Adding RAM - Need Advice

[mattwithcats]

Adding two 1 gig sticks is your best bet.

You may have to remove the two 512's, put the 1 gigs in, then put the 512's in slot 3 and 4...

This will give 3 gigs total...

Both the system software and BIOS must support the memory.

 

[QuOk]

"My mom is 78 and she uses the computer mainly for email, internet use and simple games."

Get her a Chromebox and she will learn it quickly.
I just bought my 69yo father this one:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-Chromebox-CB1-0...words=chromebox

 

[tstep]

You want memory listed as DDR2-667 or PC25300. That is two different designations for the same product. You want Unbuffered, Non-registered, Non-ECC (not error correcting). Often times the designation will be followed by a U (PC25300U) for unbuffered. I wouldn't bother with anything over 3GB for Windows XP 32bit. The best bang for the buck is a cheap PNY 250gb ssd harddrive over at newegg for around $90, but really that system is starting to get long in the tooth. It'll work just fine though for emails and pictures.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: mattwithcats


The E521 came with 1024 MB (2 x 512 MB), and has four memory sockets. it uses a PC2-5300 533Mhz DDR2 SDRAM DIMM.

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/dms-memory/dell/dimension-e521.htm


I have the invoice from the computer when I originally bought it for her. It doesn't say if the 1 GB of RAM it came with is 1 x 1 GB stick or 2 x 512 MB sticks ... but it must be the latter based on your info. I haven't opened up the machine yet to look, so I better do that next time I visit.

Guess I could buy 2 x 1 GB sticks and add to it if there's already a single 1 GB stick, or remove the 2 x 512s and install 2 or 3 one GB sticks.

If it does have 4 slots, and already has 2 x 512 MB sticks, can I add 2 x 1 GB sticks in the other 2 available slots for a total of 3 GB? Or does the RAM all have to be the same size per stick in the slots to work properly together?



Yes you can run 2x512 + 2x 1024 if it has four slots. If the matched pairs are in the correct color coded slots you should retain dual channel.

You can also run 3x1024 but you'll lose dual channel capabilities which shouldn't hurt a lot but dual channel is faster.

 

[joegreen]

Get the fastest ram the mobo will accept. Also look at a cpu upgrade. I was able to upgrade my old gateway to the best processor the mobo could take for $18. That made a big difference.

 

[901Memphis]

If you update the BIOS you should be able to upgrade to an AMD Athlon X2 6000, 5600, 5400, 5200... whatever is the best bang for the buck. The fastest chip might be the FX-74, but that chip still probably holds its value with AM2 overclockers.

 

[Hokiefyd]

This computer has reasonably modern internals, even for being old. All of the drives are SATA (and the motherboard has 4 SATA connections as I recall). The processor is an AMD Athlon dual core 64-bit processor (I had 64-bit Windows 7 on mine). The only real downer on this machine is the BTX architecture. BTX motherboards are pretty hard to find, and you really can't re-jigger the chassis to accept an ATX board. You can install a faster processor, but in truth, the 3800+ runs pretty well already, and Windows XP and 7 both run fast on this machine. A modest video card (like a GT-210) can be easily installed. I think it has a PCI-ex expansion slot.

I recently bought an AMD Athlon dual-core 4450e off eBay for 20 bucks to replace a single-core Athlon Neo in my garage desktop. THAT switch made a real difference in speed.

 

[PandaBear]

I'd just go on ebay and get some used RAM. Dimension E521 should have 4 slots and if you already occupied 2, adding 2 more stick of either 512MB (2GB total) or 1GB (3GB total) each would be enough to keep it going. Don't waste too much money on this machine, it is aging and would likely be replaced as a whole sooner than later.

From what I remember only Power Edge or Precision can take advantage of ECC memory, and Dimension should just use non ECC. Any DDR2 faster than 533MHz should be fast enough.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
From what I remember only Power Edge or Precision can take advantage of ECC memory, and Dimension should just use non ECC. Any DDR2 faster than 533MHz should be fast enough.


I had a hard time finding RAM for my late-90s Dell OptiPlex GXpro. It took ECC and EDO RAM. Difficult to find at the time (and probably harder to find now!).

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
From what I remember only Power Edge or Precision can take advantage of ECC memory, and Dimension should just use non ECC. Any DDR2 faster than 533MHz should be fast enough.


I had a hard time finding RAM for my late-90s Dell OptiPlex GXpro. It took ECC and EDO RAM. Difficult to find at the time (and probably harder to find now!).


EDO? Do you use it for industrial equipment that cannot be upgraded to a newer machine?