Posted on 05/02/2011 8:30:56 PM PDT by freejohn
This pc, a Vista 64BIT media player has these types of memory modules DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 (non-ECC) .. at least that is what Crucial tells me.
I want to add memory and I have my old XP vista media player 32BIT pc sitting around with 533 MHz (PC4200) DDR2 memory.
Question .. Can I use the memory from my old XP in my newer Vista?
Thanks all you Guru types!
The old computer must have PC2 (DDR-2) type memory to be usable in this case.
Sorry
My old pc is XP not Vista XP!
Oops ... my bad. If the old computer has PC2 memory, yeas it will work, but it will slow down all the memory to the lowest common denominator.
Both old and new pc’s have DDR2 .. just different numbers.
Ex: 5200 vs 6400
The operating system makes no difference (XP, Vista, 7)
If you have an open slot, put it in and try it. Then you will know.
I have 4 GIGS in my newer Vista and it kills me that the old pc has all that unused memory just laying around!
I just don’t know what MHz THIS pc’s memory is?
I’ve heard that some folks have burnt their boards out doing that!?
If the motherboard supports the lower memory speed, it will work, but it will run all of your memory at the lower speed.
From my experience, I don’t think you can!
On my old, old computer I wanted to upgrade the memory. I had (2) 128 ram in them and I had 2 additional slots. I wanted to add (2) 256 ram which added to the (2) 128’s that I had and I figured it would give me more ram.
I was told that if I added the (2) 256’s, the computer would only use those and disregard the 128’s completely. I ended up buying (2) 512 and just took the old 128’s out.
I’m pretty sure that the DDR2 are the same.
Just what I’m thinking???
Assuming they are all DDR2, they can be used together, but only at the slowest memory speed.
You’ll almost certainly have to go into the bios and set the memory speed to match the slowest set of memory. If you use automatic settings, the computer will give you an error message and fail to boot.
Newer RAM typically takes less voltage. If you put in compatible older RAM the most likely scenario would be that it does not work right because the mother board is not supplying enough voltage (which you could adjust in the BIOS, but you don’t sound like you would be comfortable with that).
As long as the RAM stick are the correct configuration (ie. PC2, you will know if they are just DDR as they will not fit in the slots) you should not have problems.
If you give us the computer model (assuming you did not build it yourself) we can give you exact specifications.
If you did build it then we would need the motherboard manufacturer and the model.
www.microcenter.com is having sales on PC2-5300 >> $18 for 1GB modules
Yes, it does. How much? It depends.
The old memory is slower. Your new computer will have to slow down its memory access to use it. There's nothing you have to do: the hardware will adjust automatically.
The question is what it will do to the other memory already in your new computer. The hardware may be unable to handle the differing memory speeds, and will simply slow down all the memory accesses. The existing memory in the new computer will run at the same speed as the older memory.
Another question: do you have available memory slots in your new PC? If you don't, the older memory won't help you. You can't put it in.
But, if you have additional slots, you will want TWO additional slots, not one. That's because most desktop computers generally use memory in pairs. You can put only one DIMM in a pair of slots, but that slows things down, too... because the hardware alternates between the two DIMMs in a pair to increase performance.
So, let's assume that you can put the old memory in the new computer. Will it help? It depends on whether your computer was constrained on memory already. If it is less than 1 GB, it probably can benefit from more.
What you don't know: will the additional memory make up for the slower memory? Again, it depends. You may not even notice the difference in memory speed. But, if your system is already constrained in the amount of RAM, you will definitely notice an improvement.
How much memory do you have in the old PC?
4G is enough for almost anyone. Your application has to be really memory intensive to exhaust that, or you have to be running a lot of applications at one time.
OK
Found out .. The memory modules on THIS pc are: DDR2 PC2-6400 • CL=6 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • 1.8V • 256Meg x 64
Does that 256MEG being different than the old 533MHZ matter?
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