What's wrong with my PC?

[jsalemi]

But anywhoo, one of my ramsticks got fried during all of this so my PC is only running on 1gig at the moment.  I'm thinking of getting two new sticks because I can get two new sticks cheaper off an online store than a match for the one I have off Noel Leeming.  The last pair I got were DDR2, do I just stick to that?

Check on newegg -- besides having a decent sale on memory right now, they have a nice little 'configurator' that'll help tell you exactly what kind of memory you should get (there's many types and speeds of DDR2 out there).

[J. M. Pescado]

If your RAM is DDR2, you have to only buy DDR2. Period. There's no cross-compatibility

I've seen some boards capable of consuming both DDR2 and DDR3.

[Charlotte]

Ok, I've gotta understanding of the ram now.

Also, what's better - 8600gt 512mb GDDR2 or 8600gt 256mb GDDR3?  I've got the 256mb one in at the moment, but need to know which is the better card

[jsalemi]

I've seen some boards capable of consuming both DDR2 and DDR3.

Most of the mid-high end mobos are coming that way now.