Installing extra RAM?

Nope its all plug and play

You'll need to match the speed,latency and type though, but there are tons of websites out there that can help you.

or just bring a stick of ram with you to the store and show it to a tech, he'll find compatible ones.

as far as installing it, its about the easiest part in a computer to upgrade, take the side off, locate the slots, push the tabs back on either side, orient the stick the right way (they only fit in one way) and gently press them in (i like to push with two fingers on either side)

then just boot it, and you'll notice your ram count will be a @#$% load higher then before.

But be aware mainboards have a maximum limit for installed ram, and each board is different. But a good rule of thumb these days is, Each slot can fit a 1024MB stick in it.

and The standard Edition of Windows XP (called 32 bit these days) only supports a maximum of 2.75GB (2,768MB) of ram, so even if you put in three 1024MB sticks (3072MB) it will only read and see the 2.75GB

but i have 3072MB installed and run on XP (triple boot XP,Vista,7 :P ) and i've yet to see it use 1.8GB of my ram, even playing THE most demanding video games like Borderlands and Crysis.

First of all, i believe you got the right set of rams. getting the wrong pair will prevent your system from booting up. Also when getting ram make sure they are similar esp the Clock speed. E.g. DDR 400, DDR2 - 400, DDR2 - 533.

Since lets say for example your mother board supports a DDR 400 ram and below, lets say you bought a 512MB DDR 400, and have a spare 512MB DDR 333 ram, you notice the clock speed is different. Most motherboards will automatically run them at the lower clockspeed at DDR 333. But some motherboards will not, if that is the case you got to enter your BIOS when you bootup usually by hitting the 'Del' Key etc and navigate to the advance settings to make the necessary changes.

If this is not the case you got everything right, then your system will just run fine, since your motherboard is able to detect the ram automatically and run fine.

If you are an overclocker and wish to overclock your ram then you do have to make changes in your BIOS, but this is not recommended for anyone, unless you know what you are doing with your computer.

Load up the sticks, and fire up the computer. One of three things will happen.

1. it will see the memory and be happy,

2. it will see the memory and ask you to reboot so that it can use the memory, or

3. It won't see the memory because it's not compatible.

All you need to do is install the sticks on the motherboard. The machine will begin using them right away.

Most computers automatically adjust and to changes in hardware (including RAM).

it will take automatically