Can't find the RAM to fit my motherboard

[heretician]

Okie so, the last thing on my list to replace in my PC was my RAM and I just got my 1GB PC-3200 / 4200 DDR2 sticks in the mail today, I was almost positive that this was what I needed; I checked crucial.com and it says it would fit (Dell Dimension 5100, only thing that is the same in it though is the motherboard and 1 stock fan) -- I checked Dell and it said it would fit, and another site.

On the sticks I currently have (3x 512mb) they are all Samsung and have a bunch of useless (to me) gibberish on there, only thing that looks useful on there is "PC2" and it is just between a bunch of 0s 1s and 3s heh, it does not say SDDR, DDR, DDR2, PC4200 / 4300 or anything on it.

The sticks that just came in the mail were PC-3200 DDR2, and looked like this:
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/2/8/2/1/3...4565_o.jpg

When you put the sticks I have right now right next to the sticks that I just bought, the dimensions are 100% the same, the only problem is the locating notch in the center is about a quarter inch down from where it is supposed to be on the motherboard; so it has to be something close to PC-3200 DDR2,

anyone have a clue? what makes the notch different, would I need to look for different types of the "PC-xxxx" or SDDR instead of DDR? I dont know if that actually changes stick itself or the compatibility, I know the MHz go up as the "PC-xxxx" goes up; so i'm guessing physical compatibility doesn't change for that.. Only thing left in my process of elimination is the DDR/SDDR

tyty

[SkyLine]

Are you sure you press it down hard enough and the arc thing at the ram is matching where you're putting at?

[bloodrain2011]

you might of put it in backwards, I did that when i put my new ram sticks in XD check and see if that is the problem.

[SkyLine]

When I first did it I try before sides. The problem for me was that I didn't press down hard enough cuz I was scare to snap it

[shaddy@123]

first you shud try nd see if u have done evrything u cud to fit it
if all the support sites say its gonna work then thers a chance it WILL...
though you shud contact a hardware person incase you break the RAM tryin to fit it in
good luck

[IllusionSlayer]

Would you mind posting the motherboard so I can check if they are indeed compatible?

[heretician]

I was not able to 100% obtain the model and make of the motherboard, I searched several sources to find the specifications though.

So I took a guess. I bought RAM that was as close of specifications as I could to my current determined specs (uhohuhoh!!!!! =P)

Anyway, bought the RAM; it didnt work. -- Emailed the outlet, who instructed me to pay an additional $38.00 to receive the RAM that fits my computer because of the high frequency of the channel doesn't fit anything. And yup, I searched Crucial.

The new RAM should be here in the mail tomorrow. 4GB to replace my 1.5GB (running on 500w power supply and a damn PNY XLR8 9800 GTX+ SLI'd)

I need to learn to buy all hardware upgrades at once =(