[ChorusOfOne]

Well, actually, I was questioning the speed. For example I have 4 GB of DDR2, PC5400 (667 MHz). What tells you the speed of it is the "PCxx00" numbers; PC6400 runs at 800 MHz, and so on.

Understand that even though Hellgate might be working, it's hard to compare one game to another simply because it depends on a number of different variables in how the game's engine manages system resources. Hellgate might work, but The Witcher could very well cause you problems.

All I can really think to tell you is give it a shot. If the performance is rough, you may have to do some hardware upgrading; this, of course, is totally your call to make, but like Slicer77 said, your machine should be able to handle it on minimum settings.

EDIT: Just make sure you have the latest patch installed for The Witcher as well. You'll save yourself some headaches... :P

EDIT AGAIN: Oh, and the Vista hotfix that adresses memory management issues in Vista. You can find all of this at the "Registration & Patch" page from the main page.

[GraveOrchid]

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Well, actually, I was questioning the speed. For example I have 4 GB of DDR2, PC5400 (667 MHz). What tells you the speed of it is the "PCxx00" numbers; PC6400 runs at 800 MHz, and so on.

Understand that even though Hellgate might be working, it's hard to compare one game to another simply because it depends on a number of different variables in how the game's engine manages system resources. Hellgate might work, but The Witcher could very well cause you problems.

All I can really think to tell you is give it a shot. If the performance is rough, you may have to do some hardware upgrading; this, of course, is totally your call to make, but like Slicer77 said, your machine should be able to handle it on minimum settings.

EDIT: Just make sure you have the latest patch installed for The Witcher as well. You'll save yourself some headaches... :P

EDIT AGAIN: Oh, and the Vista hotfix that adresses memory management issues in Vista. You can find all of this at the "Registration & Patch" page from the main page.

Thanks for the help.

If I bought a ram stick and got it installed, that'd help a lot would it not?

[ChorusOfOne]

I'm sure it would. You'll probably see some performance improvement with other apps on your system as well.

[GraveOrchid]

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I'm sure it would. You'll probably see some performance improvement with other apps on your system as well.

I'll probably highly consider doing that as Best Buy currently has a sale to get a $100.00 1 GB ram stick for $30.00

[ChorusOfOne]

Yeah, you know, after re-reading your system specs, you should definitely have 2 GB just for Vista alone.

Also, if you can get a good deal @ Best Buy, more power to you, but I would highly recommend trying New Egg or Tiger Direct online. You'll get much better pricing on higher quality RAM, and you might even be able to get more RAM for the same price. Just be sure that you are getting the right speed; DDR RAM tends to be a little picky about mixing and matching modules with different speeds, methinks...

EDIT: The max RAM bus speed that your system can handle is pretty much dictated by the motherboard in your machine. In other words, if the fastest your machine's motherboard can run is PC5400 @ 667 MHz, if you try to put RAM in there that is faster than that, it may cause some issues for you.

[GraveOrchid]

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Yeah, you know, after re-reading your system specs, you should definitely have 2 GB just for Vista alone.

Also, if you can get a good deal @ Best Buy, more power to you, but I would highly recommend trying New Egg or Tiger Direct online. You'll get much better pricing on higher quality RAM, and you might even be able to get more RAM for the same price. Just be sure that you are getting the right speed; DDR RAM tends to be a little picky about mixing and matching module speeds, methinks...

EDIT: The max RAM bus speed that your system can handle is pretty much dictated by the motherboard in your machine. In other words, if the fastest your machine's motherboard can run is PC5400 @ 667 MHz, if you try to put RAM in there that is faster than that, it may cause some issues for you.

Thanks for the websites. I'll look into them.

And bloody hell, computers really fry my brain sometimes. So much to them and they're so I don't know, tedious to deal with sometimes.  :dead:

[ChorusOfOne]

HAHA, yeah, but once you learn them, it kinda like the old "riding a bike" analogy...  ;D

[GraveOrchid]

All right, so I began surfing New Egg as suggested and came across this: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231098


Any opinions? Seems good to me, but I am almost synonymous to a computer illiterate.

[Slicer77]

Holy crap. $46.99? Why are they only $46.99, is the question id be asking. But still, that is one hell of a deal.

[ChorusOfOne]

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Holy crap. $46.99? Why are they only $46.99, is the question id be asking. But still, that is one hell of a deal.

You see, that's the beauty of New Egg. This sounds about right. I just picked up 4 GB of OCZ Gold PC5400 667 MHz through them for around $110. Can't beat it...

I purchased two of these: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227078

This is really good RAM too. I used the same stuff, 4 x 512 MB previously with XP, but when I made the move to Vista and wanted to go with 4 GB, I picked up two of these. It never disappoints.

GraveOrchid, That RAM you have there is 800 MHz. Make sure your motherboard is compatible with that. You want to make sure of that; I've read a lot of reviews stating that a lot of the DDR2 800 MHz has also been a bit picky about which motherboards it will work in... By the way, do you have any idea what motherboard you have in your machine? If I knew the manufacturer and model, I'd probably be able to help you more on this, but right now I'm kinda "feeling around in the dark," so to speak.

But by all means, if your board is compatible with it, go for it. I've been thinking about moving on to 800 MHz RAM myself, but don't really want to put out another $100 or so considering that I just recently dropped my dimes on the 4 GB of 667 MHz.

EDIT: Another thing to look at here is that you are looking at a matched pair of dual-channel memory. This stuff is paired and tested for optimal performance by the manufacturer before shipping in order to get the most out of a motherboard that supports Intel's dual-channel technology. Now, don't get me wrong, even if your board doesn't support dual-channel, it should still work, but I just wanted to point that out...

[Slicer77]

Actually, there is a way Newegg can tell you. I did it once, i gave them my computer model, and then got a page of the RAM that would work with my computer.

[ChorusOfOne]

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Actually, there is a way Newegg can tell you. I did it once, i gave them my computer model, and then got a page of the RAM that would work with my computer.

Perhaps they have some sort of web-based "system detector" or something. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen utilities like that...

[Coelocanth]

The dual channel memory will still work even if your mobo doesn't support dual channel. That GSkill memory should be decent.I've seen a lot of people reporting good things about it on some overclocking websites. The biggest thing to be concerned with, as noted previously, is whether or not your mobo will accept it. Some motherboards are very picky about the RAM they'll use.

And if anyone's thinking of upgrading their DDR2 RAM, just look around for some deals. It's extremely cheap right now. After rebate, I ended up getting my Mushkin HP PC2 6400 (DDR2 800) RAM kit (2 x 1GB) for 39 bucks. It's awesome RAM from my experience.

[GraveOrchid]

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Holy crap. $46.99? Why are they only $46.99, is the question id be asking. But still, that is one hell of a deal.

You see, that's the beauty of New Egg. This sounds about right. I just picked up 4 GB of OCZ Gold PC5400 667 MHz through them for around $110. Can't beat it...

I purchased two of these: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227078

This is really good RAM too. I used the same stuff, 4 x 512 MB previously with XP, but when I made the move to Vista and wanted to go with 4 GB, I picked up two of these. It never disappoints.

GraveOrchid, That RAM you have there is 800 MHz. Make sure your motherboard is compatible with that. You want to make sure of that; I've read a lot of reviews stating that a lot of the DDR2 800 MHz has also been a bit picky about which motherboards it will work in... By the way, do you have any idea what motherboard you have in your machine? If I knew the manufacturer and model, I'd probably be able to help you more on this, but right now I'm kinda "feeling around in the dark," so to speak.

But by all means, if your board is compatible with it, go for it. I've been thinking about moving on to 800 MHz RAM myself, but don't really want to put out another $100 or so considering that I just recently dropped my dimes on the 4 GB of 667 MHz.

EDIT: Another thing to look at here is that you are looking at a matched pair of dual-channel memory. This stuff is paired and tested for optimal performance by the manufacturer before shipping in order to get the most out of a motherboard that supports Intel's dual-channel technology. Now, don't get me wrong, even if your board doesn't support dual-channel, it should still work, but I just wanted to point that out...

I don't know the model of the motherboard but I do know my computer is a Gateway GT5404 Personal Computer. I hope that can help in some way.

EDIT: I did some research on my model and found that according to the site it uses an Intel D945GCL motherboard and from a review on Tigerdirect the reviewer stated thus, "Downside is, 2 GIG of memory is the maximum the motherboard can support and the memory speed is limited to 667MHz."

So I could only add 1 GB of ram and nothing more, correct?

[ChorusOfOne]

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I don't know the model of the motherboard but I do know my computer is a Gateway GT5404 Personal Computer. I hope that can help in some way.

OK, now we're getting somewhere... According to Gateway specs, this board comes installed with 1 GB of 533 MHz (PC4200) dual channel DIMMs, with a max capacity of 2 GB. See link: http://support.gatew...009371sp3.shtml

See that? Good thing you didn't go buying that 800 MHz RAM you were looking at before. That would have been an RMA waiting to happen...  ;)

Here, check this out, since you were looking @ G.Skill memory before - this is what you need: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231041

Understand that you have 1 GB already, and the board isn't capable of addressing more than 2 GB, so you can only put an additional 1 GB in at this point. Those sticks of memory should do you good.

EDIT: If you want to go with 667 MHz, you'll have to not only add two 512 MB sticks, but you'll also have to replace what you have in there already. Don't mix and match speeds on the memory; this can cause instability with the system, and the benefits of the dual-channel technology will also become irrelevant.

[ChorusOfOne]

In addition to above, by the sounds of it, your board has 4 RAM slots total, but they are paired in dual channels, so it breaks down like this:

                   Slot 0
Channel A
                   Slot 1

                   Slot 0
Channel B
                   Slot 1

When you pair the dual channel DIMMs, you take one pair and put one stick in channel A slot 0, and the other stick in channel B slot 0. When you get your additional set, pair them into slot 1 on both channel A & B. Know what I mean?

Sorry for the silly diagram, but that was the easiest way I could think to explain it to you...  :-\

[GraveOrchid]

I REALLY appreciate all the help I have received. It has been highly appreciated. Once again I thank you.


EDIT: Oh, is the installation process rudimentary enough say for me to install it myself by searching for a guide on the internet?

[ChorusOfOne]

Yeah, those memory sticks plug right into physical slots on the board, and these slots have clips on the ends. Just make sure they're seated good in the slot and the clips click into place, and you should be good to go. Also, it's very important that when you are handling computer components, that you do it in an environment that has as little static electricity as possible. One good zap of static on a component on your motherboard can cook the whole thing. Just make sure you're grounded good, to be safe.

[GraveOrchid]

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Yeah, those memory sticks plug right into physical slots on the board, and these slots have clips on the ends. Just make sure they're seated good in the slot and the clips click into place, and you should be good to go. Also, it's very important that when you are handling computer components, that you do it in an environment that has as little static electricity as possible. One good zap of static on a component on your motherboard can cook the whole thing. Just make sure you're grounded good, to be safe.

All right, great. Thanks again.

[Coelocanth]

GraveOrchid, check out this little video from youtube on upgrading your memory. Shows you exactly how to do it:

Installing Memory.