I don't know which RAM, or how much.

[ima_gnu]

I have spent a long time not paying attention to the evolution of computer hardware, and now that negligence has caught up to me. A year ago, a friend helped me upgrade my system, and due to an oversight by both of us, we ordered a motherboard with only 2 RAM slots. As I had 4x1GB sticks, he offered to trade me for 2x2GB that he had. The RAM he gave me was abysmal. I ran a memory test and discovered that one stick was almost apparently almost completely worthless, and the other was showing signs of...something. I don't know or remember what, because I didn't understand it. What I did understand was that I needed new RAM. I initially started by searching for the cheapest 1x2GB RAM I could find, and so far it has left me wanting.

What I am requesting here is a little guidance toward re-making my system into the moderately satisfying gaming rig I had before. While I do enjoy gaming, I am not a hard-core night owl needing the absolute best. I will settle for mediocrity.

Thank you in advance, and here are what I believe are the relevant system specs, according to CPUZ.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz

Please let me know if there are any other relevant pieces of information you need to formulate a recommendation for me.

Thanks again

PS: I put this topic in the Memory section because I am reasonably sure that is the defining problem. If I am wrong, I apologize for the mistake.

 

[C12Friedman]

Gigabyte is pretty specific on the ram that board will handle with the following statement "2 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory" found here (for rev 3.3)
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3477#sp
this was the only 4GB dual channel 1066MHz DDR2 ram I could find at 1.8v or less
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148249
Not cheap for sure, there may be other options if budget does not allow for that but they won't be too much cheaper.

 

[ima_gnu]

$70 for 4GB is actually a price I can work with!

Thank you very much for your help, like I said before, my knowledge is lacking, so I appreciate your help very much!

 

[ima_gnu]

Best answer selected by ima_gnu.