Confused: Which slots to add my new dual memory.

There is no manual available for the ms-7778 jasmine motherboard. Nor is there a CD that came with my computer. Do computer companies still provide a CD, I though that was long gone? HP provides support and even addresses memory upgrade fro my model on this page: h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph0388ms-7778 jasmine motherboard6&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=5365429#N181. But it does not say which slots. The computer only has 4 slots which are 2 blue and 2 black. (DIMM1 and DIMM3 are blue slots and DIMM2 and DIMM4 are black slots. The 8GB stick from factory was placed in the last black slot (DIMM4).

So the recommended suggestion is to put both of my memory sticks in black slots. Since the existing memory from factory was already in black (DIMM2 open slot, and replace the factory memory in slot DIMM4)?

Thank you tradesman. I appreciate your time and help!

Yeah my color coding was wrong. The initial memory stick was in slot DIMM4 but that was a blue slot. So slots DIMM 2 & DIMM 4 were blue and the correct slots. Everything would have worked fine if 1 of the 2 matching memory sticks would not have been bad.

My computer would start and kept crashing with memory errors. I ran a windows diagnostic memory test which said the memory hardware was bad. Then I tried just about all combinations. One new stick worked just fine (even with my existing memory although they were not matching) in both blue slots, and by itself just fine (like my initial memory) but anytime the bad stick was put in: Crash.

I would have thought PNY would have tested these at the factory they are supposedly paired. But the computer did start up and run for a few minutes before crashing each time. So perhaps they just did not test enough.

Going to take back and replace because when both sticks were in, the computer had blazing speed! I mean it shut down in restarted in what seemed like a second or at the most a few very quick seconds, was awesome. For those who are wondering if a dual channel 2 X 8 GB sticks (16GB total) makes a difference in speed over 1 X 8MB stick (8GB Total), the answer is yes, a significant difference. Now just got to get these replaced.

OK here is what I found. First the computer already had 1 8GB stick, so I bought a full matching set for even pairing (as proposed by many forums). My thought was to sell the original 8GB stick to recoup some of my loss.

The first set of PNY sticks had one bad out of 2. I know because the computer worked fine with 1 of the sticks and 1 of the sticks plus my old memory. Even in a few different slot locations. But the other 1 of the 2 sticks always crashed. I ran a windows memory test and the test confirmed this 1 stick was bad, and the other was fine. I did not spend $150 to get 1 out of 2 sticks to work properly, so I took them back. The whole reason was for a matching set.

I re-ordered the same PNY sticks from Best Buy again. After a week or so waiting to be mailed and re-installing again, this time there was at least 1 bad stick again (I think both were bad this time). The reason I am not sure, the computer crashed quickly each time and the memory test flagged both sticks as being bad. I did not move them around the 4 open ports because when I put each one in alone they came back as bad on my tests. And yes these specificaions matched my recommendations from HP (DDR3 Desktop 1600, 240 PIN) so either my motherboard did not like this PNY XLR brand, or they were as my reports showed defective. Leads me to wonder how they test these at factory for pairing if they are showing as bad on my computer.

I put my old 8GB HP factory stick in the original slot and this time just bought 1 8GB Kingston Hyper X blue to see what happens. Put it in the matching blue port. Whala... they play perfectly and no computer errors. The computer is blazing fast even with my many Adobe programs open it seems as if the disk bogs down before the quad core processor and I have yet to getting near maxing out the memory. My Adobe programs open very quickly now.

So I was willing to go with a $150 matched pair when I already had half of the equation because everyone says to match. But after 2 bouts with PNY to try and get a match, and what was either defective or did not play properly with my computer, I ended up spending $65 for 8GB stick of Kingston Hyper X blue and all is well. Running it in the same colored port for dual channel. Very happy and glad I saved the money trying to buy something I did not need.

In the future I will just try and add 1 stick of the same size. Not interested in blowing money to get matching pair that may or may not work. At least that is my experience with this setup and the brand I chose originally. And for me in the future of memory forget PNY I am going Kingston in the future. Just my experience.