Adding RAM to a DELL Dimension E520

Crabman

I've been considering upgrading the RAM on our desktop (it's quite new) as ebuyer have £10 off £30.

I have a DELL Dimenson E520 - I've looked at their site and this is the spec of the RAM from DELL:

Kingston - Memory - 512 MB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR II - 667 MHz / PC2-5300

I notice sometimes the MHz figure is higher than that - which figures should I keep constant when looking for RAM? For example, would these be compatible:
Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 533MHz PC2-4200 240pin Extra Value Ram
Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 667MHz PC2-5400 240pin Extra Value Ram

I notice the "PC2-XXXX" varies and the MHz value also varies - what do these mean in the grand scheme of things?

Also, slightly aside but I'm not sure whether my PC case is locked, I notice a plastic sliding handle which appears to be locked, haven't looked at the case properly, I'm counting on someone else having an E520 who knows it can be opened, obviously will check I can open the case before ordering

Cheers peeps :beer:

Crabman

Millionaire

Crabman wrote: »

I've been considering upgrading the RAM on our desktop (it's quite new) as ebuyer have £10 off £30.

I have a DELL Dimenson E520 - I've looked at their site and this is the spec of the RAM from DELL:

Kingston - Memory - 512 MB - DIMM 240-pin - DDR II - 667 MHz / PC2-5300

I notice sometimes the MHz figure is higher than that - which figures should I keep constant when looking for RAM? For example, would these be compatible:
Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 533MHz PC2-4200 240pin Extra Value Ram
Ebuyer 1GB DDR2 667MHz PC2-5400 240pin Extra Value Ram

I notice the "PC2-XXXX" varies and the MHz value also varies - what do these mean in the grand scheme of things?

Also, slightly aside but I'm not sure whether my PC case is locked, I notice a plastic sliding handle which appears to be locked, haven't looked at the case properly, I'm counting on someone else having an E520 who knows it can be opened, obviously will check I can open the case before ordering

Cheers peeps :beer:

Crabman

Yes the Dell E520 can be opened by sliding the Black handle on the top back. It might require a hard push but it will pop the right side of the Unit.

Regarding the Memory, you need to be running the memory at the same speed. thus 533mhz and 667mhz may casue problems.

Crabman

P.S: I have 4 slots in the PC, two are occupied by 2 x 512MB sticks.

Would it be ok to have, say 2 x 1GB and leave the remaining ones in situ?

Cheers Millionaire - I'll check what speed my RAM is... :think:

Millionaire

Crabman wrote: »

P.S: I have 4 slots in the PC, two are occupied by 2 x 512MB sticks.

Would it be ok to have, say 2 x 1GB and leave the remaining ones in situ?

Cheers Millionaire - I'll check what speed my RAM is... :think:

yes you can have 2X1Gb but i think im correct in saying you will need to remove the 2X512mb


try https://www.crucial.com and use their memory advsor which will tell you which memory is right for your pc.

tunesurfer

Crucial prices are very good at the moment - with discount codes available from hotdeals and using quidco could end up cheaper than ebuyer.

Sometimes in these machines its better to have a pair rather than one.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=7ACF8B59A5CA7304

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=5BBB1A54A5CA7304

Check it but i think this is the link for what your after all the compatible ones.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=Dimension+E520

Crabman

I'm currently away from home on the laptop so ran the scanner on here, being the idiot I am expecting it to show up my home PC specs :doh:, though what's with the 590MHz CPU speed? It says 1.6Ghz processor Is 590Mhz to do with the RAM perhaps?

May be worth upgrading the laptop memory too actually...

Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048MB
Currently Installed Memory: 512MB
Available Memory Slots: 0
Number of Banks: 2
Dual Channel Support: No
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz Model 13, Stepping 8
CPU Speed: 590 MHz


P.S: Back on the topic of my PC RAM, it's 533MHz, so guess the 667Mhz is out of bounds

Millionaire

Crabman wrote: »

I'm currently away from home on the laptop so ran the scanner on here, being the idiot I am expecting it to show up my home PC specs :doh:, though what's with the 590MHz CPU speed? It says 1.6Ghz processor Is 590Mhz to do with the RAM perhaps?

May be worth upgrading the laptop memory too actually...

Maximum Memory Capacity: 2048MB
Currently Installed Memory: 512MB
Available Memory Slots: 0
Number of Banks: 2
Dual Channel Support: No
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz Model 13, Stepping 8
CPU Speed: 590 MHz


P.S: Back on the topic of my PC RAM, it's 533MHz, so guess the 667Mhz is out of bounds

Is your Laptop not running off mains? If a laptop runs off battery it normally has a power saving mode which includes reducing the CPU power. Thus this might be why your CPU speed is 590MHz if it says it should be 1.6ghz.

Crabman

Millionaire wrote: »

Is your Laptop not running off mains? If a laptop runs off battery it normally has a power saving mode which includes reducing the CPU power. Thus this might be why your CPU speed is 590MHz if it says it should be 1.6ghz.

It's plugged into the mains at the moment

Millionaire

Crabman wrote: »

It's plugged into the mains at the moment

Is mains switched on?:D

It maybe that you have it in power saving mode in plugged in mode. you will need to check the settings.

Chippy_Minton

Crabman wrote: »

what's with the 590MHz CPU speed? It says 1.6Ghz processor

That's something called SpeedStep, which runs the processor at a lower speed if it isn't heavily loaded. More intensive applications will cause the CPU to run at 1.6 GHz. Don't think it matters whether battery or mains powered.

Crabman

Course it's switched on

Chippy that may explain, I'm only using excel, a few tabs in IE, and an instant messenger program. :beer: I'll run the scan again when I'm doing something more taxing.

:wall: The 533MHz 1GB RAM on ebuyer is £29.99, which means it won't qualify for the £10 off £30 :wall: Unless I buy 2 of the 667MHz ones and ditch the 2x512 (533MHz) currently installed :think: