W3611

[NoNameWill]

Hello,

Every search I have done on this subject has brought me to this site. So I had to join. Ok so my question is on the eMachines site they claim my mobo is 945G and is only spec'd to 2gb of ddr2 pc2-4200 ram. On the contrary according to the spec sheet from intel they say that the 945G board is capable of 4gb of pc2-5300. All the sites that sell ram claim my board has 2 slots for ram at 1gb max per slot and max of 2gb.

Well I have to call bs on the eMachines and the ram sellers. My board has 4 slots. It also has a PCI-e x1 which is not spec'd. So I take it I can put in 4gb? It's running 32bit vista but I might buy 64bit win 7 for it. I will definitely be installing 64 bit linux on it. Previously I did install a 1gb stick in it and a video card so my wife could play her Sims 3. But the Vista was such a hog that the game never ran right for her. She wanted to put another 1gb stick in but I told her it was near maxed and probably wouldn't matter much. Seem's I was wrong. But I wasn't going to pay 50 bucks for one stick either at the store we were at either. Luckily for my the sales guys at the big box were pretty dumb. I knew it was ddr2 ram but they wanted the model number. I couldn't think of it off hand. They claimed the wrong ram would fry my system. I didn't mention to them the backwards compatibility of ddr2 or ddr for that matter and that they wouldn't fit the slots if I bought the wrong one.

I am more of a idiot savant when it comes to hardware. I have installed drives,hhd, ram and vid cards. Actually reading and understanding the intel spec sheets make my kind of do this. lol

 

[NoNameWill]

OK I just got off chat with eMachines. Apparently I have the Coryville2 mobo which is what Gateway shipped in their machines. (yes I know they are the same and Acer is the Parent company) Though there is a difference in mobo's. The Coryville2 only has 2 dimm slots but will take 2gb sticks and mine has 4 dimm slots.
I was told I could put in more because I have the slots. So I guess I will max it out.

 

[Guest]

Brands like Packard Bell, Gateway (both Acer ?) often use OEM versions of boards that are different from the versions sold as components to small assemblers or retail -- sometimes the model number is very similar but the board rather different.

More annoyingly, sometimes an OEM version component won't work with drivers or firmware updates for an identical retail model -- yes you, Pioneer, and your OEM DVD drives supplied to Medion.

Just another way the computer industry creates wholly unnecessary confusion and difficulties for the poor suffering end-user.

 

[NoNameWill]

Packard Bell the current line doesn't exist in the US anymore. I do believe. Yes Acer bought them up too.
It would be nice to have the right specs even in my case I have a better board than they spec'd. I never really looked inside the thing than to do the minimal upgrades. Now that my wife got herself a new pc.
I have this box to myself without fear that she would put up a stink that me installing linux would screw up her game. LOL I know I was blue in the face trying to convince her other wise.

 

[pastorhog]

OK I just got off chat with eMachines. Apparently I have the Coryville2 mobo which is what Gateway shipped in their machines. (yes I know they are the same and Acer is the Parent company) Though there is a difference in mobo's. The Coryville2 only has 2 dimm slots but will take 2gb sticks and mine has 4 dimm slots.
I was told I could put in more because I have the slots. So I guess I will max it out.

Were you able to put 4GB in this machine and it work? I have the same type of box and would like to put 4GB in there with Windows 7 64-bit. I have 2GB now.

 

[Wiskyeye]

Packard Bell the current line doesn't exist in the US anymore. I do believe. Yes Acer bought them up too.
It would be nice to have the right specs even in my case I have a better board than they spec'd. I never really looked inside the thing than to do the minimal upgrades. Now that my wife got herself a new pc.
I have this box to myself without fear that she would put up a stink that me installing linux would screw up her game. LOL I know I was blue in the face trying to convince her other wise.

Same question did 4Gb work I have a w3611 with [Intel® D945GCL (Coryville 2)] board as well as a PDF spec sheet that shows exact layout and says the board has:
• Two 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
• Support for DDR2 667, DDR2 533, or DDR2 400 MHz DIMMs
• Support for up to 4 GB of system memory
I was going to attach file but, yea? I would like to find out if anyone has tried to install 2x2GB stix on a w3611 or a [Intel® D945GCL (Coryville 2)] board with only 2 DIMM slots?

Found answer prior to posting so I decided to include link. Because of the way the memory is allocated for system resources the w3611 or D945GCL board will not utilize all 4GB of memory if installed even though chip set and board support it, unless you install a 64bit operating system and remap or allocate memory so it can utilize all 4gigs. DRAM is mapped at the top of resource map/list or in other words at the end, so not enough left over to register hence the 3200MB registered I have heard about else where once they installed 4GB. However I have yet to find anyone who has tried it.

http://www.freelists.org/post/chadfree/Troubleshooting-a-Memory-Problem-During-a-System-Upgrade

Helped me, hope it helps you!