RAM For Dell Dimension 5100

John_Gray

computershack wrote: »

Seconded. As the RAM heats up and cools down, it can "walk" a little - its called thermal creep. In addition to that, corrosion can build up on the pins between the socket and the memory stick.

Surely thermal creep hasn't been a problem with computer memory since the surface-mounted-in-cards memory upgrades of the late 80's? Nowadays we have these little plastic clamps at either end which hold the memory sticks ever-so-firmly in the sockets!

computershack

John_Gray wrote: »

Surely thermal creep hasn't been a problem with computer memory since the surface-mounted-in-cards memory upgrades of the late 80's? Nowadays we have these little plastic clamps at either end which hold the memory sticks ever-so-firmly in the sockets!

Its still an issue. If you can remember back that far, they didn't come out of the sockets then either. Laptops seem to suffer from it a lot, possibly because the clips aren't that strong. I've had a few I've refurbished that look like the GPU is faulty but its been the SODIMM that's just needed reseating. People forget that on most laptops, the graphics uses the SODIMMs for its memory.

John_Gray

computershack wrote: »

Its still an issue. If you can remember back that far, they didn't come out of the sockets then either. Laptops seem to suffer from it a lot, possibly because the clips aren't that strong. I've had a few I've refurbished that look like the GPU is faulty but its been the SODIMM that's just needed reseating. People forget that on most laptops, the graphics uses the SODIMMs for its memory.

Like it was yesterday! (But not much else...)

No, the memory chips then didn't come right out of the sockets, but they could often be pushed down a millimetre or so. This always used to amaze the user (usually an accountant, because at the time this was the only department who had the financial clout to wangle memory upgrades).

I would agree with you about laptop SODIMMs, because they are not held down so tightly as for the normal PC memory sticks.