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I am not planning on running my system with memory faster than it can support. My system supports up to 2GB of RAM, but some say it will support 4GB of RAM. My system can only hold 1 GB in every slot (2 slots total) and some say it will hold 2GB in each slot. What i want to do is to try placing 2GB of RAM in 1 slot and see if 2GB in 1 slot is supported, i also want to see if my system can hold 2x2GB modules.

The problem is that my system supports 667Mhz memory and probably stores won't have such memory there and more likely to have at least 800Mhz or better yet 1066Mhz.

Can i test this with higher speed memory modules? I know my system might be unstable and hang however so i will never be able to test this for long period. Maybe system with even supported 667Mhz speed will hang up if i will install more memory than system can handle? I heard that more memory won't hurt, but who knows...

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It won't cause physical damage, either to the computer or the RAM. If you're really unlucky the computer may refuse to post while the RAM is plugged in. Most likely, the RAM will just run at the lower speed.

What you must do is make sure the memory at least matches the same basic type. If you currently have DDR2 (likely), make sure you don't buy DDR3 by mistake. The DDR3 won't even fit in your motherboard (and trying to force it is the one thing that could cause real damage). But as long as you match that basic type, you should be okay in a simple sense.

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    Damn, you beat me to it by 10 seconds! XD
    – Pylsa
    Apr 12, 2011 at 20:33
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The first thing I always do when I need to see what memory a system will take is visit Crucial - http://www.crucial.com

They have a very handy system-probing app that should identify what you can handle on your system. If that fails it should have your system listed in their database.

Oh, and chances are, they will have memory to fit. And usually at a reasonable price too.

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  • But i want to buy Kingston OEM ValueRAM for my laptop.
    – Boris_yo
    Apr 14, 2011 at 10:01
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    @Boris_yo then use their tools to see what you need, then go shopping for memory that conforms to the specs they give you.
    – Majenko
    Apr 14, 2011 at 10:11
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I just tested some old 1066mhz ddr2 ram in a friend's optiplex 320 (stated max upgrade is 667mhz) and it works.

It wouldnt take both sticks though. One of them had to by the slower speed. I swapped out both sticks of each just to be sure I didnt have a faulty one.

This allowed me to upgrade from 2 GB to 3GB without any cost. Just had it lying around.

Hope this helps someone with the same predicament in the future.

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