Buying more memory for my Dell dimension?

[M7CUO_V6]

Hi there pc wizzes,

I have limited knowlege of pc's. Im looking at upgrading my ram, at the minuite it has about 504MB of ram and a pentium-r 4 cpu 3.00ghz.

I want to get gaming there for need to upgrade my ram to at least 1gb.

Can anyone recomend where and which memory module to buy?

I will also need to upgrade my video card...

Any help much appreciated

 

[M7CUO_V6]

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=2995&category_id=261&manufacturer_id=0

Hows this one? im pretty sure i want the DDR2 type, its just the speed rating of 533mhz that im not sure about, would it work with my system?

 

[Pep]

sorry to hijackmate as i havent got a clue about computers, but is your name your number plate by any chance?!

im sure i spotted that in Spondon, Derby looking at some new houses that have just been put up, i drove past you really slowly drooling as you got back in the car!!

 

[M7CUO_V6]

^^ afraid not me mate sold the car last year to a short-ish bloke about 40.
But yeah that is the number plate on the car, well spotted!

 

[Pep]

o right!!

looked like an awesome car, im hoping he buys one of the houses so i see it more often!

 

[Mike_182]

You can't just choose DDR or DDR2, your system will be one or the other. To make matters worse, they're the same size just with different numbers of pins! If it's a P4 the chances are it's likely to be DDR. I don't think the single core non-ht chips made it as far as DDR2?

P.S. Anyone clue me in on a Pentium-R?

 

[172beast]

CPU doesn't dictate RAM speed lol its all down to the motherboard, P4 could well be DDR2, open the box and look at what RAM stick is in there at the mo, if your lucky it'll have a sticker on it. Once you've found out whether its DDR or DDR2 your best off choosing the same speed thats currently fitted, but if a faster speeds cheaper buy that, it'll just run at the fastest speed your mobo can handle. On my old PC faster RAM was actually cheaper then the slower stuff, my mobo couldn't make use of the faster RAM but if its cheaper buy it and use it lol

I don't buy Dell myself, build my pc's from scratch, but I'd guess that if you went on the Dell site on your pc there'll be some sorta web application that'll scan your system and tell you what your upgrade options are.

Or if your really lazy and can't be arsed to open the case, download CPUZ -> http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
It'll tell you what RAM is currently installed.

 

[Griff]

Pentium 4 will be DDR.

 

[172beast]

How can you say it will definitly be DDR? My old P4 2.4 was DDR2, personally I'd rather find out for sure rather then take someones word on it and it be wrong, its not hard to find out is it lol

 

[Griff]

My old P4 2.4 was DDR2,

The old P4(c) 2.4ghz (SL6WF) used DDR. Either you're mistaken about it using DDR2 or it wasn't a Pentium 4.

 

[M7CUO_V6]

Just downloaded cpu-z and my ram is ddr2,512mb, dual channels.

So this means i can buy any memory module as long as its ddr2, is this correct?

 

[Griff]

Just downloaded cpu-z and my ram is ddr2,512mb, dual channels.

So this means i can buy any memory module as long as its ddr2, is this correct?

What speed does CPUZ report it as?

 

[M7CUO_V6]

^^ Reports it as i mentioned above...

 

[Griff]

It will state a speed aswell. Try the other tabs in CPUZ.

 

[G_F]

WTF is everyone on...

Run this http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/

 

[M7CUO_V6]

says cpu speed 2992mhz

 

[Evil Ally]

A P4 can most definitely be DDR or DDR2!!

As previously stated, use the Crucial memory selector tool. Crucial guarantee compatibility if you purchase through their selector tool so I would imagine this is the easiest way. Plus you get a lifetime warranty and first rate customer service.