Upgrading PC beyond factory limits

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I was wondering if anyone here with more tech knowledge from myself could help...

When I bought my PC it had 4GB ram in the slots without the possibility of upgrading. For various reasons, I want to up the ram at least to 8, maybe to 16. What would I need to do this? Would I swap out the motherboard, or replace the processors, or what?

64-bit windows 7
quad core phenom x4 9150e 1.8GHz
I don't think graphics card is an issue, but it's nVidia with 512MB
M2N61-AR motherboard (specs here)

Thanks

The processor is not the issue here. If the RAM is not too outdated, can you replace the 4GB one with a bigger one? Just make sure, that the bar you use is compatible with the motherboard, otherwise it might run faulty (A friend of mine did just that and got about five bluescreens a day)

You know, a lot of times, a MB manufacturer will say the RAM limit is 4 GB or 8 GB because that is what they tested it with and that is what they know will work. Also, the current bios would support that particular arrangement. Still, folks have upgraded successfully without even flashing their bios. It'd be nice if you could buy 2x4 GB or 2x8 GB 240pin DDR2 PC2-6400 sticks, try them out and return them if they didn't work. BTW, that's not going to make your games run faster because your MB uses its own built in graphics processor, 264MB of which were allocated from system memory. Of course, if you slapped a 1GB GPU in that PCI slot you'd definitely see the difference. I put up a link to a PCI Express 16 card that is pretty inexpensive. ($37).

PCI GPU

""
Supports 2GB DDR2 DIMMs
Supports up to 4 GB* (2 x 2 GB)
* 32 bit PCs cannot address a full 4.0 GB of memory.
"""

Found that in the manual...

If that's true you need a new motherboard.. and ddr3 ram would be nice but this one can't take it.


That's a fairly good setup though, most of my pcs are still on xp and 2gb.

What huge program are you running that NEEDS 8 or 16GB? Unless you're video editing or something, it's likely overkill.

The CPU (1.8GHz is painful - quad or not!) can't be upgraded only because nobody sells AM2+ processors anymore!

You can't use AM3 or better, those require DDR3 memory, not the DDR2 you have now.

Quite frankly, you need a full overhaul... a new mobo, CPU AND DDR3 memory.... which is good because the old stuff is actually a lot more expensive!

Any idea what video card is in there? Those store-bought machine of that era probably had only something horribly outdated, like a GeForce 8500 (the model number is far more important than the amount of video RAM - the model determines the speed!) Very good chance that some of the new AMD chips with the onboard free graphics would still crush your old graphics card, while still being significantly faster AND remain cheap!

Then again, an Intel combo costing even less, would be as fast but allow you to get a modern video card that would run circles around both!

It'd be good to know what you want to use your computer for - games need fancy video cards, other apps don't. Some need fast CPUs, some need more cores, etc.

I was on Newegg and, even with less-than-cheapest prices, I put together a fast Intel 3rd-gen CPU, 3rd-gen mobo, 2x4GB DDR3 and a Geforce GTX 650 video card for only $250US. That's if you're a budget gamer. We also need to know your current power supply... may need to swap that video card with a Radeon 7750 which is the fastest video card that does NOT require an additional power connector. (I loved mine!)

^^^ Yeah - DDR3 is. He's using old DDR2. VERY few machines ever used the very rare, expensive 4GB DDR2 modules.

It also occurred to me that to use more than 3.25GB of RAM anyway, you'll need to reinstall your OS - but a 64-bit version of whatever you have.

There are 100% legal ISO downloads for Vista & Win7 and you can reuse the key on the side of your machine, so long as you get the correct version (Basic, Home, Premium, etc.)

Let us know what your main tasks are, we'll let you know the best hardware to aim for. Any mATX board should fit in your old system's case rather well - but your power supply is probably not going to be very beefy... details!

My main task that eats up memory is recording music. I can easily have upwards of 20 virtual instruments and plugins running. Less of an issue, but still a consideration, is compiling code. I don't do much video editing or gaming.

I already have the 64-bit OS and my graphics card is a nVidia GeForce 9500 GS. It uses 160W (kettle lead straight in to the PC).

No games? You don't need fancy video then. Believe it or not, Intel's built-in video far outclasses your current video card anyway!

An Intel i5 processor (HD4000 video preferred) and mainboard combo can be had for ~300 plus another $50 for 16GB of RAM (might as well go whole hog, it's cheap and your audio software can get thirsty for it!)

Shop carefully, you can get it for even less still. Pull out your existing mobo/cpu/RAM/video card and sell it off... people will snap it up simply because it's a QUAD - even if it's a super slow one!

So long as you're not adding a video card (no need!) your power supply will be totally sufficient - the new rig will draw half the wattage of your current one.

The only thing left to know is your budget and if this is some sort of special mini-machine rather than a mATX tower (no more than 4 card slots on the mobo - very common for prebuilts, so long as it's not a super-slim mini system which will need an ITX board instead!

[EDIT] AHA! Clicked your link and confirmed ITX. Your low-voltage AMD processor gave me the hint. Newegg has mini-ITX 1155 boards starting at a lousy $50, but I recommend these for $90-100 because they're 3rd-generation with all the trimmings. Of course, I got a cheap $40 crapper that works perfectly fine as well! >>> LINK <<<
Can't beat ASUS!
CPU: any 3rd-gen i3 or i5 will be great... bargain to be had [HERE] if you want to keep using your video card. Faster speed, lower wattage, cheapest i5 in the list - no internal graphics though. $10 more gets internal graphics but is a tad slower. So long as that video card has no fan on it, it'll remain quiet. If it has & needs a fan, get rid of it - music stations need QUIET and those little video card fans make a ton of noise (until they die in spectacular fashion!)


boy... y'know... you're only one small step away from simply selling your old rig and replacing it with a whole new desktop for barely much more. I've seen i5 desktop deals for ~$400. You'll get more for your old machine as a package than parts... get a regular tower this time though, not a mini. Then you can add real audio cards, etc.

This Mac: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/apple-mc815b-a-refurbished-mac-mini-2-3ghz-12290880-pdt.html

and this Dell: http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d006619&model_id=inspiron-660&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1

Stood out as decent deals... but surely you can scour locally better than I can.

Heck, at that price you could switch to Apple... popular with a lotta' musicians... then upgrade it to 8 or 16GB yourself. (Carefully!)