Computer IT question, Memory Options

[spunky393]

Hey everybody,

I'm a really old member, havn't been around for a long time, but I thought about this site when I had this question.

Can anybody give me an extremely detailed explanation of memory?

What I really want to know is what happens if you install more memory than what your computer says it can handle? Does it screw up the bios or what?

How can I over-clock it if that'll fix it, etc. etc.

Thanks for the help.

[Galcobar]

It depends on what you mean by more memory.

It also depends on your operating system.

Your motherboard dictates how much total memory/RAM your computer can accommodate (4-8GB is typical, enthusiast systems go up to 16GB), how fast that RAM can be (PC-3200) and type of RAM (e.g. you cannot put DDR3 in a board which can handle DDR2 only).

The max amount of RAM your motherboard may accommodate cannot be changed by your BIOS (well, theoretically possible). It's difficult to overclock your system to accommodate higher-speed RAM than the motherboard is designed for -- most people overclock the best RAM the board can accommodate normally.

However, most people never come close to the maximum RAM their system can handle because of the operating system. A 32-bit operating system, which 95% of people use, allows a maximum of 4GB of system memory. This includes RAM as well as any memory on other devices, such as a video card. Installing more memory onto your system than the operating system can handle, through any means, will be wasted -- the operating system will simply ignore the excess.

To get more than four gigs of memory, you'd need to move up to a 64-bit OS; they can accommodate any amount of memory a current computer might carry.