Which RAM can I use?

[f3tus]

So... I'm not really a hardware guru or something... Anyway, I have this rather old PC and I want to make some use out of it.
Its motherboard is a GIgabyte GA-8IPE1000 Pro2. The FSB is 800MHz and it can accept 4GB of DDR2-400 RAM (unless Dual Channel is something else?). It already has 512MB of RAM, and I want to buy an additional 2GB. Now... DDR2-400 is supposed to work at 200MHz, but everywhere they sell them it says 400MHz - why is that? If I buy 2GB of DDR2, can I leave this 512 stick inside so the total will be 2560? I don't know the specifications of the 512 stick because I'm running Linux and lshw doesn't list the memory info for some reason - maybe CPU-Z will show when I try Windows later. I guess if they're not the same type (DDR, DDR2) or have the same clock, it wouldn't work? What about if they're the same type and have the same clock, but one is a 2GB stick and the other a 512MB? Also, DDR2-800 wouldn't work either, because my motherboard doesn't support it, right? Thank you!

Edit:
Here is the CPU-Z output



So I guess it's a DDR-333 (160MHz)?

 

[g-paw]

You can't run DDR2 on that mobo so just get the DDR400. Some mfg have a set up on there site where you put in the mfg and model of the mobo and it'll show you list of RAM that will work. Crucial has this and I Kingston as well

 

[f3tus]

Oh, I thought dual channel meant DDR2, now I know it's something else.
So, if I buy 2GB DDR400, I could keep the current 512 as well? And what's MFG?

 

[g-paw]

I wouldn't use the 512MB. 2GB should be enough, that's an older machine and you can only get so much out of it and it may not handle anything over 2GB. DDR2 RAM is newer and faster then DDR but it's also physically larger and won't fit into you mobo. mfg is manufacture

 

[JDE024]

I have a similar mobo GA-8IPE-1000-G. It has 4 slots for ddr 400 ram, two came with the pc (512's)

For the second time, I've tried to upgrade adding to more sticks of 3200 ddr 400 to the system and at first the system seems to be fine. After a few hours, I get a fatal error message asking me to remove any new hardware I've installed.

I'm about 99% positive the ram is ok (since this is the 2nd time its happened with different brands) Is it possible it can't handle 4 full sticks, even though the motherboard is built for them as g-paw suggested?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

 

[g-paw]

I have a similar mobo GA-8IPE-1000-G. It has 4 slots for ddr 400 ram, two came with the pc (512's)

For the second time, I've tried to upgrade adding to more sticks of 3200 ddr 400 to the system and at first the system seems to be fine. After a few hours, I get a fatal error message asking me to remove any new hardware I've installed.

I'm about 99% positive the ram is ok (since this is the 2nd time its happened with different brands) Is it possible it can't handle 4 full sticks, even though the motherboard is built for them as g-paw suggested?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Check the manual and see the maximum number of GB the mobo can handle, I'm guessing 2GB but double check. It's possible one of the slots is bad or you're having a heating problem. When upgrading a machine that old, I think it's best to use new RAM, i.e., 2 stick of 512MB for 1GB or 2sticks of 1GB for 2GB.

 

[JDE024]

4gb is the max allowed.

Anyhow, I removed the old ram(512's) and put the 1gb(each) pair in their place and things seem to be stable so far.

Is there a way to check for potential heat problems further? I have digital thermstat on CPU and they never read over 123 F. I would like to add another gig of ram, but don't want to risk it either.

 

[g-paw]

4gb is the max allowed.

Anyhow, I removed the old ram(512's) and put the 1gb(each) pair in their place and things seem to be stable so far.

Is there a way to check for potential heat problems further? I have digital thermstat on CPU and they never read over 123 F. I would like to add another gig of ram, but don't want to risk it either.

Don't know about Gigabyte but ASUS and MSI have programs that measure temps. If the machine is running fine with the new RAM, then the culprit was mixing in the old RAM so heat should be a problem with the thermostat isn't showing excesses temps. When I'm upgrading an older machine to give to one of my grandkids I usually just replace the RAM and hdd if the latter is the one that came with the computer or more than 4 years old. Look at older computers like older cars, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.