installing more ram into a not new computer

[napredator]

right now i have 6gb ram but i want more, and i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that if you try to install extra ram into a not new computer then the computer just craps itself and doesn't work. am i going to have to reformat my computer to scratch or is there something else i can do?

 

[pauls3743]

The issue with installing new RAM alongside old RAM centres around voltage, latency, capacity and its compatibility with the motherboard. It won't cause or require a reformat.

Voltage - if this is set incorrectly you could damage low voltage modules and/or cause instability of higher voltage modules.
Latency - this is the ability of the module to respond in a timely manner, if set too low the memory module will become unstable.
Capacity - newer modules are higher capacity and some older memory controllers may not recognise the full capacity of the module if it recognises it at all.

Any combination of these can lead to your computer failing to boot.

You can install new RAM in old systems but you really need it to match the existing RAM modules for voltage and latency as closely as possible and are within the limits of the documented maximum module size for your motherboard. Ideally, you want a set of matched modules to give your system the best chance of booting.

Among my PCs I have a gaming laptop, this has low latency modules in it. Originally it started with 2 modules and later I added another 2. I had a lot of trouble getting the 2nd pair of memory modules for my laptop as it wouldn't boot with the new modules because the latencies were out by a fraction. I finally got it to boot once I got my hands on another pair of the original modules with the exact same specification.

One last thing worthy of note is that even the Operating Systems have limitations e.g. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit has a limit of 16GB of RAM.