PC2700 DDR memory?

kit · 24 April 2006 at 9:53PM

Hi

Bear with me - not too techy!

I have a dell and need more memory. Went to crucial memory web site and found that I need PC2700 DDR 333MHz 184 pin.

I have 256 in it at the moment but really need more (my OH says that the reason why I cant play the sims 2 properly is because of this).

Question 1 - I have 1 spare memory slot - can i just add another 256 or 512? Do i need to make sure its compatable or will all makes work together?

Question 2 - will a total of 512 be enough. I mainly use the computer for surfing, a bit of word/excel, and playing the sims 2 or other similar games.

Question 3 - where can i get this cheap? Am limited on money (hence thinking i may just add another 256!!). Is ebay a good place to buy this??

Thanks
Kit

PS - just in case anyone may find this useful, dont buy the dell's that need half height things - its a nightmare to upgrade and more expensive! I found this out when i needed to upgrade the graphics card in order to play the sims which now wont run properly because of the memory!!

Babbler · 24 April 2006 at 9:56PM

Hello, 512 should be sufficient for your needs

You can add 256 Mb to the spare slot I believe. You cant add a 512 sim as they need to be the same.

HTH

Vaughany_2 · 24 April 2006 at 10:07PM

Babbler wrote:

You cant add a 512 sim as they need to be the same.

That used to be the case with SIMMs but not with current (DDR) DIMMs. I have a 512Mb chip in my PC and I just slung another 256Mb at it and it works fine.

However, it's not a Dell... :j

viru.doshi · 24 April 2006 at 10:11PM

Vaughany is correct.

I wouldn't buy RAM from ebay even though you can most certainly get it quite cheap.

I'd buy it from crucial.co.uk they do free shipping at the moment so its a bonus.

thetope · 24 April 2006 at 10:44PM

i just bought a 1Gb ram stick and have it slotted in with 2 256mb sticks so no you don't need them to be the same. my sims 2 works much better now!

crucial is definitely the best but i bought my ram from a seller on ebay called fastmemoryman

i took a gamble but it was half the price of crucial - the seller is based in the US but there was no customs and he has 56940 positive feedback (overall 98.2%)

maxamos · 25 April 2006 at 8:02AM

As mentioned above you generally don't need matched pairs of memory now so you should be able to quite easily add another 512 in the second slot.

I tend to use the crucial website to find out what's compatiable and then buy my memory from either Aria or Ebuyer ( I think they still do free shipment on memory) as it's generally cheaper. JUst copy and past the code for the memory into their search funstions and it should bring up a few options.

Most makes are compatiable nowadays but it's it's always worth looking at the reviews as some memory is more reliable than others (i've used the bog standard ebuyer memory in the past and had no problems but other people have said it's rubbish)

hth

Max

xycom1 · 25 April 2006 at 10:23AM

I would put at least a 512MB in the second slot, if not a 1GB chip if you can afford it.

You should be OK running Sims 2 with 768MB total, but I'm told that the more memory you have, the more people you can have together in one place at a time (e.g. at parties, etc.) and the game will run more smoothly and load quicker too.

nickmack · 25 April 2006 at 2:36PM

As others have said, generally DDR memory doesn't need to be matched pairs.

Crucial are a decent trade off between quality and price. I've bought quite a bit of memory from eBay and never had any problems. Look out for decent volume memory sellers with good feedback and buy new not used memory.

With regard to the SIMS2, as with any resource intensive 3D game, the more power you can throw at it, the better it will run.

512Mb extra RAM will improve it somewhat, but it also depends on what CPU and Graphics Card you have. You could put 1Gb RAM in the machine, but if you only had a 1GHz Celeron CPU and and old GeForce3 GPU then it wouldn't make alot of difference.

fairytooth · 25 April 2006 at 3:14PM

Crucial are excellent, with help to ensure you get exactly the right chip - including after sales service if you get any problems (a full refund in my case).

Buy the biggest chip you can reasonably afford - its worth it for the speed you will get.

PC2700 DDR memory?

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