I dont understand this simple basic thing and I dont trust pc world

[peanut]

If you are planning on doing this yourself there are a few things you need to be aware of.
Don't touch the memory chips unless you are either wearing a static earth strap or earth yourself before touching it.You'll probably fry the chips.

Remove the power supply mains lead as part of the motherboard is always live.

I would recommend that you use Crucial memory because not only can they test your PC online they will advise you of the correct memory which will have a lifetime guarantee.

If you buy a pair of 1Gb you can reuse the existing memory in another PC as you say.
If your existing PC has an onboard video card then your memory will be shared with that so You won't necessarily have the full 1gb available
Do check that your service packs are up to date as the software will almost definitely require it.
best of luck

 

[Carwash]

If you are planning on doing this yourself there are a few things you need to be aware of.
Don't touch the memory chips unless you are either wearing a static earth strap or earth yourself before touching it.You'll probably fry the chips.

Remove the power supply mains lead as part of the motherboard is always live.

Listen to Peanut.

 

[Abitrary]

if all he's using it for is itunes, that spec is fine. always take apple's minimum requirements with a pinch of salt, they usually over-specify. i have a mac with considerably less than 1gb which runs itunes fine.

The ultimate problem is that he's not using it for itunes, but for actually making music. Sibelius, cubase, soundforge... all those programs load up many megs of sound samples into memory. It is painful to work with these programs without a decent amount of memory.

If you've got a copy of xp, boab, I'd put that on instead, which will save a lot of memory.

If I had to build a machine right now, for sound processing, I'd use a proper server OS like windows 2003 and whack at least 8gb of ram in there.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Listen to Peanut.

and carwash…

 

[Moose]

If you are planning on doing this yourself there are a few things you need to be aware of.
Don't touch the memory chips unless you are either wearing a static earth strap or earth yourself before touching it.You'll probably fry the chips.

Remove the power supply mains lead as part of the motherboard is always live.

Some good advice but I'd plug the lead in to a switched socket making sure it's switched off at the socket and at the PSU (power supply- usually at the back) this will ensure that the system is earthed and if you touch the metal casing before removing the module, you will have effectively discharged any static charge.

The suggestion of using crucial is a very good one - I've just tried their system scanner and it's pretty good. I put the detail in for your machine as well and if it's correct 2gb is your maximum (1GB module in each slot) - don't take my word for it though, download the scanner and do it for yourself.

In case you haven't seen this already:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/install/dimm.aspx

 

[peanut]

Some good advice but I'd plug the lead in to a switched socket making sure it's switched off at the socket and at the PSU (power supply- usually at the back) this will ensure that the system is earthed and if you touch the metal casing before removing the module, you will have effectively discharged any static charge.

The potential problem with keeping the power lead plugged in is that many PC's don't have a PSU on/off switch on the back , shuttles for example. Laptops don't and they don't have an earth cable either.
You are much safer touching the bare metal of a central heating radiator or tap to earth yourself. You cannot rely on the PC case being properly earthed because of all the paint between case parts.
I always play safe and remove the power supply cable just in case I'm unlucky enough to touch something live or poke a screwdriver in the PSU by accident

 

[Willow]

Big' click on this on your sons comp - if you can get it hooked up to the net and it'll scan the comp. and will tell you what you need but your better doing what dudi says !

http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.aspx?cpe=CHAWKuk

This site was recommended to me from someone on here and it is great, it checks computer advises you what to get and it is really easy to install - I have done it to both a laptop and a desktop, and I am no computer boffin.

 

[Moose]

The potential problem with keeping the power lead plugged in is that many PC's don't have a PSU on/off switch on the back , shuttles for example. Laptops don't and they don't have an earth cable either.
You are much safer touching the bare metal of a central heating radiator or tap to earth yourself. You cannot rely on the PC case being properly earthed because of all the paint between case parts.
I always play safe and remove the power supply cable just in case I'm unlucky enough to touch something live or poke a screwdriver in the PSU by accident

You're of course right about laptops, but as you know the voltage inside the chassis is much lower than with a desktop. With a desktop, so long as the socket is switched off there's little danger. There should be a continuous earth around the metal chassis of the case otherwise it would have to be double insulated.

I suppose it depends on how confident you are that you've isolated the supply. Most manufacturers now seem to err on the side of caution as you do, whereas, when I built my first PC, I remember this was standard practice if you didn't have an earthed work space.

 

[Desert Orchid]

You have mail Bigman.

 

[4F]

Went down the crucial memory route and installed yesterday and it was really easy. Must say I was rather suprised how "firm" a press you had to give before they clicked into place though . Being a little concerned about the static I managed to borrow an anti static wrist strap from a mate.

 

[peanut]

Went down the crucial memory route and installed yesterday and it was really easy. Must say I was rather suprised how "firm" a press you had to give before they clicked into place though . Being a little concerned about the static I managed to borrow an anti static wrist strap from a mate.

well done fella.
I've been fitting ram for 10 years daily and never burned one yet but I'm really carefull how I handle static sensitive devices. I just thought a strong warning would ensure nothing happened to your new memory.

Bet its hotzippedydog fast now huh!?