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Hardware Questions & Answers

Computer Hardware Related Questions and Answers

1. What is the difference between SDRAM and DDR RAM?

2. Ways of locating hardware and other system specifications?

3. How do I determine what type of video card I have?

What is the difference between SDRAM and DDR RAM?

SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. DDR is short for "DDR SDRAM" and stands for Double Data Rate. Therefore, the main difference between SDR and DDR memory the doubled speed: DDR can transfer data at roughly twice the speed of SDRAM. For example, PC133 SDRAM runs at 133 Mhz, while 133 Mhz DDR effectively runs at 133 Mhz x 2 = 266 Mhz.
SDRAM has 168 pins and two notches at the connector, which prevents it from being used in a DDR SDRAM motherboard and vice versa. It comes mainly in PC66, PC100 and PC133; the bus speeds of the RAM in MHz.
DDR SDRAM has 184 pins and a single notch at the connector. It comes in speeds of PC1600 (166 MHz), PC1800 (200 MHz), PC2100 (266 MHz), PC2700 (333 MHz), PC3200 (400 MHz), and PC4400 (550 Mhz). The numbers represent the theoretical maximum bandwidth of the DDR SDRAM in Megabytes per second (MB/s). For example, PC2100 has a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 2100 MB/s.

Ways of locating hardware and other system specifications?

msinfo32

Run the Windows System Information (msinfo32) that comes pre-installed with Windows to determine installed hardware and software specifications.

How do I determine what type of video card I have?

Below is a few different methods of determining the type of video card in an IBM compatible computer. Although most of these methods are for IBM compatible computer's, Apple computer's could also use some of the methods listed below to determine the type of their video card.

Method One

Many versions of Microsoft Windows will automatically detect and install your video card. Assuming no video issues currently exist with the video card you can determine the type of video card under display adapters in Device Manager.

Note: If you are experiencing video issues or the video card is being detected as a "Standard VGA" adapter it is likely what Microsoft Windows is not detecting the type of video card and if you need to determine the type of video card for drivers you will need to try the next step.

Method Two

Download one of the third-party programs found on Here. These utilities can be used to help identify and list all of the hardware found in your computer.

Method Three

Many video cards and chipsets will list the type of video card and/or memory during the POST. Try rebooting the computer and as it is first booting press the "Pause / Break" key to temporarily halt the computer's boot process and read the text on the screen. If you are unfamiliar with video card manufacturers / chipsets write down some of the company names you see and search video card driver section for that company. 

Method Four

The below steps require that the user first get to a MS-DOS prompt. Information about getting to a MS-DOS prompt can be found on document CHDOS. 

At the C:\> prompt type the below commands.

debug <press enter>

At the - prompt type the below command. 

d c000:0040

After typing the above command you should receive several lines of text similar to:

C000:0040		00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	-	00	00	00	00	00	00	00	00		................
C000:0050		E9	63	7B	00	B4	10	49	27	-	E9	FE	2B	E9	F7	2B	50	4D		.c{...I'..+..+PM
C000:0060		49	44	58	00	5B	00	00	00	-	00	A0	00	B0	00	B8	00	C0		IDX.[...........
C000:0070		00	5B	53	54	42	20	6E	56	-	49	44	49	41	20	54	4E	54		.[STB nVIDIA TNT
C000:0080		20	76	65	72	2E	20	31	2E	-	31	30	20	0D	0A	00	1B	43		ver. 1.10 ....C
C000:0090		6F	70	79	72	69	67	68	74	-	28	43	29	31	39	39	38	20		opyright(C)1998
C000:00A0		53	54	42	20	53	79	73	74	-	65	6D	73	20	49	6E	63	0D		STB Systems Inc.
C000:00B0		0A	00	22	6C	2C	0A	01	00	-	C3	50	24	7F	E8	60	36	58		.."1,....P$..'6X

As you can pick out in the above dump this gives you enough information to determine the make and the year made on the video card. On line 4 you can see the make of this video card which in this case is a nVIDIA TNT which would be the Riva TNT chipset. The next line you notice the version of the card and finally the line thereafter is the copyright or the year manufactured generally.

If you are unable to capture any information which sounds like the video card you can also type

-d c000:0090

The above line will give you a dump similar to the above example however may have additional information about the video card.

Note: If the video card is onboard you may get the motherboard name and/or chipset. If you have an onboard video card you should get the video drivers for your chipset. Commonly the video drivers / chipset drivers are available through the motherboard manufacturer. 

Once you're ready to exit the debug prompt type "quit" to exit back to the MS-DOS prompt. If you wish to close the MS-DOS window type "exit".

Method Five

Unplug everything from the back of the computer and open the computer and look for any visual identification directly off of the video card or motherboard. Many times you can find the manufacturer name, model, serial number, and/or other unique identifications that can be used to identify the type of video card or video chipset you have.

Method Six

If you are unable to locate a manufacturer or model number of the video card, however are able to locate a FCC identification number it is recommended that you perform a FCC search using that number. Additional information about FCC numbers and how to search for information about a FCC number can be found on our FCC dictionary definition page.

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