Looking to upgrade Dell Dimension to 4Gb RAM...Recommendations?..

thebullkf

Hi folks, my mates PC is about 5yrs old,workin OK but a bit slow/sluggish.
He rang dell and was quoted 300e for someone to come out,install the RAM and install an additional 320Gb Hard drive.
He baulked @ this price,saying he could get a mini pc for this money.
So,is the price a rip off?

anyone on boards able to do it,know where i can get it done in Nth. Dublin,or someone willing to do it cheaper?


thanks

deceit

yea thats nuts price but dell are always like that with upgrades to get people to buy new computers off them instead, if they had there way you couldnt upgrade pc's, would need to find out what type of ram is needed first then people on here could help.

gamer_Niall

i recently upgraded my dimension to 2gb

i recommend u buy it online and install it yourself. it's as simple to do just slotting them into the motherboard.

but find out what type of ram it is first cos there are loads of different types.

thebullkf

cheers folks, will check it out.
afaik its a dell dimension 6150.
1024Mb RAM at the moment,i assume its 2x512Mb ...so i'd have to buy another 2x512Mb to match existing is that right?

s'pose i won't know till i check.

thanks folks

massy086

use this scanner and it will tell you how many gigs your pc can take and what ram it will take http://www.crucial.com/eu/?gclid=CL7lkqey46ICFRgulAod_kOmww&cpe=pd_google_ir&ef_id=1725:3:s_4f969135a5d6602e73054bcca7c089dc_3970031214:TDmuXgqoEGQAAAv3-y8AAAU@:20100711114326

BostonB

Is that the correct model "dimension 6150"

I can't find any thing on it.

thebullkf

BostonB wrote: »

Is that the correct model "dimension 6150"

I can't find any thing on it.

yeah iirc it says 6150.
its 5 years old.
top spec {@ the time}
19" Flat Monitor etc.

Hank Scorpio

If hes running XP 32-bit theres now point getting 4GB of ram.

The most I could ever get XP to recognise was 3.25 and that was using boot.ini switches and windows went fairly unstable

BostonB

Problem with your PC then, I've been using a PC with XP and 4GB of ram for years no problem. It only sees 3.5GB of it though. Aside from the OS, many motherboards don't support 4GB of ram either. Its often hardware (chipset) limitation.

If you get the specs of that 6150, I'd be curious to see, and to find out why I can't find it on Dell or Google.

http://en.community.dell.com/Search/SearchResults.aspx?q=Dimension+6150

Hank Scorpio

BostonB wrote: »

Problem with your PC then, I've been using a PC with XP and 4GB of ram for years no problem. It only sees 3.5GB of it though.

Did it automatically detect 3.5 in windows or did you have to tweak some stuff?

The bios can see the 4 gig without any problems tho. Also your slightly contradicting yourself. :P

BostonB

How am I contradicting myself? I said I have 4GB installed with no instability problems. But Windows XP only sees 3.5GB. You can see 3.5 GB ram in the computer properties or in performance monitor.

I have a laptop with 4GB installed and Windows 7 64bit which see's 3.5GB because of the motherboard limitation. Another PC has 4GB and XP 32bit, so only sees 3.5 GB because of XP 32bit limitation. Same effect different causes.

No tweaks required, other than installing the ram in a particular order.

Hank Scorpio

BostonB wrote: »

How am I contradicting myself?

"Problem with your PC then, I've been using a PC with XP and 4GB of ram for years no problem."

Anyway, nevermind. Not trying to pick bones.

I spent a good bit of time trying to get more than 3.25 on 2 seperate machines/mobos and gave up when i saw it quoted on the net and this forum that it cant be done.

BostonB

Difference of perception then. I don't see hardware/OS limitation as a problem, its a fact of life. Instability however is a problem. Thats how I think of it anyway.

Perhaps thats because most of the time I'm not running out of RAM. I was with 2GB but not with 3.25/3.5 GB. TBH I was surprised, I thought I was using more. Even the biggest coding or database jobs I run most use just over the 2GB no more.

A correction, on checking. My Workstation PC with XP, Windows sees 3.5GB (as do all the similar workstations machines I use in work) but my laptop with Windows 7 64bit, Windows sees 3.25GB.