Is my DDR2 memory maxed out?

[Assassin X]

First my specs (the one in my profile are outdated):
-Quad Core AMD Phenom X4 9750

-ATI RADEON HD 4850 1GB DDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card
-1200 Watt Antec Power Supply
-Pegatron M22N7B-LA Motherboard
-8Gb DDR2 Ram (x4 2Gb sticks in 4 slots)
-2x 1TB HD (WD's)
-CD/DVD-DL Lightsribe writer
-Win 7 64 Home Premium
-Fatality Sound Card (Sound Blaster)

Admittedly I am very rusty at building computers nowadays. So as you can see I have 8Gb DDR2. Well I think its going. So I went to the store to get maybe more ram (maybe like 16gb). The man said there was no way its DDR2 since 8Gb is more then you can have with DDR2. He says 4GB is as high as DDR2 would have been able to go. So he recommended DDR3 (2 8GB sticks). I got home and found out it doesn't fit because the notch in the DDR3  is not in the very middle. 

So since it doesn't fit does this mean I am stuck with DDR2  only? If so can I go higher then my 8Gb of DDR2? Thanks.
 

[ir_cow]

its been a while since I used DD2 but I think 4gb sticks is the max for DDR2. As for 4gb being the limited maybe hes referring to 32bit windows?

 

edit: I looked it up and you can buy 4gb sticks for a total of 16gb of ram but its crazy expensive. You better off saving the money for a new computer when the time comes.

[El_Capitan]

The guy at the store is wrong. You can get 4x4GB DDR2 RAM for 16GB total.

 

Return the DDR3 RAM, it won't fit unless you get an AM3 motherboard to go with your Phenom X4 9750. If you're going through all that hassle to just get DDR3 memory, might as well upgrade your CPU as well.

[ir_cow]

if it anything like best buy where one of the guys tried to tell me the GTX 770 was the fastest card on the market than i'm not surprised. You don't need to know anything about computer to work on the floor.

[Assassin X]

Actually it was at a Micro Center, I go to Best Buy for somethings, but for most things I go to Microcenter. I'd really like to get a new motherboard and tower (my current one is tiny) but I have a brain injury so once I take the motherboard out I forget how to hook it all back up. I may just but a computer online and put in my stuff (assuming some of the stuff it comes with is junk). 

For now I'll return this and get 4x 4Gb then. From what I seen it will cost the same pretty much as what I wanted (16gb). 

Edited May 6, 2014 by Assassin X

[IVIYTH0S]

What do you mean you think your memory is "going"??

[Assassin X]

I returned it and they tried telling me I wouldn't need anything above 16gigs anyways since nothing requires so much. $50+ for 16 gigs though. I'll skip it.

 

 

What do you mean you think your memory is "going"??

 Oh I mean I think its messed up somehow. I kept having a BSOD on Win 7 when running games sometimes (like MInecraft). I checked my HD originally and seen my main drive an seen its fitness level somehow dropped to about 28%. Replaced the HD and installed Win 7 again. But the BSOD keeps appearing sometimes. I figured maybe its the memory. I'm going to run a memtest soon to make sure though. Not sure what else it could be. Video card seems to be fine. 

[El_Capitan]

What's the BSOD code you're getting?

[Assassin X]

Hmm. I probably should have looked. Next time I'll get it.

[cchalogamer]

I would test before dumping money that's for sure.  As for needing more than 8GB...not very likely at ALL.  Other than when certain editing and encoding tasks are happening on my main rigs I rarely see the need for over 8GB, I got 16GB to start with before prices of DDR3 went up and because I could, and ended up with 32GB in the 4930K rig due to using what I had on hand when I got a free "upgrade" from 4 x 4GB to 2 x 8GB when I bought the CPU and wanting to have quad channel memory

 

Also keep in mind that AMD CPUs from the era you're working in had memory controllers that usually don't like having 4 x double sided DIMMs. I've had more than a few people get me to fix such PCs where they did a memory upgrade and reduced system stability or in some cases it just plain wouldn't work.  Of course the BSOD could be completely unrelated to memory anyway.

 

On a side note, If you are looking to replace the whole system factoring in the brain condition listed above I would consider looking at prebuilts from boutique vendors.  CyberPower PC is one I've had the semi pleasure of working with along side one of my customers and while I could build that system cheaper than they sold it it wasn't by THAT much and with proper options selected you could come out OK.  

[ir_cow]

16gb of DDR2 is about 200-250$ . I bet your looking ddr3 , which at $50 is really cheap.

[Assassin X]

Ah I see thanks for the info. Didn't know that. Usually what I used to do is buy Best Buy computers because I couldn't afford things like Alien or Falcon. The I'd cannibalize them and put in new parts. Expensive I know. I don't play games as much now that I am married but I still wouldn't mind a new system so I at least have a side cover also on my tower. My heat sink is so massive I had to take the cover off. I'll check out CyberPc also, I seen their ads.