Help re more memory for dell pc

lonestarfan

I think I may need more memory for my Dell Dimension E521. Its running v slow and its 5 years old in May. What memory do I buy? I know how to fit it in the box but does it come woth intructions on how to get it recognised by the PC, where do I buy it from, how much do I expect to pay?

John_Gray

How much memory do you have already? And how many memory slots are already used of the available four?

If it's running XP then current thoughts are that 1 GB of memory should be enough, unless you're running some very large programs. More than 2 GB of memory in total would be a waste of money.

I would look at Crucial (see! I've done all the work for you!). Their memory comes with instructions, and you only have to be careful that you've fitted it the right way round AND that it's pushed fully home. A reboot will recognise it, and your page file size will probably increase to match, hopefully handled automatically because you've set this option to System-managed (or, more likely, that this is the default). You can buy cheaper, but Crucial memory usually arrives the next day and is fully guaranteed that it will work. I've never had any trouble in a dozen or so purchases over the years.

lonestarfan

Thanks a lot. I know I have at least 2 slots that are available so I can use them. My system is Vista Home Premium, AMD Athlon x 2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ 2.10 GHZ, Memory (RAM) 1.00 GB 32 bit. So how much memory shall I buy with 2 slots available. Thanks for doing the work!

John_Gray

1.11 GB is rather unusual, even if you assume the graphics on the motherboard (or graphics card) is stealing some of it. Try holding down the Windows key (near bottom left of the keyboard) and press the Pause/Break key. That should tell you the Installed Memory (or does in Windows 7!).

If it's Vista I would probably get an additional 2 x 1 GB cards.

Annoyingly the Crucial website has just gone down for maintenance...!

Notmyrealname

Vista needs 2GB. Go to https://www.crucial.com/uk and use the memory scanner tool. Buy what it suggests. As soon as you've installed the memory and boot, the computer may say its detected a memory change and press F2 to continue - it can appear to hang when it has done this. That'll take you into the BIOS where you just press f10 to save and exit. Windows won't require anything to be done.

lonestarfan

John - sorry - should say 1.00 gb !!
I noticed the crucial website was down lol !

not my realname - If vista needs 2gb am i just buying 1 card of 1gb or 2 cards of 1gb

John_Gray

You would find that adding 1GB would make the PC run noticeably faster, and another 1 GB would make it run somewhat faster still. So it's a matter of whether you can afford £26 instead of £13!

TakeThis

There are only a tenner at Amazon.

Make sure that you put them in the correct slots. 1 & 3 and/or 2 & 4.

John_Gray

TakeThis wrote: »

They are only a tenner at Amazon.

... but "usually dispatched within 2 to 3 weeks"!

TakeThis

John_Gray wrote: »

... but "usually dispatched within 2 to 3 weeks"!

Ahh...missed that. OP can use Play here or here instead, at the same price as Amazon, though should take note of what he actually has onboard now. As a matching pair would be preferred.

Probably is supplied with PC2-4200.

Run CPU-Z to check what is onboard. Under Memory and SPD.

lonestarfan

I ran CPU-Z.
Slot 1 and slot 3 is 512mb PC2-4300.
What does that tell me? - does that mean buy 1 gb ram and put it in spare slot 2 or4?