and then adding your old RAM?
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
Maybe you could try POSTing with the new RAM, manually setting the speed in the BIOS to DDR2-800, powering down and then adding your old RAM?

:thumbsup: If you'd manually dialed in a higher setting, it may not revert back to safe defaults.
 

mcpruitt

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2013
11
0
0
I had already thought of that. Which led me to try again after I had dialed it back down. But it seems my MB doesn't like change. I had to take out the CMOS battery a couple of times to clear it so it would even boot with the original ram. :confused:

I'm puzzled by all this since I thought it would just refuse to boot. I didn't think it would refuse to even post.

MCP