Is it time to change the RAM

[christy4290]

Hi,

I use my desktop on alternative months only due to my work. I have to remove RAM, brush it with an eraser and place it again to make it work each time. My RAM is 5+ years old. Is it time to change it?

 

[johnb35]

Are the contacts dirty or corroded? Have you tried taking a can of compressed air and blow out the memory slots?

 

[christy4290]

They aren't dirty but they appear to be a bit corroded. Anyway I will blow out the memory slots. Also, shall I add a new RAM? Is it compatible with the setup shown in screenshot? Will it boost the speed?

 

[Darren]

I'd bet you my computer your RAM slots are not "getting dirty" while actively being used. They're inside a RAM slot...

I would troubleshoot your problem further rather than just throwing RAM at it. How does it stop working? What led to the eraser conclusion?

 

[johnb35]

They aren't dirty but they appear to be a bit corroded.

If they are truly corroded then you have a problem to diagnose. Your memory slots may be corroded as well. You haven't posted any pictures of the memory with possible corrosion. How's the humidity level in your house?

Also, shall I add a new RAM? Is it compatible with the setup shown in screenshot? Will it boost the speed?

Adding more ram really isn't gonna help with the speed a lot. You only have a dual core cpu and most likely using a mechanical hard drive. To improve speed, your system would improve greatly by installing a Sata SSD drive and then up the ram to 8gb total. We would need to know system or motherboard specifics to tell you what ram to get. But you really need to figure out why you have to use the erasure method to be able to boot the pc after so long.

 

[Darren]

I would speculate just reseating the RAM is whatever is getting it to work again, or even just simply rebooting it. Eraser unrelated.

 

[christy4290]

Hi John,

Recently I installed an SSD and the performance is amazing now. Boots up in say 25 seconds. The motherboard is Gigabyte H61M-S. I am not a high end user. Uses PC for browsing, watching live sports, YouTube etc. The only lag I face is when I view 4K movies, that too not much. With the SSD installed, shall I proceed to install another 4GB RAM? Or should I think about a Graphics card?

 

[christy4290]

Hi Darren,

I think the interval of one month is causing the issue. So I use the eraser and rub it. Or may be a bit of corrosion.

 

[johnb35]

The 4k videos may be an internet limitation. What internet speed are you getting?

Do you have both memory slots used up or just one of them? Adding more memory will only help a little. If you could find an I5 quad core cpu like one of these somewhere it would help.

I5 3330
I5 3340
I5 3450
I5 3470
I5 3550
I5 3570

There is no need to buy a video card since you don't game. Although you may need to update the onboard video driver depending on how old it is.

 

[beers]

You're wasting your time at best trying to rub an eraser all over that and potentially damaging the components.

4GB of RAM isn't really enough for anything. A new 8GB stick is like $20.

If you could find an I5 quad core cpu like one of these somewhere it would help.

3570 are literally like $15 on ebay.