Dell RAM! Tried searching!

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AdamLewis

n00b
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
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12
Do you really have to get their stuff? I keep hearing all these horror stories about trying to put in RAM that you didnt buy from Dell and it not working. I just have a Dimension XPS Gen 2 and just want to add some more RAM to it.

I know Crucial guarantees their RAM to work, but NewEgg has some Corsair RAM that is faster and $40 cheaper.

I really just dont want to waste the time/money/energy of getting the Corsair from NewEgg if it's not even going to work, but on the other hand, I dont want to waste the money getting RAM from Crucial if the Corsair RAM would work...


Please lend me a hand here... :(
 
Well, I know RDRAM needs to be bought from dell to insure compatibility. I don't think their newest stuff would be as picky with SPD's as say, Apple. I'm sure most DDR2 (the gen 2 uses that right?) will be compatible.
 
This is the RAM thats in there right now..Im pretty sure its DDR ram but the only thing Im confused about is I thought PC3200 DDR ram was 400MHz, but CPU-Z says its at 200MHz? :confused: Is thats because its in dual channel mode?

My_crap_ram.jpg
 
Its running at 200MHz, which IS DDR400. It effectively doubles the data rate.

First of all, that is garbage RAM. 200MHz and 3-3-3-8 timings? It's not your fault, Dell just sticks in stuff that they find in the gutter, basically.

Now, were incompatibility stories based on DDR or RDRAM? Because new Dells should support 99% of DDR modules.
 
robberbaron said:
Its running at 200MHz, which IS DDR400. It effectively doubles the data rate.

First of all, that is garbage RAM. 200MHz and 3-3-3-8 timings? It's not your fault, Dell just sticks in stuff that they find in the gutter, basically.

Now, were incompatibility stories based on DDR or RDRAM? Because new Dells should support 99% of DDR modules.
Click to expand...

Thats my problem..I know I had a friend who had trouble but he had RDRAM. And I just hear a bunch of strories about it not working but I dont know if thats the case with DDR ram or not :( We need someone who knows to get in here. I really want to buy this RAM!
 
RAM is RAM. There is different types of RAM and different speeds, but a RAM stick will not morph inty dynamite inside your Dell and blow it to bits. The "nightmare story" was probably just static from installing the memory. Be careful!
 
Mushkin sells ram compatible with dell...much higher quality than you will get from dell and reasonably priced
 
At my job, we are a Dell shop, and have upgaded the ram on several Dell machines without any problems. We also did not overpay for the ram from Dell. As long as it is high quality ram ( Mushkin, Corsair, etc.) it should work fine.


Novensu
 
robberbaron said:
Its running at 200MHz, which IS DDR400. It effectively doubles the data rate.
Click to expand...
wow.. i've seen that statement way too many times lately. i really wish companies would stop this.. 'false' advertisement. it's very misleading.

as for the problems with rdram.. well rdram is stupid. i know this from experience... it was a terrible technology. you will be just fine with any 256mb pc3200 stick that can do 3-3-3 timings or better.
 
Rdram is a good technology, it just wasn't as mature as sdram has become. Give it to us 4 years earlier, when EDO was king, it would have been embraced like second coming of Christ.
 
iddqd said:
Rdram is a good technology, it just wasn't as mature as sdram has become. Give it to use 3 years ago, when EDO was king, it would be embraced like second coming of Christ.
Click to expand...

I agree. The RDRAM I had had bandwidth on par with DDR400, but its price and the requirement for dual channel made it... not so desireable. Also, did I mention the price? Heh. $200 for 2x128... god.
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
wow.. i've seen that statement way too many times lately. i really wish companies would stop this.. 'false' advertisement. it's very misleading.
Click to expand...
It's not false advertising, it is just electronic fact. The system runs at 200Mhz, but as DDR samples twice per clock it ends up acting like 400Mhz.

Go and read the excellent memory FAQ at the top of this memory forum. :) And even better, go read the overclocking FAQ too as that is an even better explaination of how this all works, and what the numbers mean. :)

HardOCP Overclocking FAQ
HardOCP Memory FAQ

A little bit of knowledge can go a long way.....

and yes. Good quality RAM will work fine in the Dell. :D
 
it may act like a 400mhz SDR bus, but it's still 200mhz no matter how you look at it ;)
it's just sorta a peeve of mine. i strongly dislike misleading advertisement.
 
AFAIK - DDR400 is an engineering lable, not a marketing one. It is acurately describing what you get. And when DDR first came out, it needed to show it's difference from SDR. We don't care about how fast the clock ticks, but what we really want to know is how muc we get per tick. i.e. we get twice as much with DDR so putting it into the title makes sense. :)
 
yeah i don't have a problem with the actual DDR400 label, but companies are misleading because they call that DDR400 a 400mhz fsb or something similar. if they kept the DDR in front, we'd have far fewer people confused when they check their cpu and see that it's running at half the speed that it 'should'

though i agree completely with your point.. something to remember: a 400mhz sdr channel will actually be faster than a 200mhz ddr channel, especially in things that love low latency.
 
AdamLewis said:
This is the RAM thats in there right now..Im pretty sure its DDR ram but the only thing Im confused about is I thought PC3200 DDR ram was 400MHz, but CPU-Z says its at 200MHz? :confused: Is thats because its in dual channel mode?

My_crap_ram.jpg
Click to expand...

LOL, it's Nanya ram, does that actually say made in Italy on the chips? Wow.
Generic stuff. Any DDR will work and what you have there is pretty cheap stuff. Samsung 512MB sticks are selling for $35 these days.
 
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