Lesson 03 - Buying Memory and Upgrading a Desktop Computer's Memory
In this lesson we are going to show you other places to buy memory for your computer and how to install memory into a desktop computer.
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Places to buy RAM online
Crucial.com is a great way to find out about the memory in your computer and the prices are pretty good. In addition to shipping to the US, they even ship world wide. They have a UK store here and a EU store here that will ship your memory anywhere in the world. That said you may be able to find memory for your computer cheaper at a different website or local store. You can take the information about the memory you need for your computer from Crucial.com’s System Scanner and CPU-z and compare prices on other websites and local computer stores. Shipping costs and times are another consideration. A website that is located near you will charge less for shipping and the delivery time will be shorter. If you buy from a local store there are no shipping costs or delivery times, though the price of the memory will usually be higher than buying online.
Inside the US you should consider Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com. Both carry memory from just about every manufacturer, have similar prices and reasonable shipping rates. If you’re located in Canada change the .com on Newegg and Tigerdirect to .ca and you’ll go to their Canadian sites. If you’re in the UK check out misco.co.uk. We have lots of customers in the UK and have received very good feedback about misco. Elsewhere in the EU replace the .uk with your countries code. For instance misco.co.de will take you to the misco’s German site. If you’re down under check out www.techbuy.com.au. Our Aussie customers speak highly of it. We haven’t had enough feedback to recommend websites in the rest of the world. Check prices and trust your gut when dealing with any website. If you buy from a local store you can compare the prices in the store with the price online and make sure you’re not being gauged.
Sorting through RAM on different websites
I’m going to go to Newegg.com to buy the memory upgrade for my system. I’ll choose Desktop Memory. Newegg has hundreds of different models of RAM. To help find memory with the features and specs I need for my system I’m going to use one of the search options on the left of the page. It defaults to Guided Search. Basically its all broken down into categories. I can search by price, manufacturer, the type of RAM and so on. In the parenthesis it shows how many models of memory fall into each category. This search works but there is a lot of scrolling up and down the page. The Advanced Search is a little easier, at least for me. You get the same categories only in drop down lists. I know what I’m looking for so I’ll just get started. The type is DDR3, the capacity I want is 6GB which 3, 2GB sticks add up to. The speed is 1333, CAS Latency is 9, the voltage is 1.5V and I need a triple channel kit. I’ll search and Newegg.com has 6 models of memory that fit my RAMs specifications. You’ll notice the categories I choose are gone from the left side of the page and are now up here. Other websites have similar ways of sorting through memory. Tiger Direct’s Guided search is extremely similar to Newegg’s. I’m not sure who ripped who off. Misco’s site has fewer categories for memory so its a little harder to find exactly what you want, but it gets the job done.
Back of Newegg.com, of the 6 choices I’m going to go with the Corsair brand. The other manufacturers make good memory. I’m primarily basing my choice on the ratings. Many of them have 5 out of 5 eggs but the Corsair has 111 ratings while the others only have a few. The ratings are from actual end users. If you click on the eggs you’re taken to a page with all of the ratings for the products and what real people have said about using them.
Installing DDR3 RAM
I’ve received the RAM from Newegg and I’m ready to install it. I’ll shut down the PC and disconnect the power cable from the back of the computer. You may, like me, have to disconnect the rest of the cables in order to pull the computer case out where you can work on it. You need to remove the side cover that is on the opposite side from where your mouse and keyboard cables connect. On most computers this is the right side of the computer case if you’re looking from the back of the computer. On my computer the case cover is held in by 2 thumb screws. To watch all of our complete video lessons with full written instructions you will need to purchase a login for the site. Buy Now..
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