Help upgrading RAM for my old PC?

With a computer that old you may have a hard time finding the RAM needed. The best bet would be to look the machine over for a model number before you move forward. If you can't and want to take a shot in the dark you can unplug the machine and open it up. Follow all best practices to discharge static and drain power before opening the case so that you do not damage any hardware or yourself.

Once you have the case open look at how many slots of ram you have. You may have 4 slots with only 1 occupied. Take out one of the sticks of RAM and take it to Best Buy where they should be able to match it up for you. Again, if it is really old you may not be able to find the ram there. You may also be able read a model number off the stick of ram to identify it further and perhaps purchase it at a better price.

Also be aware that a computer that old most likely is 32-bit and will not support over 4 GB of ram.

Upgrading the CPU will be another mess entirely as you need to know how to remove the heat sink, current CPU, apply thermal paste, and all that. For this you would need to research your motherboard by looking up the model number off of that. If you discover the model number of the computer itself you may be able to get an old surplus CPU from a higher end version of that same model.

One last thing. If you have gone as far as to open your case take the time to get a can of air or borrow an anti-static vacuum (not a regular vacuum) and clean out all the dust. That dust insulates the machine and can lower performance. Another thing that will hit performance is age, there's no way around aging parts that just aren't out of box new.

I wish you the best of luck in you endeavors. Make sure to watch some YouTube videos of safe PC tear down so you can avoid any simple mistakes.

I wouldn't put any money into a system that old. Save it for a whole new system. Go to crucial.com and use their system scanner to tell you what kind of ram you need. You would need a new motherboard and cpu to make the performance worth the price.

Perfectly easy to do. My two recommendations. One go on Youtube for PC ram installation. Tonnes of clips on how this can be done. Once you see a visual you will be laughing. Secondly, hit a memory company for a recommended part. PC133, DDR1 still around so I believe you should be fine.

One crowd I tap in the link below.

http://www.memoryc.com/

If its laptop you can't upgrade CPU
if not you need too know models and parts!

but if its old you gonna have hard time finding compatible parts!

minecraft whitout lag? Good luck. (its written on java)

my system plays it whit lag
heres spec
8gb dualchannel 1600mhz hyper x blue kignstone ram
i5-3570k cpu
sapphire 7750 graphics
asus p8b75-v
530w psu
stock cooler
and…
lags on both Ubuntu and Win

You know computer working hardware and software.

It's not possible to give definitive advice without the exact, complete model number, the amount of RAM now installed, the CPU type and speed, and the video card make and model.

"I know i need the same kind in the pc at one time so I can't combine what i have now with the new stuff" is almost certainly false. Virtually all modern motherboards (and the not-so-modern ones, too) allow mixing RAM of differing sizes and timings.

The basic requirements are the family (DDR, DDR2, or DDR3), and the clock rate, which must equal or exceed the minimum rate compatible with the board.

Note that mixing RAM is permissible even with multi-channel memory architecture. This is due to a backward-compatible "fallback" scheme that, when one bank is populated with modules of differing sizes, accesses each module independently (i.e., in single-channel mode), which has a minor performance penalty.

(Intel chipsets supporting Flex Mode access the common capacity of mixed RAM in dual-channel mode, and the surplus of the larger module in single-channel mode.)