Can I take RAM out of one computer and put it in another?

[yipyiaa]

I have an old computer that I had upgraded the memory by 256 MB. I'm trying to do some video work on my newer computer but it's a little too slow. I've taken the 256 MB out of the old one, now can I just put it in my new computer? What will it do if I put it in this computer? Thanks!

[crossedup]

Should work fine if its the same kind of memory, if you put it in and the computer will no longer POST ( show on the screen ) than take it back out, it will not hurt anything. Best way to tell is to try.

[Triple_B]

I really depends on what kind of processor is in the old one and what is in the new one.

Depending on that, you can kind of guess to see if you have the correct memory. Depending on how old the two machines are, adding memory *may* work, but you might slow down the computer even more.

Let me know what kind of processors you have in each machine, and then I can offer a suggestive answer.

[yipyiaa]

It turns out that my newer computer already has 2 of the 256 MB modules in it for a total of 512 MB of memory. So the 256 that I took out of the old one won't help because I don't see anywhere to put it. Am I right in assuming you can only have 2 in each computer? Can I just buy another module with more memory than 256MB and keep them both in there? I'm really not familiar with all this but I'm trying to learn!!

Old Processor: Intel Pentium III - 866 MHz
New Processor: AMD Athlon XP - 1.53GHz

Thanks for your help.

[crossedup]

Depends on how much the board will support, you can either try larger sticks and find out or look up the specs on the board. Looking up the specs is cheaper

The PIII takes SD-ram, probably pc-133

The Athlon XP MOST likely takes DDR ram.

NOT interchangeable.

512 is not bad, what are you trying to do with the machine?

[yipyiaa]

I'm trying to do something that I thought was supposed to be so simple, transfer video from my DV camcorder to the computer. My first problem was I didn't have a 1394 port and that's the only way the video could be transfered. I bought that and put it in. Plugged in the camera and the software that came with it is Pinnacle 9, now that says the data rate transfer speed is too slow. Someone suggested that adding more RAM might help so I thought I would start again with that since I knew I had more RAM in the old computer. Now I know that's not going to work and the only other suggestion I got was to have a separate hard drive just for videos. Nothing is ever as simple as it's advertised to be. All I want to do is take home movies, transfer them to the computer and put them on a DVD. Got any suggestions?

[Triple_B]

PIII at 866 is probably running PC66 or PC100 SD-RAM at most. PC133 was just hitting the market when that Athlon XP was brand new (had the same processor with PC100 because the motherboard wouldn't handle PC133 even though specs stated it could)

If you only have two slots in the new computer, best bet is to get a bigger 512 chip if you can find it for a decent price. SD-RAM is old school, DDR is the newest, so you're going to pay a premium for SD.

As far as what you're trying to do, memory will fix your problem. You're trying to mesh new technology with old, which is why it's not as easy as they say it should be.

I would try finding some decent memory online and buy yourself two sticks of 512 and get yourself up to a gig of memory. Safest bet with your Athlon XP is to go with PC100, don't go up to 133 as your motherboard may not support it.

[crossedup]

It is impossible for a PIII 866 to run with PC66 in it, if it does the ram will be overclocked and VERY unstable. The PIII 866 is most likely a FSB of 133 with a mutiplier of 6.5, thus the requirement for the PC133. I just refurbed 3 of them yesterday so I have seen them recently. They all had pc133 in them. Is this a gateway machine in question??

Next question would be what O/S?

The transfer rate should not be affected my the amout of RAM , the number of programs and how much of the RAM and the CPU they are using would be a consideration though

[Triple_B]

Crossedup, you are correct. I was mistaken.

I had my boxes screwed up in my head. The XP would be DDR, I think it would be PC2700 @ DDR333. I was thinking earlier of my Athlon 700mhz machine which ran PC100 (even though it should have run 133)

In that case, it's probably better as the DDR333's are still easy to come buy for affordable prices. I can't imagine they shoved SD-Ram in an XP box... though if it's prebuilt like a gateway, they could have done it. I know compaq did it a lot with their models.

[yipyiaa]

Boy, I'm really confused now! But it's only because I really don't know much about this stuff. I don't know how to begin to understand what either of you have written. I do know my machine is a Compaq and I'm using Windows XP. Do you think I would be better off just to buy another hard drive? That sounds pretty simple to me but then again I thought transfering video from my camcorder was going to be simple too!