if you're running a 32 bit version of windows, 4GB is max the system can use

Dice11271 wrote if you're running a 32 bit version of windows, 4GB is max the system can use

nope 64

First of all, dont mix and match. If you already have a 4gb stick then you need to stick with them, if you have 2 x 2gb sticks then you gotta stick with 2gb sticks. Also try skipping a RAM slot, don't place it into the next one, skip one

Maj wrote First of all, dont mix and match. If you already have a 4gb stick then you need to stick with them, if you have 2 x 2gb sticks then you gotta stick with 2gb sticks. Also try skipping a RAM slot, don't place it into the next one, skip one

ive done this

I'd run CPU-Z to see if the new stick is registering on your system at all, if not, i would check bios settings, maybe your new DDR3 is running at a higher mhz supported by your mobo

Dice11271 wrote I'd run CPU-Z to see if the new stick is registering on your system at all, if not, i would check bios settings, maybe your new DDR3 is running at a higher mhz supported by your mobo

i dont think i can have 12 but how do i select the 8 gb ram stick

Katie wrote

Dice11271 wrote I'd run CPU-Z to see if the new stick is registering on your system at all, if not, i would check bios settings, maybe your new DDR3 is running at a higher mhz supported by your mobo

i dont think i can have 12 but how do i select the 8 gb ram stick

As long as its 64 bit windows you can either have 32 or 64gb of ram depending on the mobo, and mixing stick sizes is fine, im running 3 4GB and 1 8GB atm, You shouldnt have to enable anything for the ram to start working after installing it, I would check where you bought it and see what Mz it's running at, if its 1600 or less, it should be fine. Anything over that, and depending on the mobo, it might not work.

its not working so i just took out the 4 gb and replaced it with 8gb

First, you can mix RAM with different capacities. Plenty of people run 12/24GB RAM. Also, it doesn't matter if the RAM you purchased is faster than 1600MHz, your motherboard will usually automatically set RAM to run at 1333MHz or 1600MHz, for DDR3 anyway. For faster RAM, you set the XMP profile in your BIOS.

That being said RAM is one of those components that can just be real iffy. Sometimes you can buy a 2x8GB kit of RAM,and then buy the exact same kit with the exact same speed and timings a few months later but it won't work with the RAM that's already installed. When mixing RAM, you pretty much want to get something with the same latency, timings, speed etc for compatibility but as I said, even that doesn't always work. So, you might just be unlucky.

If you could give us more info on the RAM you have, we could probably help better. You might just have to put the DIMMs in certain slots for them to work together, so check your motherboard manual.