upgrading ram

Pat the Baker

I am a total novice at this stuff and know pretty much nothing about comps.

I have a Dell dimension e520 that has 1 gb of ram and i want to upgrade this to at least 2GB.

Do i buy 1 x 1Gb or 2 x 512mb of memory and how do i found out if i have 1 x 1gb or 2 x 512 mb already installed.

Where is the cheapest place to buy them also?

duffman85

go to crucial.com and pick your computer model from the drop down menus - this will tell you what type and the maximum amount of ram your computer can take.

You can also use crucial's scanner(on their website) - you need to do this in Internet Explorer. Crucial's scanner will also tell you how much ram is currently installed.

Crucial Website

Pat the Baker

thanks very much.

I have 2 x 512mb installed and they recomennded getting 2 x 1gb to make it 3 gb of ram, will that work at full power or will it work at the power of the 512mb (ive been reading that it will only work at power of smallest memory but as i say im a total novice)

Hoser

i would first check how many slots you got..prolly u have 2 but if u have 4 then u can buy an extra 2. so if u have 2 only slots i would suggest getting 2x1gb + its dirth cheap nowadays and u can get decent ram for 30 quid.

Pat the Baker

I have 4 slots, 2 are taking up with 512mbs(1gb) so i have 2 free, so if i fill them with 2 x 1gb ill have 3gb but will that work to full potential ?

i am running a 32 bit system so that can only take 3gb so its the max i can go.

i dont have the technical know how to fix something if it goes tits up

Hoser

32bit systems can be fitted with 4GB ram but it will only recognise 3.25.

im not sure how it will go with your system..but im pretty sure it should all run ok since ran is kinda plug and play..it doesn't need much tweaking.

currently i got 2x2gb sticks and xp shows 3.25 which im preatty happy with it ..+ it didnt cost much so no biggy there..i can always switch to vista and get the full 4GB

Pat the Baker

cool ill go aheaad and put an extra 2 in it, i am running vista and i find 1 gb too slow especially with the new football manager game.

thanks again

cian1500ww

The old RAM will not really be of much benefit unless the new RAM runs at the same speed as the previous. I'm not 100% sure about this so hopefully someone else can confirm this.

Pat the Baker

thats what i thought too

TerrorFirmer

cian1500ww wrote: »

The old RAM will not really be of much benefit unless the new RAM runs at the same speed as the previous. I'm not 100% sure about this so hopefully someone else can confirm this.

The old ram is of perfectly good benefit. The only thing is that if the old ram runs at say 533mhz, which it probably does, the new stuff will as well, regardless of its rated speed.

It doesn't matter much and all of the ram will still be used, the difference between 533 and 667, 800mhz and so on isn't noticable and would really be more worth considering in cases of strict benchmarks and overclocking.

And of course, it won't be running in dual channel, which would hurt performance compared to if you had 2x2gb for example.

All in all, just get a cheap 1gb of ram and you'll be fine. Get 2x512mb to run in dual channel mode, you won't need more then 2gb of ram in that setup anyway. Or get a 2gb kit with 2x1gb, and sell your current ram. Makes little odds.

Unless you have vista. Then 2x2gb and just forgetting the old ram would be a good move.

nigeloconnor

Where is the best place to buy RAM..? Is Crucial.com ok?

AlmightyCushion

Shop4memory.com usually have good prices.

nigeloconnor

I went with Crucial.com, they were the cheapest but am expecting to get charged by customs..:mad:

BCawley

Just a few tech questions here. There are 2 sticks of ram that have the same spec but about €15 in the difference. Can anyone tell me if theres any difference? I'm hoping its just one of them is better for over clocking (which i dont intend to do)

€23 and £31 sticks.

Also how useful is dual channeling? If for pure example I had 256MB ram, would it be better to get another 256 and use dual channeling, or get a 512 stick?

Thanks :rolleyes:

blinkey 101

hi can anyone help i have a dell inspiron 1521 want upgrade the ram. its only 1 gig at the mo but a friend gave me 1x2gig from a toshiba . when i put it in my ltop it was dead slow the toshiba sticks are 2rx8 pc25300s can any one tell me what im doing wrong . also when i booted up my comp lots of tec words came up on screen

snip123456789

Hoser wrote: »

32bit systems can be fitted with 4GB ram but it will only recognise 3.25.

im not sure how it will go with your system..but im pretty sure it should all run ok since ran is kinda plug and play..it doesn't need much tweaking.

currently i got 2x2gb sticks and xp shows 3.25 which im preatty happy with it ..+ it didnt cost much so no biggy there..i can always switch to vista and get the full 4GB

what speed is it im wondering to buy two 2gb sticks of ddr2 in pc world but the chap in their said it wouldnt work i think hes lying they were 800mhz btw

Monotype

Thread is 3 and a half years old!!!

Just use the memory configurator at memoryc.ie to find RAM that's compatible with your system.
http://www.memoryc.com/memory-upgrade.html

Whether the RAM will work or not depends on your motherboard, so you'll either have to research the board to find compatible frequencies, use the configurator or check the motherboard manufacturer's website for tested compatible RAM.