2GB Memory Upgrade

Cmar-Ireland

Hi all,
I am looking to upgrade my PC to 2gb ram. Currently I have 1gb taken up with 4x 256mb cards. I have a Dell Dimension 8400, so this should work
2x 1gb DDR2 PC2-4200 533mhz
I can get these for £84 shipped, about €120. Is this a good price? The cards are Samsung.

Thanks
Ciaran

Ruu_Old

Looks like a good price to me. I can find no cheaper. Your Dell can handle up to 4gb afaik.

Anti

Yep that ram should be perfect. If you dont know what do do with your ram, You can sell them on www.adverts.ie ( same username and password as from here ) im sure gline will take them off you. Hes always looking for ram.

Darando

Sounds like a very good deal. Not sure exactly what memory that Dell model has as standard i.e is it defo PC2-4200???, because it will only run as fast as the slowest piece of memory (if that makes sense!! - if it already has PC2100 - 266Mhz then PC-4200 will only run at PC2100 speed.) Just check the sticks inside or via your service tag because no point getting high spec RAM than you need - might save a few quid.)

btw - where you getting it??

Cmar-Ireland

Darando wrote:

Sounds like a very good deal. Not sure exactly what memory that Dell model has as standard i.e is it defo PC2-4200???, because it will only run as fast as the slowest piece of memory (if that makes sense!! - if it already has PC2100 - 266Mhz then PC-4200 will only run at PC2100 speed.) Just check the sticks inside or via your service tag because no point getting high spec RAM than you need - might save a few quid.)

btw - where you getting it??

I am replacing all 4 sticks of 256mb that I have in it at the moment. So the PC-4200 should run at that speed? It can handle 4gb, but I dont need that much.

Darando

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

I am replacing all 4 sticks of 256mb that I have in it at the moment. So the PC-4200 should run at that speed? It can handle 4gb, but I dont need that much.

Why not take out only 2 of the 256mb sticks. and use the 2 x1gb instead , that will give you 2.5gb in total. Just make sure you check which slots you have to pair the sticks in. (it will be in your manual)

You can mix the speeds but as I said will only be as quick as the slowest.

2.5gb at slower speed is still better than 2gb at higher Im sure.(I am open to correction on that but would be sure im correct.)

Cmar-Ireland

Darando wrote:

Why not take out only 2 of the 256mb sticks. and use the 2 x1gb instead , that will give you 2.5gb in total. Just make sure you check which slots you have to pair the sticks in. (it will be in your manual)

You can mix the speeds but as I said will only be as quick as the slowest.

2.5gb at slower speed is still better than 2gb at higher Im sure.(I am open to correction on that but would be sure im correct.)

Hmmmm... never thought of that. 2.5gig it will be then! How do I find out what speed mine are?

Anti

download sisoft sandra. It will take you the make and speed.

Cmar-Ireland

Computer Manufacturer Dell
Computer Model Dimension 8400 Series
CPU Manufacturer GenuineIntel
CPU Family Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
CPU Speed 2992 MHz
Front-Side Bus Speed 800 MHz

---

Currently Installed Memory 1024 MB
Maximum Memory Capacity 4096MB
Total Number Of Memory Slots 4
Available Memory Slots 0


Slot 1 256 MB Non-parity DDR2 PC2-3200
Slot 2 256 MB Non-parity DDR2 PC2-3200
Slot 3 256 MB Non-parity DDR2 PC2-3200
Slot 4 256 MB Non-parity DDR2 PC2-3200

irlrobins

Pretty much.

Mutant_Fruit

But if you get faster ram now, you'll be able to keep it in the future if you upgrade. It'd be worth spending the extra few quid. It's DDR2, it's futureproof (ish )

Darando

here is the link for installing the RAM into the correct slots.....

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/sm/parts.htm#wp1058792

simple job, just make sure you look careful at position of slot 1&2 and 3&4 - they are not in 1,2,3,4 order!!!!!!!! follow the colour of the clips. Best of luck with it.

SeanW

Darando wrote:

Best of luck with it.

With Dell, you're going to need it.

Cmar-Ireland

Darando, thanks for the link.
So when I buy the RAM, even if I get PC2-4200 it will still only run at PC2-3200.
If I continue to use two stick of my original memory, there would be no problems adding two 1GB PC2-4200 sticks and having 2.5GB total, even though I wont take advantage of the faster speed. Is this correct?

There is a guy selling this on ebay in the US. He has lots of different specs, so I want to ensure I get the correct one. Oh yeah...are they 240pin?

Cmar-Ireland

This is the one I was looking at....

Mutant_Fruit

Yup, its bog-standard DDRII, so it'll work in any bog standard DDRII motherboard. While your new ram would run at slower speeds if you leave your existing ram in, i wouldn't worry about it. The thing is you can always ditch the 2x256mb's later and enjoy the benefits of faster ram (if you want). Buy em, they look like a good deal.

Cmar-Ireland

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

Yup, its bog-standard DDRII, so it'll work in any bog standard DDRII motherboard. While your new ram would run at slower speeds if you leave your existing ram in, i wouldn't worry about it. The thing is you can always ditch the 2x256mb's later and enjoy the benefits of faster ram (if you want). Buy em, they look like a good deal.

Ok, so if I keep some of the old memory in, it will run at the old speed, but if I remove all the old menory and just use the new stuff, it will run at the higher speed?
Would I even notice the extra speed, or as Darando said, 2.5gig of 3200 is better than 2gig of 4200???

Mutant_Fruit

Well, it all depends on the kind of applications you're running. Unless you're running video editing app's regularly i don't think you'll be filling up that 2 gigs of ram, so leaving out the 2x256's would make a noticeable impact on your usage.

Then again, the speed boost from not using the 2x256mb's mightn't be noticeable unless you're running applications which really need high memory bandwidth (gaming might benefit, how noticeable it'd be, i don't know). Stick with the 2.5 gigs for the moment, unless you find a need for the extra speed.

Cmar-Ireland

Cool........

thanks for the expertise folks! This site is great, lots of info just a few mouse clicks away!!!!

Think I'll go for that one on ebay and see how it goes....