How bad is it to add ram in while com is running

[ProjectChaos]

Just curious as to what would happen, I was just thinking how sick I am to having to shut the com down everytime I feel like messing around with something
I have a asrock n68-s btw, upgrading soon..

The entire specs are - Asrock n68-s am2+
4gigs of pc2-8500 ram 1066mhz am2+
geforce 8500 gt 512mb video card,
amd athlon 64 x2 dual core 6000+

great rig actually, maxed every game also, bioshock 2, mass effect2, prototype, oblivion, no issue with anything, I spent exactl 300 building this com, compared to a walmart value or bestbuy I got away wit murder

Also I am looking for a new Motherboard Does anyone know of where I can get the best cheapest board, something fast and reliable, do you measure a motherboards speed by the fsb?

 

[baditude_df]

Do not add or remove components to the mobo with the power on.
Shut the computer down, unplug the power from the back of the PSU, then do your thing.
There's really not any way around that.

 

[ProjectChaos]

Yeah I figured that, one of the reasons ive just never done it before, hell static can fry a motherboard I heard if touched without a static wrist thingy

 

[Nebulous]

Do not add or remove components to the mobo with the power on.
Shut the computer down, unplug the power from the back of the PSU, then do your thing.
There's really not any way around that.

+1 on dat! Failure to adhere to this will result in catastrophic death of the whole pc.

You really don't want to do that

 

[petteyg359]

Do not add or remove components to the mobo with the power on.
Shut the computer down, unplug the power from the back of the PSU, then do your thing.
There's really not any way around that.

Actually, there is. There are boards that support hot-swapping CPUs and RAM modules. You just won't find that support on any board anywhere near your home desktop (Unless you've got a Sun or Cray blade sitting in your room)

 

[CompuTamer]

Chances are if you add a RAM module, the computer will just turn off... very quickly. It shouldn't kill anything, but i would NOT reccomend it. I've done it before, and it was scary lol

I think you can safely pull video cards... kinda pointless though, as windows won't detect it till a reboot.
Hard drives can be hot swapped on most every mobo now, so that's not really a problem.

Still, turn off the computer. Just to be safe

It really sucks when you have a 45 day uptime, and then you have to shut down to put in a new video card

 

[ChanceCoats123]

I hear you Comp. I know I'm probably crazy for believing this as much as I do, but I try to keep my computer running or not running. I have heard about warping and solder breaking because of quick and often resets. Like everything in the universe, silicon, lead (even though most components are ROHS compliant) and other materials that go into computers, they expand and contract with changes in heat and frequency. So personally, a long, consistent, up time is the best for me.

 

[Meathead]

With my setup in my sig I used to have a 2 512 sticks of the high voltage mushkin redlines and the DFI board would boot them at default voltage if I shut off the power supply. I'd have to boot in with the 1 stick that was able to boot at the low voltage and then shut down but keep power to the psu and put the second stick back in. What a pain that was but never had any problems.

 

[Automiketic]

With my setup in my sig I used to have a 2 512 sticks of the high voltage mushkin redlines and the DFI board would boot them at default voltage if I shut off the power supply. I'd have to boot in with the 1 stick that was able to boot at the low voltage and then shut down but keep power to the psu and put the second stick back in. What a pain that was but never had any problems.

If your board wasnt keeping your bios settings when it lost power from the psu thats usually a sign of a dead button battery. thats why keeping power to the powersupply worked because it wasnt losing your bios settings.

 

[Meathead]

If your board wasnt keeping your bios settings when it lost power from the psu thats usually a sign of a dead button battery. thats why keeping power to the powersupply worked because it wasnt losing your bios settings.

It was keeping my bios settings. It was a known issue that a good number of people dealt with. The problem was it would try to keep my overclocked settings but feed the ram at post 2.6v or something when I had it set to 3.5v. Hence why I had a really good stick that could post at that low of voltage and one that could not.

 

[Rich'[ard]]

hmm...well there was one time i was checking my computer while i paused a game.
i closed the side panel door after i unplugged a few fans etc, then went to un-pause my game, BUT it froze

i checked my pc again and i accidentally pulled out a sata cable. i put it back in, un-paused the game and i continued playing
so i guess unplugging harddrives isn't AS bad as unplugging ram. after all, the ram is being accessed non-stop.

 

[petteyg359]

i checked my pc again and i accidentally pulled out a sata cable. i put it back in, un-paused the game and i continued playing
so i guess unplugging harddrives isn't AS bad as unplugging ram. after all, the ram is being accessed non-stop.

SATA was designed with hot-swap in mind. Try that with an IDE drive on a ribbon cable and see what happens

 

[Neuromancer]

I dont know how many psus don't have 5 wire... A LOT

Which means hot swap aint happening. Just sayin

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

hot swap only works with raid or AHCI enabled on your mobo if it supports it for SATA.

 

[diaz]

Do not add or remove components to the mobo with the power on.
Shut the computer down, unplug the power from the back of the PSU, then do your thing.
There's really not any way around that.

You using a static mat? At my work it is regulation to leave the power chord plugged in for grounding unless using a static mat...

 

[EarthDog]

Yeah, plugged in and PSU turned off is how I do it so I know its grounded. I dont think I have ever used a wrist strap either... I just made sure I grounded myself by touching my case before a component.

 

[baditude_df]

Yeah, plugged in and PSU turned off is how I do it so I know its grounded. I dont think I have ever used a wrist strap either... I just made sure I grounded myself by touching my case before a component.

Yep, Pretty much exactly what I do as well.
I typically unplug the PSU myself, but honestly I don't know if it matters.

 

[EarthDog]

If you unplug the PSU, your case is likely not grounded, no?