Computer Memory

If you are in any way, thinking of upgrading the RAM on your PC, then the starting point is naturally going to be what your current memory state is. Factors that will guide your future RAM choice will include:

•  What type of RAM do I have? (e.g. DDR2, DDR3 etc)
•  How much memory do you have installed already?
•  What RAM does your motherboard support?

The last thing you want to do is guess, as you could be just throwing money away if you purchase unsuitable RAM hardware.

So, with this in mind, here is a step by step guide to checking your RAM setup:

Option 1 

Step 1
As Windows system configuration information found on the PC itself will only include very basic information about the amount of RAM you have and how much is ‘useable’, there is a necessity to download a free 3rd party application to provide you with more detailed data.
One we would recommend is ‘CPU-Z’. The reason for this endorsement is not financially driven (ie we’re getting paid to say nice things about them). It is because they have a good reputation and are a safe bet for downloads...and of course because it’s free.

Step 2
Once your download is complete, you just need to follow the installation instructions to get it on your PC. Launch the application and perform the necessary scan.
You will then be presented with the required information regarding your PC. This application will have scanned the whole computer and lots of detailed info will be available under the general CPU, Caches, Motherboard, Memory, SPD and Graphics.
 
Select ‘Memory’ and you should now be seeing all of your Memory system info.

Things to look out for

You will be looking at a lot of information, but the first one you should be seeing is the ‘Type’ of RAM, which is the main thrust of this article.

Presuming you have a relatively recent laptop or PC, then you will have installed, a version Double Data Rate (or DDR) SDRAM. Possible types are DDR, DDR2, DDR3 and DDR4, with DDR4 being the most recent and consequently most powerful. Simply, the higher number at the end, the newer the version is.

Option 2

Search for your specific model within the Offtek memory configurator and we will list the exact modules that are compatible with your machine.  Should your model not be listed contact one of our customer services team who will do the research for you and provide you with information on the correct memory upgrade for your machine.

A note of Caution

If you don’t go for the CPU-Z scanning application mentioned earlier, then do please do your research before you download anything. Some less reputable sites can hide malware, adware and alternative browsers in with the download, so be careful!

The company known as Olivetti began operating back in 1908 and was solely concerned with the production of typewriters and was the brainchild of Italian pair Camillo Olivetti and Gino Levi Martinoli. After its inception, the main running of the company fell to Olivetti’s son, Adriano.

Olivetti Inc launched its international operation in 1930 and it opened its very first overseas production facility in the same year. One of its first electronic breakthroughs was the Divisumma Electric calculator, which it launched almost 20 years later in 1948.

First Italian Computer
The first computer of note to exist in Italy, was the Olivetti Elea 9003, created in 1959 and manufactured using a transistor array. Not long after that, the company bought the Underwood Typewriter Company.

In 1964, the electronics division of Olivetti was sold off to the US giant General Electric (GE), but it carried on producing its own computer products. These included the Programma 101 (the first commercially available home computer) and a host of other notable models during the 1980s.

The Dragon computer was one of those models and it was released during a time when Olivetti was experiencing a meteoric rise in the industry. It became the largest office machine manufacturer in Europe and the 2nd largest PC supplier in Europe, second only to IBM.

Moving forward to the mid 50s, the company was responsible for some of the very first mainframe computer systems using transistors, like the Elea 9003. This model and the much more diminutive 6001 enjoyed some success in the computer lease market, however, poor sales led to the company withdrawing from the sector in ‘64.

The Programma 101
The Olivetti Programma 101, released in 1965, (mentioned earlier) is regarded as the world’s first commercially available desktop PC, a prototype model of which currently resides in the National Science Museum in Milan. The model would have been owned by GE after it acquired the electronics arm of Olivetti, but for a last minute change in category from calculator to computer.

Acorn Computers
By the mid 80s, the company continued to jostle for position in the burgeoning computer market, as it purchased the majority share in british computer firm, Acorn Computers.

1987 witnessed the rise of the LSX line, which used the Motorola 68k processor as a template. These computers could run both MOS and Unix.

Just 10 years had passed when Olivetti ceased production, having tried to save itself at the eleventh hour by launching the ‘Envision’, the first ‘Multimedia’ home computer. The world it seems wasn’t quite ready for it and it was a commercial failure. This resulted in it selling its PC arm lock stock and barrel in 1997.