Solved: Correct RAM for Sempron?! What?! Where?!

Hello.

I would like to give my older PC a little boost.

Having recently put in a slightly better AGP graphics card and DVD-Writer, I would like to bump the RAM from 1GB to 2GB.

As it is an older PC, I doubt there is much more that I could do with it. The problem is that I last bumped the RAM, from 512MB to 1GB, a while back. When I did, I just asked for "RAM" and what I bought was from the PC builder and worked. I didn't really note what it was.

Fortunately, from having to solve issues surrounding my earlier upgrades, I installed Everest. What an amazing bit of software, eh?


MOTHERBOARD:

CPU Type Unknown, 2000 MHz (12 x 167) 2800+
Motherboard Name ASRock K7VT4A+ (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8377A Apollo KT400A
System Memory 1024 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (06/25/04)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

I am not sure why it says CPU type unknown, when I know that it's a Sempron, but there you go.


QUESTIONS:

DDR2 RAM is, I expect, too much for me. What is the difference between RAM and SDRAM and does the upgrade need to be SDRAM also? Must it be PC2700 or can it be PC[bigger number]?

I thought that I might look at ebay for RAM.

My first search was:
corsair ram
Thinking that I couldn't have the whizzbang DDR2 and DDR3, I refined that search to:
corsair ram -ddr2 -ddr3

As you know what I am dealing with, which would you say is the best RAM that I could get, without overdoing matters, in my desire to boost to 2GB?

As I am located in the UK, what would be my best ebay search or, where would be my best source of RAM and (if not ebay), what should I ask for?


Thanks!

 

You need 184-pin DDR SDRAM, not DDR2 nor DDR3. SDRAM is synchronous, meaning it is synchronized with the systems clock. Older DRAM ran at its own speed. You can use PC2700 or PC3200. If you add a PC3200 stick to what you have now, it will only run at PC2700 speed. I don't know how being in the UK affects things, but you can get what your looking for from Crucial or many other vendors online.

 

Two of these will be the fastest, and sure to be compatible with your motherboard: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=6467C942A5CA7304

Of course, you can try your luck with this kit: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Corsair-2-1GB...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

This one can certainly be marked "Solved". Thanks, both. I think you must have almost posted at the same time.

In any case...

juju68: Thanks for the explanation. I am much more of a software than hardware person and it was helpful.

BG-0: Thanks for the crucial and e-bay links. Crucial picked up that I was in the UK and so diverted me to the "pounds" version of its site.

I reckon that I will watch that e-bay auction. If it stays low and doesn't approach the Crucial prices, I'll bid. Otherwise, I will certainly go Crucial. I have bookmarked their site, in any case.