Laptop RAM Upgrade Question

[Airtrainer]

I have an Acer laptop which I bought back in 2007 and recently downloaded the new demo of Civ V. I tried to play it without reading the min system requirements and needless to say it didn't turn out well. Who would have thought a turn based game would bring my laptop to its knees. My CPU is up to spec, the graphics card isn't really but I'm sure I can get by that, but the RAM is the big problem. I only have 1GB and as a min it says 2GB.

Now my problem is I'm not sure what my max RAM size is. I'm running Windows XP MCE so I know it's a 4GB limit (32 bit system and all) but if I open the Acer 'eSettings Management' it says it supports a max memory size of 2GB. But I also used the crucial.com website which runs a program that states "Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 2GB per slot". So I'm quite confused. Any ideas which is the true maximum? I'm not too keen on buying memory I can't use. It's an Acer Grapevine motherboard with no model number.

Cheers in advance.

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Airtrainer @ Sep 27 2010, 12:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have an Acer laptop which I bought back in 2007 and recently downloaded the new demo of Civ V. I tried to play it without reading the min system requirements and needless to say it didn't turn out well. Who would have thought a turn based game would bring my laptop to its knees. My CPU is up to spec, the graphics card isn't really but I'm sure I can get by that, but the RAM is the big problem. I only have 1GB and as a min it says 2GB.

Now my problem is I'm not sure what my max RAM size is. I'm running Windows XP MCE so I know it's a 4GB limit (32 bit system and all) but if I open the Acer 'eSettings Management' it says it supports a max memory size of 2GB. But I also used the crucial.com website which runs a program that states "Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 2GB per slot". So I'm quite confused. Any ideas which is the true maximum? I'm not too keen on buying memory I can't use. It's an Acer Grapevine motherboard with no model number.

Cheers in advance.

Much as I hate to recommend it, your safest bet is to Phone Acer and ask them directly. Also, you could use the Kingston website who has an extensive list of laptop models, the RAM they take and the max amount. And speaking of RAM, I'd recommend going with a good brand like Kingston or Crucial: Acers can be very picky about which brand they will & won't take.

[Airtrainer]

Thanks for your advice. I recieved an answer back within 24hrs, infact I think it took just over 12hrs. It can take 4GB of RAM so thats good, got me happy

Will look for some Kingston or Crucial options.

Cheers

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Airtrainer @ Sep 28 2010, 09:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your advice. I recieved an answer back within 24hrs, infact I think it took just over 12hrs. It can take 4GB of RAM so thats good, got me happy

Will look for some Kingston or Crucial options.

Cheers

Beauty. I'm glad Acer didn't take overly long.

[Airtrainer]

Got the RAM in now and can finally play the Civ V Demo. Gone from 1GB to 3GB (got to love XP).