CRD Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 I recently bought a Dell refurb system for home use and light after-work use. The system came with (2x256) 512mb of ddr pc-3200 ram. It's got 2 slots open, so I'd like to add an additional (2x512) 1Gb RAM. Are there any compatability issues I should worry about? It's mainly the info of "cas latency 2-3-3-6 T1" vs. "cas latency 2.5 7-4-4". Also different ram has different voltage? (2.6V, 2.5V, etc). Is any of that going to clash with my existing memory? Or is ram of the same speed easily compatable? And what's the advantage of buying "Corsair XMS Extreme Memory" for $285 vs. "Corsair Value Select" for $165? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingeldar Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 ur only way to be 100% sure of compatibility would be to get same Ram from same manufacturor and from the same building batch... ...what s almost impossible unless buying all memory the ame day (and it's not even sure to get same batch...) otherwise hardware information websites i've seen for now generally consider that same type of ram are generally 90% compatible. (based on all hardware tests they use to run i suppose....) so would be very bad luck getting problems (i run many different ram in my comp old one has 1x512 1x256 a brand name can't remember which & 1x256 noname some is pc100 some is pc133 cause motherboard only 100 NO PROBLEM since i have all that stuff almost 3 yeras other one my dual got 1Gb ECC registred 2100 & 1x512 ecc registred other brand 2700 no problem system very stable) so if u get ram with very similar spec to yours having troubles would be very bad luck i guess... but maybe peops own's experience qill be very different from mine.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 You can try www.crucial.com and find the exact memory needed for your system. i dont think you'll see any advantage with any "extreme" memory on a dell. Dell makes their system more stable than Fast and so that they'd fit more hardware types. The reason is that they want less support Qs phone calls. Just like cars: good and avarage - you get a chevy and use any gas and oil you want. You want a racing car - its probably gonna be custom built, need special gas, oil, spark plugs... A good chevy can still run pretty fast, though... Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRD Posted March 16, 2004 Author Share Posted March 16, 2004 Thanks for the link. Somehow, I feel pretty comfortable after their site says "yes, buy this type of ram for you dell dimension 8300". A 512mb chip is $93 on the crucial site, but $83 with free shipping (and a free gift pen ) at newegg.com. It still amazes me that I'm going to buy 1Gb of ram for under $200 Thanks for the tips Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 There used to be speacial discount links to the crucial site, so you'd end up with the same amount, but the price difference is minor anyway. Whats important is that its a good memory, and the reason I linked you there is because of the easiness of finding the right stick for your machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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