RAM on sight

[Kreon]

I have an old computer that I'm replacing the mobo in
I already have to replace the processor too becasue it's a better deal to.

I wanna avoid havign to buy new RAM when what I have works perfectly

How do I tell what kind of RAM it is just by looking at

It has something to do with the pins, but I don't know what (right??)
It was dark when I looked at it, but I couldn't see any markings (which I hope are on there)

Is there any way to tell what kind of RAM it is by looking at it?

Thanks all

 

[Matthias99]

You can tell what interface it uses by looking at it (it may be easier to look it up by the motherboard/model rather than trying to tell by looking at the module). If it's a very old system (pre-P3/Athlon), the RAM is probably not usable in any remotely new system. If it is more than a few years old, it is probably not usable in a very new system.

Speed is a little tougher... sometimes it is indicated on the modules themselves. But sometimes they don't say anything; if they are recent enough to use SPD, a motherboard that supports the RAM can read out its default speed when you plug it in.

 

[Kreon]

it's about 5 years old

It used a P3 processor

The mobo it has now is no longer made
If I look at a pic of the mobo I'm getting, adn hold the RAM up, are the differnces enough that I could tell if it was usuable?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Kreon
it's about 5 years old

It used a P3 processor

The mobo it has now is no longer made
If I look at a pic of the mobo I'm getting, adn hold the RAM up, are the differnces enough that I could tell if it was usuable?

If it was a P3 system, it may have used either SDRAM or DDR SDRAM (I think. It's been a while.)

If it's DDR RAM, you can use it in relatively new systems (but really new ones use DDR2, and they're not cross-compatible). If it's the 'old' SDRAM, it's basically unusable unless you want to build or upgrade a system on a very old motherboard.

Google the motherboard model (or the chipset if you know what it is, or the system model number if it was an OEM system) and you should be able to find what kind of RAM it took.

 

[Kreon]

Ya..
it's SD RAM

argh, more crap I gotta replace
Anybody know where I can get a 256 stick or 512 stick cheap (other than Newegg and tigerdirect)

 

[Roguestar]

zipzoomfly?