Yesterday I took one of my dusty and war-torn RAM sticks out of my PC system. I knew I would have Corsair RAM in the system, and I was pretty sure that it would be 1600 Mhz RAM but I wanted to know what type of latency the RAM would have, and the exact manufacturer’s designation. I laughed when I pulled one stick out of the system, because I realized that it would be quite difficult to put the stick back in. Mainly, because a large system fan was very close to the slot. And the CPU cooler takes a lot of space too. But I managed it to put the RAM back in, but not before I took some photos, because I used the chance because I like to take product photos, or at least I’d like to have more of these photos on my blog.
I have two Corsair 4 GB sticks on my mother board, and I actually had two more no-name sticks in it as well but only the Corsair RAM is really good. Apart from that, I do believe that both no-name sticks are faulty, which is why I took them out of the system. And here is the problem, since I did that, I only run the 2 x 4 GB Corsair sticks, which means I now do only have 8 GB in the system and I don’t like that. Since I have very good experience with Corsair, I wanted to order 2 more sticks. I decided to order 2 x 8 GB online, and that’s why I needed details about my RAM.
I wanted the exact same specifications, and I found out I have 1600Mhz CL9 RAM. I found the same as 8 GB versions, and when they arrive, I will effectively run 24 GB in my system. My problem would be solved, because I am not very happy with 8 GB. But I am used to more, which is why things feel slower now, especially loading times in some areas. I know, 24 GB is overkill and 16 GB would have been way enough, but I am foreseighted. My 2 x 4 GB sticks are quite old, how time flies, I purchased them at the end of 2012. So, in case they will die, I would still have the 2 x 8 GB that I ordered yesterday. That’s not stupid, huh? But since my board supports DDR3 RAM, I probably won’t use it for too long either, because I will upgrade to a new motherboard at some point.
But to be completely honest, the gaming industry wants people to believe that they need all the fancy new hardware, but my system was build in 2012 as said, and it still runs every games smoothly, except that I need to upgrade my RAM. Of course, there have been some changes, like a new hard drive, and I constantly switched GPU’s, but both the mainboard and CPU are old and the system still runs well with games.
Me and my friends, we often laugh when we hear about people who got all the most recent hardware while complaining in a forum that they can’t run the games with a decent FPS. Until this day we didn’t solve the riddle. We just can assume some people don’t know how to build and set up a PC, or the marketing of hardware manufacturer’s works so well that people actually believe they need to upgrade. While it’s funny, it’s probably not our problem. But I wouldn’t like to be the father of a kid that screams for more FPS. The new generation of gamers is so brainwashed by the industry, it’s funny. But my kids would probably be different, because I would teach them when it’s time to upgrade and when it’s not. And you yourself decide, not the manufacturer.
Diary of Dennis 
Those RAM sticks can be awkward little so and so’s to fit. I remember when David used to work on our computers or the old ones he liked to fix up and give to people that sometimes he had trouble with that and occasionally would ask me to help him as I had smaller hands so at least I did learn what the sticks look like and where they go. I haven’t attempted anything like that on this computer since he has been gone but I feel that if I wanted to upgrade the RAM I probably could although that is the extent of my skill. Luckily I do have techie friends who would help me if I needed to do more. This system is about seven or eight years old now but still runs well enough for my needs so I will probably keep it until the motherboard dies.
It can be a bit tricky, especially when everything is already in the system, like all those cables, and fans become a huge problem too these days, at least with gaming systems. I think I have 8 fans in the systems (just talking about case fans). And two of them are at the back two push out the air that is soaked in by two fans at the front. And the two fans on the back are right near the RAM slots. Near that is also the large CPU cooler. Getting them out was easy, but getting them back in was not possible without removing the fans first. When you build a whole new system, it’s easy, because you do everything in order, but changing things later might be annoying because you need to pull out stuff 😀
I am pretty sure you could upgrade your RAM. As you might have noticed in the past when you helped David, you can’t put them in wrong. Mainly because there is a notch at the contacts that divides the whole length of the contacts, and one side is shorter than the other. And then same notch is on the motherboard too. So, looking at the notch in the slot, and on the RAM is the trick as you might have noticed in the past.
The only thing someone could do wrong is not putting them in the right channels (Dual Channel / Color-coded slots), buying the wrong RAM (DDR3, DDR4, in 2020 boards come out with DDR5). Or not taking a look if the board supports the Mhz and latencies. I sometimes get calls by friends who bought RAM and if they don’t get it to work. When they don’t know in what channels they put the RAM in, I explain them but let them do it so that they learn, and they usually say “Hey, that was straight forward”. When buying RAM, I sometimes go with them if they are not sure, or I say they should take the motherboard manual with them (because there is always a page about the RAM slots), because if it’s a store for PC components, the sales persons usually know their stuff. Online, many mainboard manufacturers have lists of supported RAM, that can help too.
But yeah, when not sure… ask techy friends 🙂
That is what techy friend are for :-). I do remember that you can only put them in one way which is a big help. I really ought to take the cover off the computer one day and give it a good clean inside. I know they can get very dusty inside and that can affect perfomance too.
Yes, you are right, a PC is basically like a vacuum cleaner 🙂 It makes sense to clean the inside once in a while. Yes, performance can be affected if the airflow is not perfect anymore in the case due to too much dust on the fans or in the case, and then things can get more hot. I usually do this when I open the PC like yesterday when I took a look at the RAM.
I do wonder if kids now actually know less about the insides of their computers than the previous generation. When we were buying our first and second generation PC’s there were more specialist shops where you could buy the parts or have a machine custom made for you and you learned the specifications. More people use computers now but I think they may not know as much about them.
I still know some younger people who build their own PC’s… but lurking around in different tech or computer forums, I see an incredible large amount of questions asked that are extremely basic. So, I think there are both, some that know how to put the things together, some that try to learn, and others that have no clue.
But yeah, I sometimes get that impression too. Because back then when internet speed was not great… so called LAN-parties where a thing. We would plan it, for example from Friday to Sunday, and then we have rented a room, took chairs, tables and our PC’s with us to play games together. At LAN-parties there were barely people that didn’t know how to build PC’s. Everyone knew how to set-up a network, or how to upgrade a PC, diagnosing issues and so on. If you would look at photos of that time today, you’d think that was a meeting of hackers… because you saw it all, opened PC’s to be able to swap hardware as needed… cables below and above the people (laugh)…. people sitting on beer cases instead of chairs… tons of RAM sticks on the tables as if someone would want to play cards with them… lot’s of tech talk and so on,… and even people who cooled their system with room ventilators, when fans in the system stopped to work. They all knew PC’s from inside and outside. Building a PC, or creating a network, that was not a very special ability at that time.
Also there I can make the same point. They didn’t tinker on their systems because someone said a certain new graphics card would give you 40 frames per second more… they actually benchmarked their systems with software but most often did their upgrades on pure impression that something runs too slow. So, benchmarking with software was just a way to confirm what you experienced, a somehow slower system. Me and some friends say today that people back then felt with how much FPS the system did run, while modern games read how much FPS the system runs. My impression is that the marketing of hardware companies, especially targeting gamers became a lot more professional. I’d even say that they exploit the inexperience of people, and they definitely sell a lot.
You as photographer, like me… you might have noticed the same upgrade-war with cameras. For example the keyword megapixels… we already have so many pixels that a few more won’t really make a difference. Not to mention that it’s the least important feature. But going into a store, you see all those unimportant keywords, and people buy, because the manufacturers want people to believe that a few more megapixels would make you a better photographer. Same happens in the gaming industry. There is a point where you want to upgrade, but I think younger people are brainwashed into thinking that you need a new graphic card for example every year. Modern cards get faster and faster. In fact they are so fast, that game developers barely can catch up.
Last year I cringed when my graphic card driver showed an ad with the text “DO YOU WANT TO BE A REAL GAMER? UPGRADE NOW!”. But I am pretty sure this type of funny marketing works.
I am pretty sure you are right and of course manufacturers want us to buy the latest thing. Those of us who like to research, compare and review things before we buy them will spend money but not as quickly or as often.
Yes, that’s what is great about the internet. Now we can actually watch reviews, read about experiences of other people and comparing the things with alternative brands. Or we can find out how much of a difference it would be to upgrade, setting price alarms and so on and on.
But I am sure that some people still buy product just because an ad promises anything.