Ram upgrade on Dell dimension 8300

nheav

Hi all,

I have an old (probably 7-8 years at this stage) Dell Dimension 8300 running Windows XP professional
It's gone very slow recently so I was going to upgrade the ram.

My questions are as follows:
With a current setup up of an
Pentium 4 CPU at 3.00GHz
2.99Ghz, 512MB Ram

Without knowing a whole lot about it I want to make sure that it's even worth my while buying RAM for the machine, or will it make any difference?

Also,

Would these be the correct one's to buy?
http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/catalog/ZKB_01COM/08_MEMINT/01_DDR1/default.aspx

And if so, does any have any particular selling points over the other?


And finally,

Would it have a major impact on the P.C performance if I was to guy 2 of these? And how easy are they to install? Anyone ever tried it?

Hope that all makes sense!

Thanks in advance,

N

Jonny7

If you haven't already - give the PC a good spring clean

Use some free software like this
http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=systemcare&platformSelect=Windows&tag=srch&searchtype=downloads&filterName=platform%3DWindows&filter=platform%3DWindows

(run the registry defrag, disk defrag, junk file clean, everything actually)

If its still running slower than expected then I would do a clean install of XP, but since most people don't want to do this go straight to the ram upgrade

Pretty easy, just googled dimension 8300
Here's the blurb
Memory Upgrade for Dell Dimension 8300 Computer, the Dell Dimension 8300 Computer takes the PC2700/3200 DDR SDRAM DIMMs. Must be installed in matching pairs. Supports Dual Channel DDR. Memory Type, and comes installed with of Memory. You can upgrade your Dell Dimension 8300 Computer to up to a maximum of 4.0 GB Memory, the system has 4 sockets (2 banks of 2) to install Memory, already with standard Memory installed. For best Computer performance use the maximum amount of allowed Memory per slot for your Computer.
Choose the following Memory Upgrade for Dell Dimension 8300 Computer.

Any DDR 2700 or 3200 ram - personally I buy ram off Ebay.ie, much cheaper, but you can shop around in Komplett etc.

I'd say 2 sticks of 1 gb should run XP fine.

Once you buy the ram you can use youtube to see how to install it, fairly simple really.

On a side note you can buy dells for next to nothing on Ebay now, 100 euros delivered, etc

nheav

Jonny7 wrote: »

If you haven't already - give the PC a good spring clean

Use some free software like this
http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=systemcare&platformSelect=Windows&tag=srch&searchtype=downloads&filterName=platform%3DWindows&filter=platform%3DWindows

(run the registry defrag, disk defrag, junk file clean, everything actually)

If its still running slower than expected then I would do a clean install of XP, but since most people don't want to do this go straight to the ram upgrade

Pretty easy, just googled dimension 8300
Here's the blurb
Memory Upgrade for Dell Dimension 8300 Computer, the Dell Dimension 8300 Computer takes the PC2700/3200 DDR SDRAM DIMMs. Must be installed in matching pairs. Supports Dual Channel DDR. Memory Type, and comes installed with of Memory. You can upgrade your Dell Dimension 8300 Computer to up to a maximum of 4.0 GB Memory, the system has 4 sockets (2 banks of 2) to install Memory, already with standard Memory installed. For best Computer performance use the maximum amount of allowed Memory per slot for your Computer.
Choose the following Memory Upgrade for Dell Dimension 8300 Computer.

Any DDR 2700 or 3200 ram - personally I buy ram off Ebay.ie, much cheaper, but you can shop around in Komplett etc.

I'd say 2 sticks of 1 gb should run XP fine.

Once you buy the ram you can use youtube to see how to install it, fairly simple really.

On a side note you can buy dells for next to nothing on Ebay now, 100 euros delivered, etc

Thanks very much for the help.
I've tried cleaning it up a few times but I'll try that link you sent next time I'm on it. hopefully that'll work!

thanks again,

N