Computer memory is a hard subject to talk about for some, it can get really confusing and it might be hard to know what kind of ram is right for you.
Thankfully it really isn’t all that difficult to figure out which kind of memory you need. Throughout this short stub of an article I am going to be interchanging the terms RAM and memory, just letting you know before you get too confused. Pardon that interruption, I suppose I am just typing out my thoughts and this is just how my thought process tends to flow.
Now let me digress, figuring out what kind of ram that you need isn’t difficult at all! It only takes a few quick on spot on tips that get you pointed in the right direction. There are only 3 real things that you need to know, and all of the information can be found somewhere in your documentation for your motherboard, or you can just Google your motherboard’s name, and you will get the quickest response to what you desire, answers.
Googling a motherboard, for instance “M2NPV-VM”, which is an older Asus motherboard, will bring up a laundry list of items ranging from pricing to why someone’s particular motherboard is broken, to overclocking, to what you really want, specifications.
The spec’s are usually right on the first page of Google, so just pick one of the first few links and try to find out what memory is supported. Numbers that you want to look for can included any of these: DDR, DDR2, 800mhz, 433mhz, PC4200, PC6000, and numerous other combinations of those numbers and letters.
DDR stands for ‘Double Data Rate’, most memory you buy now-a-days will be DDR2 or DDR3, DDR3 being the newest option to you. What DDR basically allows you to do is make you put in two sticks of memory that will act essentially at the same time, which creates much higher output. The new DDR3 memory is phenomenal, and will take place of DDR and DDR2 all together at some point in the near future, just like DDR2 wiped out the original DDR.
To me, that seemed like one huge run on sentence, wow.
The ‘mhz’ portion of the numbers is the speed that the memory runs at, the higher the number, the faster, more expensive the memory.
Lastly is the PC2-4200, PC2-6400, and similar. This number actually signifies the “Peak transfer rate”. The PTR is read in megabytes, so PC2-4200 runs 4200MBs per second, of data. Now that might seem like a pretty hefty load of data, but the 4200 is actually on the lower end of speed, and now DDR3 can actually run 12,800MBs per second, thats just about twelve and a half gigabytes per second! If you need some more information on any of these types of memory, Wikipedia has fantastic articles about them.
Anyways, once you find out the type of memory that your motherboard you need to find that type of memory at a retail store like TigerDirect or Fry’s Electronics, or even an online marketplace for computer related goods like NewEgg. All of those are great places and will help you find exactly what you need to get your computer running as well as it can.
Of course, if you want a memory upgrade just give me a call! Memory upgrades take a short amount of time and I will never try to oversell you on a certain type! Give me a call at (630)363-1738 and, if you are in the Naperville area, I can install and bring your memory to your door! Just let me know what you need it for and we can figure it out without any problem what so ever! 
