Adding memory

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blinddogblues

New member
I want to add another 256k of memory to my Dell. What do I need to know to make sure what I am buying is compatible to the 256 I already have? Dell wants $165 which sounds ridiculous to me. My setup is: PIII @700, 256 SDRAM (on one card). I keep seeing memory on ebay for $30 bucks but I don't know what will work. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Your cpu runs at 700mhz (7x100) so you need memory that can run at at least 100MHz (memory that can run at 133mhz is fine too). Make sure it can do that. It most likely will though. And be sure that you have a free expansion slot, but I guess you have checked that out already :)

There is not much to it actually.
 
$165!!!! Wait till your power supply goes! :)

I'd be leary of buying memory off of EBAY.

Why no buy it locally?

christiaan is right, there is not much too it, but you may want to check dell's website. There are different types of SDRAM, double sided, single sided. Sometimes they don't like to be mixed. Mixing ram types and speeds can cause problems as well.

256MB of namebrand (micron, samsung, hyundai) memory should be around $40. Maybe replace both?
 
Or there is always www.crucial.com.
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Ditto. Although the link does not appear to be working (but I can't figure out why, it looks fine.) But here's another: http://www.crucial.com/

Just use the selector to tell it your system model yo have, and it will tell you what chip you need. Probably run you around $30.00 - 40.00.

EDIT - I figured it out. The first link doesn't work because of the period at the end of the URL.
 
Re: $165!!!! Wait till your power supply goes! :)

Emeric said:

There are different types of SDRAM, double sided, single sided. Sometimes they don't like to be mixed. Mixing ram types and speeds can cause problems as well.
Click to expand...

You helped me remember something. Not every 256MB stick of sdram will work with Intel PIII chipsets. They need to be double sided. Single sided modules will either not work or will only be recognized as 128MB.

Good call, Emeric
 
Well, that's motherboard specific, not PIII specific. Definately get memory specs from Dell.

Get your memory from crucial.com ...they are simply the best in every way. You'll pay around $70 for 256MB CAS2 PC133, and it'll be good shit. They have a memory selector too that might help you pick it out.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks for the help everyone, I checked out crucial.com and not only did they have much better prices than Dell, but they actually told me how to figure out what I needed which Dell could not do. It said if the number of black chips on my memory card was divisible by 3, I needed memory with ECC or parity. I checked and that is what I have. The price was $62.00. On Dell's sight, it offered both types, did not tell me how to determine which to buy, and their memory (256) with ECC was $128.00. I think I know where I'm buying. Thanks again.

PS.... I assume I will see a substantial performance difference by going from 256 to 512?????? Currently I typically run 7-8 tracks with several DX plugs and it uses about 35% of my resources....I would hope I can run 24 tracks or more with 4-5 DX...????
 
No, the memory will not help with that.

Dude, be VERY sure you need ECC...it's extremely rare in PC's, and you can't really mix ECC and non-ECC.

The count thing is interesting, but I don't think you're supposed to count the little tiny chip, which is basically just a little logic chip that allows the system BIOS to properly configure itself based on the memory type.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Hey slack, thanks for the reply, here it is straight from Crucial's website:
"Do I need error checking?
When choosing among ECC, parity, and non-parity memory, you need to match what is already in your system. You can tell which kind you have by looking at one of the modules currently in your system. Count the number of black chips on one module. If the number of chips can be evenly divided by three or five, you should buy ECC or parity (whichever is offered for your system). If not, you should buy non-parity. "


I opened up my box and sure enough there were 9 black chips on my memory module. ECC was what was offered based on their memory selector. When I went to Dell's sight, it offered both but did not tell me which one I needed...?????????
 
Well, you could certainly be using ECC...it's just rare on a desktop.

The good news is that if you get the wrong stuff, crucial has a great returns department. You'll have to pay shipping back, but other than that it should be no hassle.

Slackmaster 2000
 
No, it's not good enough. If a motherboard was just a chipset, there would only be one motherboard.

Whether the motherboard supports single sided memory modules is purely a function of the motherboard, and is independent of the chipset.

For instance, I have an Asus TUSL2-C motherboard right here, which has an i815 chipset...a Pentium III chipset...and it supports both double and single sided DIMMs.

In fact, you will find that most PIII motherboards support both double and single sided DIMMs. This has nothing to do with the chipset.

Sorry for being so peculiar...err...particular. I just have to be right when I know I'm right :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
There are chipsets that only support a limited amount of memory banks. If a motherboard has 3 dimm slots and if the chipset supports let's say up to 4 memory banks, you'll only be able to use all 3 dimmslots if you use no more than 1 double sided dimm.

When you stick double-sided dimms in slot 1 and 2 you won't be able to use slot 3.

Now lets take a look at the BX chipset. It supports up to 8 memory banks so that's easy. You can put single- and double sided in any slot in any combination.

BUT the BX supports only up to 128MB PER memory bank. So.. you need double sided 256MB dimms to have it working properly.

You see my point?
 
Yes but that's not the issue. It is incorrect to say that PIII chipsets require double-sided SDRAM, because it's not true. The chipset will play a role in the restrictions the manufacturer must place on the board's RAM specification, but ultimately it is motherboard-specific.

PIII chipsets like the i8xx support high density SDRAM. You can use 256MB single-sided DIMMs, for instance.

I see where you're coming from now. You are right that the chipset does indeed play a role in how the manufacturer will design the board. But how many DIMM slots they put on the board, whether this slot or that slot supports single/double sided memory, and the maximum supported memory size, is really up to them. Each and every board will have different specifications, and it's more important to look at the specs for your specific motherboard than the specs for a chipset. The specs

I think we're both looking in the same exact direction here...but we're unable to describle to eachother what it is we think we're looking at. :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
Slackmaster2K said:
I think we're both looking in the same exact direction here...but we're unable to describle to eachother what it is we think we're looking at. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, something like that. And that we're both some of the biggest smartasses on the board :P

I'm not sure about i8xx chipsets accepting >256MB dimms but I'll take your word on that.

Ok, let me rephrase two sentences:

"Not every 256MB stick of sdram will work with every Intel PIII chipset. For some they need to be double sided."

I think you can live with that, slackmaster

peace :)
 
Hehe, yeah :)

P.S. I didn't say anything about sticks > 256MB. This is a very confusing topic and has much to do with the options and configuration decided upon by each individual manufacturer.

Slackmaster 2000
 
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