Question : Problem: Increasing RAM of my pc

Hi
I have a P-III, 1Ghz 128MB RAM, 40GB HDD pc. I want to increase the RAM of my pc to 512 or more, if possible. How should I go about it?
And are there any limitations to the amount to which I can increase the RAM? I heard that there's a limit beyond which, no matter how much I increase the RAM, it won't matter much. Is that true? How can I check the limitations of my pc ?

Thank You
Shoeb

Answer : Problem: Increasing RAM of my pc

Yes, PC133 SDRAM should be fine.  99% chance it will work for you.  But odds are, you can only use 2x256 MB RAM or MAYBE 2x128 + 1x256.  You system only has 3 memory slots and a maximum of 512 MB RAM.  It would probably be better to get 2x256 and just discard the 128 (sell it on ebay or something - but they are cheap - not going to get too much for it.

NOTE: There is a CHANCE the 256 MB chips won't work (probably not that much of a chance, but it COULD be - so get the memory from a vendor who will allow you to return it.  When you are getting the memory, for best performance,  try to get:

256MB CAS2 PC133 SDRAM Unbuffered, Non ECC

Then you just pop the cards into the machine - should be fairly obvious where.  You will have to apply force, but not TOO much force.  Further, the chips have notches in them - they will only go in the board one way.  Note the notch orientation when installing them.

Turn your computer on.  There's a CHANCE your BIOS will prompt you about a memory change (some do, some don't).  Just follow the instructions to continue.  You might have to just go into BIOS once then leave it (changing nothing but exit and saving the changes).  Then you shouldn't have any error messages about memory.  If the system doesn't boot at all, then theres a good possibility the system doesn't support 256 MB chips (but the only chipset I knew of that didn't was the 440BX - kinda old, older than the 815e which is what your board uses.  So I would EXPECT them to work.