Is there a command or somethiing I can do to find out the manufacturer of my RAM?
I want to find out because I want to upgrade to 8GB and I have 3GB installed 1GB & 2GB. So I can get 3 more 2GB sticks of the same make
All I can find out at the mo is they’re DDR2 1066 800Mhz
I don’t think you can, usually RAM doesn’t report much to the system BIOS … but you could see what:
sudo dmidecode -t 17
reports.
That said sticking with one “make” isn’t necessarily important.
and what’s wrong with pulling the RAM and having a looksee ?
.
pooky2483@pooky2483-ubuntu12:~$ sudo dmidecode -t 17
[sudo] password for pooky2483:
dmidecode 2.11
SMBIOS 2.5 present.
Handle 0x0039, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0037
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM0
Bank Locator: BANK0
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 800 MHz
Manufacturer: Manufacturer0
Serial Number: SerNum0
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum0
Part Number: PartNum0
Handle 0x003B, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0037
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 2048 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM1
Bank Locator: BANK1
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 800 MHz
Manufacturer: Manufacturer1
Serial Number: SerNum1
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum1
Part Number: PartNum1
Handle 0x003D, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0037
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: Unknown
Data Width: Unknown
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM2
Bank Locator: BANK2
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: Manufacturer2
Serial Number: SerNum2
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum2
Part Number: PartNum2
Handle 0x003F, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0037
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: Unknown
Data Width: Unknown
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM3
Bank Locator: BANK3
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: Manufacturer3
Serial Number: SerNum3
Asset Tag: AssetTagNum3
Part Number: PartNum3
pooky2483@pooky2483-ubuntu12:~$
[QUOTE]That said sticking with one “make” isn’t necessarily important.
[/quote]
Just thought it’d be better sticking with one brand as they’d work together better. But I’m thinking of getting four newer sticks of 2Gb RAM instead.
[QUOTE]and what’s wrong with pulling the RAM and having a looksee ?
[/quote]
Just didn’t fancy opening up my PC and looking inside as that’d mean switching off and I don’t wanna do that lol
I even ran my XP VM and tried CPUID but that didnt sho RAM details and also told me I was using only ONE of my 2 cores and I thought I’d set it to use both!
As I said, most RAM doesn’t report much to the SMBIOS, so it doesn’t matter which OS you use.
Just thought it'd be better sticking with one brand as they'd work together better. But I'm thinking of getting four newer sticks of 2Gb RAM instead.
They say use the same manufacturer/model in dual (or quad) channel RAM, but what they mean is that they are more likely to have the same chip configuration and be “close” in performance.
Ideally you’d get “matched pairs” (usually from the same manufacturer, but not necessarily) from someone that specialises in performance RAM … these should have been tested to see how they perform “as a pair”, as there are variations in performance even in the same make/model … but you pay for this, so (like with everything else) it really comes down to pocket size 
That said, it’s all relative and depends on usage … you have to work out if you’d benefit from “properly” matched for performance pairs … otherwise you’re probably right just get same make/model … all I meant was make/model isn’t “always” the important factor in either performance or price.
I won’t go into CAS latency and other “memory timings” … I’ll leave that to Google
.