(SOLVED) Upgrading RAM

[dylan420]

I want to give my computer more RAM. Inside the case of my desktop computer there is 4 slots for RAM. Two slots are yellow and two are blue. They are labeled "DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4". DIMM1 is occupied by "Samsung 1GB 1Rx8 PC2-5300V-555-12-ZZ".
I understand that operating systems have a maximum amount of RAM that they can use.
Regardless, Can I upgrade my system to 8GB of RAM?
Furthermore, Is there anything else that I should understand when buying RAM?
For example, Could I use four 2GB sticks, and are there any sizes/speeds that I would need to match up to find RAM compatible with my computer?
I don't know if the color of these slots has any significance.

[AS]

I want to give my computer more RAM. Inside the case of my desktop computer there is 4 slots for RAM. Two slots are yellow and two are blue. They are labeled "DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4". DIMM1 is occupied by "Samsung 1GB 1Rx8 PC2-5300V-555-12-ZZ".
I understand that operating systems have a maximum amount of RAM that they can use.
Regardless, Can I upgrade my system to 8GB of RAM?
Furthermore, Is there anything else that I should understand when buying RAM?
For example, Could I use four 2GB sticks, and are there any sizes/speeds that I would need to match up to find RAM compatible with my computer?
I don't know if the color of these slots has any significance.

You should find and read the manual of your motherboards, there you will find most of the answers, if not all.
This is not RTFM, it is that no one know which motherboard are you using, and the info you requested depends from the MB. 

PCLinuxOS standard kernel has a limit of 4GB, but you can use up to 64 GB installing .pae or .pae.bfs kernels available on repos.

AS

[menotu]

Do you know what motherboard your system has?  Some mobo's have a limit on the ram that can be installed.  Once the mobo is known more info can be provided

If you are using the 32bit version of PCLinuxOS you would need to install one of the kernels with an .pae extension as that will see all your memory.

If using a 64bit version of PCLinuxOS there is no need to change the kernel as 64bit can address far more memory.

[blarney]

If you type dmidecode into a root terminal it will tell you the maximum supported ram and other info...

dmidecode -t memory

Will show just memory info.

cheers,
Blarney

[YouCanToo]

first of all you really haven't given us enough information to even began to make a guess.  It is like asking can I modify my engine and make it go like a jet.  You need to give us more specifics.  What motherboard are you using.  This is going to determine just how much memory that you can or can not use and what speed that the memory needs to be. Not all motherboards can take or use 8 gig of memory.

The colored slots show that you need to put your memory in pairs, or matched. Like I said above give us your motherboard make and model number and we can help guide you to which memory you can or can not use.

Also the 32bit PCLOS system can use up to 64gig of memory using the .pae kernel. By default the kernel that comes with the system can only use up to about 3.5 gigs of memory. If your mother board allows more than 4 gigs of memory you WILL have to use a .pae kernel to utilize all the memory.

[AS]

Additionally, there are a few CPUs out there that do not support pae.

[dylan420]

My motherboard is an Acer F690GVM with an AMD 690G chipset.
The following is a specification listed for my computer on Acer's Website:
Memory   Up to 4 GB DDR2 533/667/800 MHz SDRAM (dual-channel support on four DIMMs)

[Linuzoid]

If it says up to 4 GB, than that's all the memory you can install on that motherboard. A lot of times you have to install two chips to utilize the dual channel capability. Some mother boards like mine you have to install the chip in the 1 and 3 slots.

[dylan420]

I can not determine whether or not that specification given on Acer's website is the limitation of the motherboard or the limitation of the operating system that it came with, which was windows vista.

[Linuzoid]

I did a little searching around and found this:

http://www.viewpoints.com/Acer-Aspire-AM5100-desktop-computer--359487-reviews

This computer has the motherboard you do and they say it can take up to 8GB of ram.

Still most owners say there isn't much info on your motherboard. One thing you might consider is to contact Acer themselves and ask them before you buy more memory. Acer should have a email way of contacting them.

[YouCanToo]

The mfg shows the following for specs

Processor   AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor or
AMD Athlon™ 64 processor or
AMD Sempron processor
Cache   depending on CPU
Memory   Up to 4 GB DDR2 533/667/800 MHz SDRAM
(dual-channel support on four DIMMs)
BIOS   Flash BIOS

I really think I would believe them.

[dylan420]

Thank-you all for the very helpful information. I know have a better understanding of how to upgrade my system ram.
To finalize things here, with regards toward the kernel with .pae extension, I am currently using 32 bit PCLOS with the following kernel:
2.6.38.8-pclos3.bfs
Would I most likely need kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae  OR  kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs
Thanks again everyone.

[Linuzoid]

Did you find out how much ram your motherboard supports?

[dylan420]

Yes, and thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys.

Acers F690GVM Motherboard is actually a foxconn a690gm2ma-8ekrs2h

Dual channel DDR2 800/667/533 x 4DIMMs, Max 8GB

I will be buying four 2GB 800MHz sticks and trying one of the kernels with a .pae extension.

[YouCanToo]

I wonder why Acer had it spec'ed out at 4 GiB. At least they had the speed of the ram right