RAM Upgrade Questions

[famblycat]

Hello everyone. I was hoping you could help with a question I have.

First, here are my specs:

Motherboard: ASUS P5K SE
RAM: 2x1GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 (PN OCZ2P800R22GK)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
O/S: Win XP Pro SP3 32-bit

I'm looking to upgrade my RAM. It looks like I have 4 slots. My questions are:

1) What is the maximum I can put in there?
2) Can I add RAM alongside the ones I already have, or do I need to replace them?
3) What is the best kind of RAM to get for that motherboard?

Thanks in advance.

 

[treefrog07]

1) 8GBs, page 36 of the manual
2) a) Yes, if they match the RAM you already have. You may have to increase the northbridge voltage an increment or two (see manual).
b) You can, if you choose, see 3) below - use the QVL. If you do, look for PC 8500 RAM (1066MHz frequency) with the lowest latencies you can get.
3) your board's QVL is here

 

[famblycat]

Thanks, treefrog07.

The thing I'm still confused about is that it also says that for my O/S "a total memory of less than 3GB is recommended." So, if I put in, say, 4GB total, will it not work, or will it just ignore the extra memory it can't address?

Also, and forgive me for being a n00b about this, would moving to a 64-bit O/S be possible with my setup, or does that need different hardware to support it?

 

[treefrog07]

You're welcome. Windows comes in flavors x64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit). The XP, vista, and 7 32-bit systems can only see and use ~3.5GBs of total memory (RAM, CPU cache, and GPU). Their 64-bit versions can see and use much more, I can't remember how much more, but many GBs.

1) 32-bit Win will use what RAM it can, and ignore the rest - computer works!

2) Yes you could install a 64-bit version of Windows, and it would see and use all of your RAM.

If you have old 32-bit hardware, like printers or scanners, you may not be able to find 64-bit drivers - this was a big issue a couple of years ago, when vista launched.

 

[PLATTERMAN]

FYI only if you plan on viewing HD content your video card is the same one that came in my pc. Blu ray video or any 1080P video equivalent is borderline on that card. It does fine with 720P but after that it will push the 8500GT.