Im looking for some new RAM? Anyone got any suggestions? Good Brands, amounts.. ect?

Heres my set up atm
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)

System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell DXG051
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A11
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 1008MB used, 2929MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
Manufacturer: NVIDIA

You might have to buy special DELL compatible RAM. I don't know if they still use proprietary connectors on their motherboards or not. Do you know the model of your motherboard?

Also I assume you're using Windows XP 32-bit, which means the OS won't read more than about 3GB of RAM anyway (a 64-bit operating system allows for more RAM to be utilized). What is the main reason you want more RAM? If it is acting slow, how long has it been since you reformatted? I always found 2GB to be quite sufficient with Windows XP for general gaming and other use. I use 4GB in my system, but I use Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (eats it up more).

With that all said, I like Crucial and Corsair, and I think both sell DELL compatible RAM if that ends up being an issue. Crucial is a better deal IMO.

Depends on the speed of your current ram, what your system supports and what you plan on doing in the future on that machine.

If its DDR2 533 or better I'd say you're fine with what you have, especially since your processor is slightly older. If you have at least one free slot, you could drop an extra gig in since 1gb chips are pretty inexpensive now days and you would get some performance benefits. Or if you have, say, 4 512 chips, then you could buy a 2gb kit and up yourself to 3gb by replacing 2 of them. What you put in there, however, will depend on what is supported by your MoBo, and unfortunately it can sometimes be hard to figure that out with a Dell box. Check their site, though.

If its slower than DDR2 533, you could look at dropping something faster in, but, again, its going to depend on MoBo support.

When it comes to brands, though, I've always been partial to Corsair, but I've never really had a bad experience with any ram I've installed. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Biggest speed boost you'd get from an upgrade (from a gaming standpoint anyway) is a new video card I'd say... but only if you have a PCI-E x16 slot. If you're on AGP, you're SoL.

On a side note, if you're running XP and you don't have it customized much, I really like Microsoft's Zune theme for XP:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/sweet-black-theme-for-windows-xp/

There's a link there that goes directly to the download. Really easy install and it looks great. It does change your wallpaper, though, so if you're happy with the one you have, you should make sure you have it saved somewhere so you can change it back.

Oh.. and XP Sp3 is out. I haven't really looked into it much, but when it was in Beta I heard it was supposed to be improving system performance.

Crucial.com has a good lookup tool for finding what memory your particular make/model requires, and how much the motherboard supports (probably 4gb in this case). Their actual RAM is good too.

^I knew someone had that tool, but I couldn't find it hehe. Could have swore it was Kingston.

I've had good experiences with Crucial, Kingston, and Corsair. I think my wife's computer is running off budget memory (she doesn't game, so I built it cheap) that has worked fine as well. I really like shopping through newegg.com, and take a look at what other users are saying about various sticks. Once you find what you like, price it through Crucial or another source and see what prices you can find.

Your setup kicks the crap out of mine.

^I knew someone had that tool, but I couldn't find it hehe. Could have swore it was Kingston.


They do: http://www.kingston.com/

They do: http://www.kingston.com/

My weak efforts looking into the matter have been exposed!

Good stuff thanks all

I went to Crucial and they recommended replacing my 4 sticks of 512 with 4 sticks of 2 gig.

So I did.

Come to find out that my Windows 32bit XP will only use 3.1 of that. So I went and bought Vista Home Premium.

>sigh<

Come to find out that my Windows 32bit XP will only use 3.1 of that. So I went and bought Vista Home Premium.

>sigh<

Also I assume you're using Windows XP 32-bit, which means the OS won't read more than about 3GB of RAM anyway (a 64-bit operating system allows for more RAM to be utilized).

Well, tried to tell you bro, heh. Glad the new RAM works though.

I R FTL.

Meh. At least when my Vista comes in Ill be rocking all 8gigs

Just make sure you install the x64 version. Vista still comes in both 32 and 64 bit, and I believe only Ultimate comes with the x64 media.

You can get the x64 media for others here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/64bit.mspx

Yea =/

Just ordered the 64 bit version. I bought the 32 bit version. Works great though.. takes forever to install. Luckily upgrade is only 10 bucks.

For some reason though... of my 8gigs of Ram installed.. its only recognizing 2.045 of it. Figured the 32 bit would recognize 4 gigs. Ahh well.. we will see what 64 does.

Also, look into what your MoBo supports, size wise. Some don't support larger than 1GB chips.

Installed SP1 and its seeing all 8 gigs.

/shrug

For some reason though... of my 8gigs of Ram installed.. its only recognizing 2.045 of it. Figured the 32 bit would recognize 4 gigs.


I have 4 gigs in this machine, but the 32 bit only recognizes 3.5 so I will maybe look at 64 bit upgrade at some point.

Installed SP1 and its seeing all 8 gigs.

/shrug
It's a trap!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946003/

Unfortunately, it's just not possible for x86 (32-bit) to address all of that memory, no matter what patches or upgrades. Gotta go 64.

Yea. Ordered the upgrade. They only charged 10 bucks for it.

BTW. Thank you all for the advice. I really appreciate it.