How do I check RAM speed and type (line DDR or DDR2) without opening my computer? I need to purchase RAM and I need to know the exact speed and type installed. How do I find out ram information from a shell prompt?
You need to use biosdecode command line utility. Dmidecode is a tool or dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS) table contents in a human-readable format. The output contains a description of the system's hardware components, as well as other useful pieces of information such as serial numbers and BIOS revision. This command works under Linux, UNIX and BSD computers.
Open a shell prompt and type the following command:
$ sudo dmidecode --type 17
OR
$ sudo dmidecode --type 17 | more
Sample output:
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.4 present.
Handle 0x0018, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0017
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 2048 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: J6H1
Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 0
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: Synchronous
Speed: 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
Manufacturer: 0x2CFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Serial Number: 0x00000000
Asset Tag: Unknown
Part Number: 0x5A494F4E203830302D3247422D413131382D
Handle 0x001A, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0017
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: Unknown
Data Width: Unknown
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: J6H2
Bank Locator: CHAN A DIMM 1
Type: DDR2
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: NO DIMM
Serial Number: NO DIMM
Asset Tag: NO DIMM
Part Number: NO DIMM
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
lol; i like you’re site and your howto’s very very much. However, now I know I have to follow your stuff with an unknown type of ram, at an unknown speed. lol
seriously, keep up the good work! :D
If only there was a way to see what rank it is too :(.
I’m using Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 3 32bits.
Using dmidecode I get the following results:
jp@jp-desktop810:~$ sudo dmidecode –type 17
[sudo] password for jp:
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.2 present.
Invalid entry length (0). DMI table is broken! Stop.
jp@jp-desktop810:~$ sudo dmidecode –type 17 | more
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.2 present.
Invalid entry length (0). DMI table is broken! Stop.
So, dmidecode is same version, SMBIOS is 2.2 instead of 2.4. And I didn’t get the information from dmidecode.
Juan,
You may need to report bug to Ubuntu team. There is not much we can do to fix this issue.
Mark,
ditto
I get only this:
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
and no more info!
Tried both commands.
How can i get info like size, speed, type etc. ?
dmidecode –type memory
This should work as well :)
sajmon,
You can try using the following command combination and see if that works:
dmidecode |grep -A20 ^Memory
Gagan Brahmi,
Thanks, works well. :P
I am using Fedora 9. 2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Here is the dmidecode –type 17 output.
No type and speed info.
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
Handle 0×0028, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0×0027
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: A0
Bank Locator: Bank0/1
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: None
Serial Number: None
Asset Tag: None
Part Number: None
Handle 0×0029, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0×0027
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: Unknown
Data Width: Unknown
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: A1
Bank Locator: Bank2/3
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: None
Serial Number: None
Asset Tag: None
Part Number: None
Handle 0x002A, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0×0027
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 1024 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: A2
Bank Locator: Bank4/5
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: None
Serial Number: None
Asset Tag: None
Part Number: None
Handle 0x002B, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0×0027
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Total Width: Unknown
Data Width: Unknown
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: A3
Bank Locator: Bank6/7
Type: Unknown
Type Detail: None
Speed: Unknown
Manufacturer: None
Serial Number: None
Asset Tag: None
Part Number: None
What will be the problem?
Is this a white box?? That is what I can make out. Just try the following command to see the server model:
dmidecode –type system
or
dmidecode –type 1
Thanks A Lot for this information
Thank u So Much very useful tips..
Thank You very much. Keep this up.
Many thanks – useful tip!
Awesome dude…
Thanks for the post! This helped me out with a production server I couldn’t turn off. :)
I have the same problem. Speed : Unknown.
Running Ubuntu 9.04.
I get the following:
$ sudo dmidecode –type 17 | more
bash: $: command not found
[root@localhost bob]# demidecode –type 17
bash: demidecode: command not found
[root@localhost bob]# demidecode -type system
bash: demidecode: command not found
Hi
Thanks for your good article
Unfortunately dmidecode can not give correct information about my memory!!
I have 4Gig DDR3 but dmideocde can not determine type my ram,and shoe “type= other” and “speed: 667Mhz”.
But speed of my ram is 1333 MHz.
Thanks for nay help or guidance
@nima
DDR = Double Data Rate
so if a clock speed of 667Mhz is displayed the data rate speed is: 1334Mhz
Hi
@munzli
Thanks for your reply
According to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ddr3 :
DDR3 modules can transfer data at a rate of 800–2133 MT/s using both rising and falling edges of a 400–1066 MHz I/O clock. Sometimes, a vendor may misleadingly advertise the I/O clock rate by labeling the MT/s as MHz.
1333 is data rate not clock rate :P
I addition wikipedia web page, there is one good table for comparing.
Thanks again.
Thanks you for you information.
It is very very useful.
^^
Thanks for the tip! Knew this would be out there somewhere for a Linux machine since it can pretty much tell you every thing you want to know about your equipment. Glad there are people to pass on help.
Thanks!
It was very helpful dmicode –type 17
:)
Cheers
1333MHz PC3-1066 DDR3 DIMM Desktop Memory KVR1333D3N9K2/4G (Electronics) I scuuessfclly paired these sticks with Kingston KVR1333D3K2/4GR from another retailer in a dual-channel RAM configuration. So that makes a total of 4 sticks, 8 GB. In order to take advantage of this much memory, I’m running a 64-bit operating system (as opposed to a 32-bit one). These are DDR3 memory sticks, so be sure you have an AM3 motherboard if you like AMD processors, or whatever on the Intel side handles DDR3 if you go for Intel processors.