system scanner
 

Guys you know of any small utils that will scan my system and tell me what stuff is in my PC eg RAM type etc.

I have 512MB of RAM currently and am due to receive 2 x 1GB 400 Mhz PC3200 RAM and want to check that the RAM currently in my machine is compatible eg not slower.

I know it is best to have matched pairs and the 2 x 256MB sticks obviously are but if they are 333Mhz RAM then I am assuming I have to ditch those two and put in only the 1GB sticks.

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz_144.zip

That's a great wee program ;)

Or there is this one.........

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Here is one more for the mix

http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/index.aspx

Crucial gives me the wrong result which is why i ended up with the wrong ram last time.

OK next question can you mix 200Mhz RAM and 400Mhz Ram?

No. It is not adviseable. X, do you have your manual that came with your comp or motherboard? If so, it should specify what type and speed RAM is suitable for your system. You need to consider both because using the correct speed with wrong type usually won't work. For instance, some MBs use ECC while other require non-ECC RAM... There's also parity and non-parity types of RAM.... and to make matter more complicated DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM types... Here's a nice little page to explain the diffs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR_SDRAM

And yes, you definately want to get "matched" sticks...

Last thing: you should be sure that your MB RAM slots will work with 1GB sticks, some won't and will limit you to 512M each.

Like DeepIron says, not advisable....but....they will work together but the faster will downclock to the slower, so you're gaining nothing. You might aswell get a matched pair if you can afford it.

My Mobo can take up to 400 Mhz DDR SDRAM so that isn't a problem, Just checked what is under the hood at the moment and will have to remove it as it is only 200 Mhz.

No worries, 2GB is better thant half a gig.

Well, there ya go then. No worries! You mobo BIOS should detect the new RAM automatically and adjust the bus speed accordingly.