How to Install More RAM on Your Computer

Video Transcript

"Obviously if your computer is running slow one of the easiest things you can do is upgrade your RAM. Hi I'm Charles Stewart, Jr. and I'm going to show you how to upgrade your RAM. The first thing you want to do is make sure you want to go to your manufacturer's website. Let's say you have a Dell or an HP or something like that. You want to go to their website in their support section and find the model number of your PC and on that model number it should tell you what kind of RAM is compatible with your computer and then for this one I built it myself so I went to my mother board's website which is an Asis and I looked up the model number on my mother board and it told me what kind of RAM is compatible with my computer. Then you can either go down to Best Buy or go online to a place like newegg.com and order your RAM there which should be fairly cheap. Alright now let's say you went ahead and got your RAM and you are ready to install it. The first thing you want to do is take off your door or the panel to your computer. Some computers may have a latch and you just push a button and remove it that way. For this one you need a Philip's Head screwdriver and for the sake of demonstration I have already removed most of the screws and I am just going to go ahead and remove the last one and now that we have got the door off you can see the inside of the computer and as you look at it you can see like this big thing right here is the processor which is the brains of the whole computer and over here right next to the processor usually is your RAM sticks or your RAM slots and you will want to see how many are available and right now I have got two available on my computer. Before usually you would go to buy a RAM you would want to check and make sure not all your slots are full so that you are not wasting your money. So I've already got my RAM that I have purchased and I am ready to go. On a side note whenever you are handling anything like with circuitry or electronics you want to make sure you are grounded, they make strips that you can wear on your wrists that attach to your case or you may just touch something metal to ground yourself because if you are like sometimes when you touch a doorknob and you spark yourself with static discharge that destroys these things. That is the worst thing you can do for a computer component. So that you don't ruin the expensive piece of equipment that you just bought make sure that you are either touching the case or you have touched something metal before you pick it up. So now that you are ready to install it in your computer you want to look and find, there is a groove on the RAM itself. That is to help you wind it up. When you look at the slot there is little clips on the side. You want to make sure they are open. So I'm here lining up mine. There is grooves and it is like a track it goes into and once it is slid into place you should easily just be able to push it in and just push it in and come over to the sides and push your tabs up to make sure they are firmly in there and that should be it for installing the RAM. Now when you boot up the computer in the beginning screens sometimes it will tell you to check its RAM or once you get into your Windows you should be able to right click on My Computer icon and go to properties and on that main property screen it will tell you how much RAM you have in your computer. If you see the number that is supposed to be there then you know you have upgraded your memory successfully and that is how to upgrade the RAM in your computer."