Determining the maximum RAM I can upgrade the PC to and what type

memoryupgrade

Im having a little trouble determining what memory to buy and what the maximum I can upgrade to. I currently have 2GB and wish to upgrade to 3 or 4GB. I know with 32bit Vista I will only achieve max 3.5GB – if that.

I have a Medion PC which is model number PC MT 7. I have tried looking for the model at crucial.com (the closest they have is PC MT 5 which clearly isn't it with maximum RAM of 1GB). Also their scanning tool didn't come up with a result.

I have found out that my motherboard is Micro Star MS-7538. However looking for its specification has yielded no results.

Is there any other routes I could go to find out what I need? I bought the PC brand new in about 2007. Is it safe to assume that such recent models would be DDR2 and can hande 4GB or is there other factors I need to consider?

Thanks!

Best Answer

You may find that the free CPU-Z utility offers some useful information. Certainly some of the information is overkill, but I have used this before to find my exact motherboard model number and the specs of my current RAM, which helped me answer your exact question (by enabling me to Google the motherboard model as retrieved from the motherboard itself.)

EDIT: Per ~quack's comment above, CPU-Z will tell you how many RAM slots you have empty or filled, without needing to get under your desk to open the case itself. :)

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

CPU

  • Name and number.
  • Core stepping and process.
  • Package.
  • Core voltage.
  • Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
  • Supported instructions sets.
  • Cache information.

Mainboard

  • Vendor, model and revision.
  • BIOS model and date.
  • Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
  • Graphic interface.

Memory

  • Frequency and timings.
  • Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

  • Windows and DirectX version.
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