How to check broken parts

[daman]

Ok so about 2 years ago i biult my friend a computer and one day he got mad at his g/f and threw the computer, well the other day he brought me the video card ram and hhd out of what was left. i have an old computer i put the video card in and it started right up and works, now thats also not online so i didnt download any drivers but the display was working so i guess its fine.

the older comp is still running ddr ram and the sticks from his comp is ddr3 1600 2x2g sticks. So what i want to know is can i stick them in my comp i have with my ram at the same time will that be ok?

the ram from the computer he threw is.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

The ram in my computer is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278

Also about the HHD how can i check it? can i plug it into my computer and see whats on it? do i have to wipe it first? and how do i go about wiping it since i dont have an extra windows laying around?

 

[azeem40]

For the RAM, you will have to tell us what your motherboard is, because from the looks of it, DDR3 will not be compatible with your older system.

For the HDD, you would make sure that it is the first boot item in the BIOS, and see what messages you get after the POST.

 

[daman]

Ill put the ram into my newer computer the motherboard i have is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128476 and the ram i have is posted in the first post. I want to know if i can put all 4 sticks in at same time even tho there different timings?

Also if i was to remove my HDD and put the one in that maybe broken will that be ok? i just dont want it to mess up my computer if somthing is wrong with it, like could it fry my computer? I just want to see if the HDD still works if it does ill use it in a build.

 

[azeem40]

I would recommend only filling in 2 slots for dual-channel.

 

[vx53c]

test the ram separately. different voltage, different timings. put his on your computer and remove yours. set the bios settings for the ram as is from manufacturer and see if it works.
as for the hdd just plug it in, windows will tell you if it is working or not.
the gfx card works fine if it did play

 

[daman]

test the ram separately. different voltage, different timings. put his on your computer and remove yours. set the bios settings for the ram as is from manufacturer and see if it works.
as for the hdd just plug it in, windows will tell you if it is working or not.
the gfx card works fine if it did play

OK well i got the ram in now and using it works computer shows 4g of ram. Now is it ok to use these 2 sticks and my other 2 sticks i already had together so i have 8g of ram?

 

[daman]

also i was wrong about the ram the 2 sticks i have are these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231430
and the 2 from the broken computer are these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

So can i put all 4 sticks in at same time to have 8g?

 

[daman]

Also i have put the other HDD in and it seems to work just fine i can open it up and listen to the music thats on it and go into the programs

 

[vx53c]

yes the ram will run ok all together. It is a shame though that your motherboard will have all of your ram running at the slowest speed.
The ones you have are 7-8-7-24 and his are 9-9-9-24, all modules at 1.5v. The motherboard will run all of them at 9-9-9-24. It is not a bad thing, hey my ram is CAS9 and i am perfectly happy with it. All i am saying is that you paid good money on fast ram and it will be running slower.
So all his broken stuff works!
Off topic: Broken PC because of gf, hdd full of data... mmm, i am glad this is happening to you and not me, i would be dying to dig up stuff from the hdd )