Is there any harm in installing too much RAM?

I'm aware that you can use RAM that's of a higher or lower speed
than the computer expects. (It'll just run at whatever
the lower speed is).

But what if you put in a higher *amount* of memory
than the computer expects?
For example, suppose you have an old desktop computer
that has 2 slots, each with a maximum capacity of 128MB each.
If you put in 2 RAM modules, each with 512MB, the computer
will likely still work (although it'll only recognize and use
the first 128MB of each module).

But besides wasting RAM, is there any actual harm in doing this?
For example, can this cause the operating system to malfunction
or for data to be corrupted?

....

"wylbur37" wrote in message
...
I'm aware that you can use RAM that's of a higher or lower speed
than the computer expects. (It'll just run at whatever
the lower speed is).

But what if you put in a higher *amount* of memory
than the computer expects?
For example, suppose you have an old desktop computer
that has 2 slots, each with a maximum capacity of 128MB each.
If you put in 2 RAM modules, each with 512MB, the computer
will likely still work (although it'll only recognize and use
the first 128MB of each module).

But besides wasting RAM, is there any actual harm in doing this?
For example, can this cause the operating system to malfunction
or for data to be corrupted?

...

Other than I can't see why you'd want to put more ram in a pc than the specs
say it'll take maxed out, I suppose if you got the spare ram around give it
a go. Sounds like it'd be very motherboard dependant though. Only thing I
can recall might be any kind of a problem is something to do with 98/98SE
and more than 512 megs ram.

"wylbur37" wrote in message
...
I'm aware that you can use RAM that's of a higher or lower speed
than the computer expects. (It'll just run at whatever
the lower speed is).

But what if you put in a higher *amount* of memory
than the computer expects?
For example, suppose you have an old desktop computer
that has 2 slots, each with a maximum capacity of 128MB each.
If you put in 2 RAM modules, each with 512MB, the computer
will likely still work (although it'll only recognize and use
the first 128MB of each module).

But besides wasting RAM, is there any actual harm in doing this?
For example, can this cause the operating system to malfunction
or for data to be corrupted?

There might be some computers where it won't start if it has a ram
configuration that it doesn't recognise. In this case the BIOS will tell you
it doesn't like the memory configuration. But I'd expect that the BIOS will
just limit the amount of memory you can use - I had a laptop which had 768MB
of RAM installed but the BIOS would only ever see 512MB. I also had a
Windows Vista (32bit) pc which briefly had 6GB of RAM installed, the BIOS
would see all of it but Vista would only let me use 4GB (3.5GB really), so I
ended up taking the extra RAM out and using it elsewhere.

So, worst case, the BIOS will complain. If it won't start then take out any
excess RAM, but beyond that it shouldn't harm anything (not as far as I
know).
--
Brian Cryer
http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian

On 15/09/2010 02:36, wylbur37 wrote:
I'm aware that you can use RAM that's of a higher or lower speed
than the computer expects. (It'll just run at whatever
the lower speed is).

But what if you put in a higher *amount* of memory
than the computer expects?
For example, suppose you have an old desktop computer
that has 2 slots, each with a maximum capacity of 128MB each.
If you put in 2 RAM modules, each with 512MB, the computer
will likely still work (although it'll only recognize and use
the first 128MB of each module).

But besides wasting RAM, is there any actual harm in doing this?
For example, can this cause the operating system to malfunction
or for data to be corrupted?

...
What a pointless exercise.

On Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:36:30 -0700, wylbur37 wrote:

I'm aware that you can use RAM that's of a higher or lower speed than
the computer expects. (It'll just run at whatever the lower speed is).

But what if you put in a higher *amount* of memory than the computer
expects?
For example, suppose you have an old desktop computer that has 2 slots,
each with a maximum capacity of 128MB each. If you put in 2 RAM modules,
each with 512MB, the computer will likely still work (although it'll
only recognize and use the first 128MB of each module).

But besides wasting RAM, is there any actual harm in doing this? For
example, can this cause the operating system to malfunction or for data
to be corrupted?

...

Probably wouldn't boot if anything.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

"Brian Cryer" wrote in message
...
There might be some computers where it won't start if it has a ram
configuration that it doesn't recognise. In this case the BIOS will
tell you it doesn't like the memory configuration. But I'd expect that
the BIOS will just limit the amount of memory you can use - I had a
laptop which had 768MB of RAM installed but the BIOS would only ever
see 512MB. I also had a Windows Vista (32bit) pc which briefly had 6GB
of RAM installed, the BIOS would see all of it but Vista would only
let me use 4GB (3.5GB really), so I ended up taking the extra RAM out
and using it elsewhere.

So, worst case, the BIOS will complain. If it won't start then take
out any excess RAM, but beyond that it shouldn't harm anything (not as
far as I know).
--
Brian Cryer
http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian



OT - Message for Brian Cryer
***********************

Just thought you'd like to know what 'Peter Foldes' says about *you* in
another group!

"And especially Brian Cryer who gives some really idiotic crap
advice."

Ref:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...411591c9?hl=en


You might also wish to know about this thread too, Brian.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...3435823?hl=en#

I recently followed your advice and upgraded my wife's laptop by
installing a 1GB card from Crucial!

Thanks for your good and valued advice.

David B.

"~BD~" wrote in message
...

"Brian Cryer" wrote in message
...
There might be some computers where it won't start if it has a ram
configuration that it doesn't recognise. In this case the BIOS will tell
you it doesn't like the memory configuration. But I'd expect that the
BIOS will just limit the amount of memory you can use - I had a laptop
which had 768MB of RAM installed but the BIOS would only ever see 512MB.
I also had a Windows Vista (32bit) pc which briefly had 6GB of RAM
installed, the BIOS would see all of it but Vista would only let me use
4GB (3.5GB really), so I ended up taking the extra RAM out and using it
elsewhere.

So, worst case, the BIOS will complain. If it won't start then take out
any excess RAM, but beyond that it shouldn't harm anything (not as far as
I know).
--
Brian Cryer
http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian



OT - Message for Brian Cryer
***********************

Just thought you'd like to know what 'Peter Foldes' says about *you* in
another group!

"And especially Brian Cryer who gives some really idiotic crap advice."

Ref:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...411591c9?hl=en


You might also wish to know about this thread too, Brian.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...3435823?hl=en#

I recently followed your advice and upgraded my wife's laptop by
installing a 1GB card from Crucial!

Thanks for your good and valued advice.

David B.

"~BD~" wrote in message
...
snip
OT - Message for Brian Cryer
***********************

Just thought you'd like to know what 'Peter Foldes' says about *you* in
another group!
snip

Interesting, thank you. We all know that there are many imature people on
the internet. Perhaps he was having a bad day, because his advice in this
thread was quite reasonable. I'm not going to play the flame game, too many
more constructive things to do.

I recently followed your advice and upgraded my wife's laptop by
installing a 1GB card from Crucial!

Thanks for your good and valued advice.

Glad you found it useful. Thank you.
--
Brian Cryer
http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian

In ,
~BD~ typed:


....



OT - Message for Brian Cryer
***********************

Just thought you'd like to know what 'Peter Foldes' says
about *you* in another group!

"And especially Brian Cryer who gives some really idiotic
crap advice."

Ref:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...411591c9?hl=en


You might also wish to know about this thread too, Brian.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt...3435823?hl=en#

I recently followed your advice and upgraded my wife's
laptop by installing a 1GB card from Crucial!

Thanks for your good and valued advice.

David B.

....

I don't necessarily think Peter Foldes has the most interpersonal skills on
the 'net, but your TWO sampl URLs from ONE location (where there are also
posers and liars galore), but I could really GAS that you feel the need to
spew your tripe in a slew of non-related newsgroups.

One more for the booger list, I'm afraid. Wonder why your name reminds me of
the color maroon? Or is it Bleen colored? Yeah, that's it; Bleen. Hmm, and
then there's blatherskite. No life comes to mind too, considering the work
you did to assemble a useless copy list.