PC 3200 DDR SDRAM DIMM

[Aaflac]

A friend has an eMachine T3410 (actually made by Gateway)

There are two slots for memory, and the board can take up to 2GB.
Currently, there are 512 MB installed (1 DIMM), and the on board video uses up 128MB.
That leaves 384MB to run XP Home Edition.

Been asked to get and install more memory. No problem with the installing, but the 'getting' is confusing.

Would like to get 1GB of PC 3200 DDR SDRAM Dimm, however, have no clue if it is 400Mhz or whatever.
Also, it makes no difference if the memory is used. They do not want to spend much on this old machine (4+ years?)

The PC specs say it has a 2.0GHz AMD Sempron 3400+

What is the best thing to get for this machine?
Looking at the following, but do not know if it will be the right thing:
http://www.nextag.com/PNY-Memory-Master-1-719281307/prices-html

Used to know this stuff, but, right now, it does not want to come back into my memory processing center.

Thanks for the help.

[Aaflac]

Hello, anybody home?

[Jintan]

Ran into a little server trouble here. Fixed now. I tend to go to Crucial's Memory Advisor here to get the requirements. Which for this T3410 took me here.

I also tend to look at new and used RAM as the same. Kinda like thinking of used RAM as instead "well-tested" RAM. But there's a real problem involved in buying used RAM online. Places like eBay seem full of people offering bargain basement prices, but it always turns out to be either server RAM (ECC - terribly few pc's can use it), or problematic, no-name useless RAM.

PC3200 is always 400 Mhz. If you look through the info here (yes, Crucial again) you'll see the match-ups between the different RAM sticks, and their unique Mhz numbers. So you really are wanting to buy just what you found - PC 3200 DDR SDRAM. Crucial prices tend to be in the ballpark of others, free shipping and has a good history, so I tend to just go there. But the one you linked to looks just fine too.

[Jintan]

In looking at that Crucial RAM info page again, I see I let myself get tricked by the Mhz and MT (data transfer rate) 400 match. The 400 in DDR-400 (also called PC-3200) is that MT, though it also happens to run at 400 Mhz. See the list under "Chips and modules" here. Mhz info, at a user level, can just be realistically ignored.

[Aaflac]

Thanks, Jin!!

Just knew you would be the person who would know all about this stuff.

I used to, a few years back, but the memory cells must have hit Esc, and flew off my brain.   

Will go to Crucial, since that is what you recommend.


Have a good weekend!!

[Jintan]

Thanks, and you're welcome for the info.