What sort of ram do I have ?

[luksi]

sorry not too clued up on this

I have a 3 yr old dell dimension 8400

it has the following ram in it.. (2 sticks to make it 512mb)

samsung 256mb - 1R x 8 PC2-4200-U-444-10-A1

I wish to upgrade my ram

what sort is this so i know which one to buy ?

Im guessing this isnt DDR ram but SDRAM or something ?

Some recommended links appreciated at scan so i can buy, im looking to buy another 1gb

TIA

[RavenNight]

It's DDR2, PC4200, 533Mhz, this stuff: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes

[Steve B]

Its DDR2
You can tell by the PC2 tag, and the 4200 represents the speed.
All memory speed-bins are what the memory is rated to run _upto_.
How much RAM are you looking for?
personally i'd go with a 2GiB kit of this
As it's nice and cheap
Edit: Damn, beaten to it

[DavidM]

Had a quick look with the Memory Configurator on our site: http://www.scan.co.uk/corsair/configurator.asp

And apparently it takes DDR2-533 (PC2-4200)

But please double check to make sure....

(Wow - that was quick )

[luksi]

cheers mate, so is the ram better than normal DDR ?

The reason im asking is because I have another dell comp and that has DDR ram and obviously that didnt fit.. i was then under the impression that I have something older than DDR (less superior).

So if i get another 1gb, am i better to buy 1gb stick or 2 512kb sticks ?

Thanks m8

[Steve B]

cheers mate, so is the ram better than normal DDR ?

The reason im asking is because I have another dell comp and that has DDR ram and obviously that didnt fit.. i was then under the impression that I have something older than DDR (less superior).

So if i get another 1gb, am i better to buy 1gb stick or 2 512kb sticks ?

Thanks m8

Just get a single stick of DDR2 1GiB, as seen here
As it's cheaper, and it doesn't need to be Dual Channel.

[vaughan]

your ram is DDR2 PC2-4200 240pin DIMM

altho the specs for the 8400 Dell say the ram factor is 184pin.

i don't think you'll be able to go faster than a pc2-4200 except in size (gb) and your motherboard accepts a max of 4GB.

also the 10-A1 on the end means your ram is CAS Latency of 4-4-4-10

go with a single stick but if you go with 2 sticks, make sure they are both identical memory modules.

[luksi]

I just used that scan confgiurator and it tells me to get

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=121514

bit confused now..

shall i get the above one or this one

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=232553

[Steve B]

They will both be running at PC2-4200 speeds, so in effect they are one and the same thing.
However, the latter choice (the PC2-5300 one) is rated to run slightly higher, therefore, if the machines are eventually going to be upgraded, the PC2-5300 will be compatible with a newer machine too.

[vaughan]

just looked at dell website and they have 8400's with pc2-5300 ram in, so i think it will run at 533mhz clock speed.

go with the pc5300 memory, but if pos try to get a better cas latency module that's better or equal to 4-4-4-12 instead of 5-5-5-15 (it does make a difference)

the lower the numbers on the CAS, the better the memory.

[DavidM]

(That's something I always get confused on )

[luksi]

Thanks all for all ya help guys !!

[luksi]

just looked at dell website and they have 8400's with pc2-5300 ram in, so i think it will run at 533mhz clock speed.

go with the pc5300 memory, but if pos try to get a better cas latency module that's better or equal to 4-4-4-12 instead of 5-5-5-15 (it does make a difference)

the lower the numbers on the CAS, the better the memory.

vaughan - do you mean something like this ?

1gb = http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=143574

2gb = http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=291363

noticed this is pc5400, would this still be ok ? cant find any at scan which are pc5300 with the lower CAS

If These are not the recommended ones for me, pls can you post some urls since it can get confusing and I dont want to get the wrong ones lol

cheers

[vaughan]

vaughan - do you mean something like this ?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=143574

or if i wanted 2gb - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=291363

noticed this is pc5400, would this be ok ?

if you can post me some url's pls mate (if my link in this post is not the correct product), that would be great as this can get bit confusing lol

as far as i'm aware there's no difference between pc 5300 & pc5400 other than a sales/marketing gimmick. (if someone can correct me if i'm wrong )

I think the pc5400 should be fine. the 2gb pair of corsair, i have just bought and would recommend.

crucial says:

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...08400%20Series

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*

so you could possibly stretch to pc2-6400 memory, but not sure if the 8400 will use the full bandwidth of the 6400, it may just run at 533mhz..

[luksi]

ta vaughan

so you mean you got this one? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=291363

or are you talking about another 2gigger ?

just making sure before i commit to buy.. i think il go on the 2gb route since it aint that expensive

[vaughan]

just switched skype on now