masterson001

Distinguished
Jan 9, 2008
11
0
18,510
Hi,

I was wondering if someone can advise me on the best ram to purchase. I have just recently bought the Dell XPS 420 as there was a special promotion. The current system specs are:

Intel® Core 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 8MB, 1066MHz)
3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024/2x512]
SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
640GB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 Stripe (2x320GB - 7200rpm)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium - English

Now I am looking to unisntall Vista Home and replace it with Vista Ultimate 64bit and also replace the 3gb ram for 8gb of ram. Now on the Dell site the fastest ram they offer is 800MHz. Does this mean the fastest ram I can purchase is 8gb at 800MHz? Can I purchase ones that are at a faster clock speed one that matches the cpu (1066MHz) or something that runs at the fastest speed for optimal performance?

Apologies if the questions don't make sense as I don't really know much about PC hardware.

Thank you in advance,
Masterson :)
 

g-paw

Splendid
Jan 31, 2006
4,479
0
22,780
Without knowing the mobo specs, ideally mfg/model, it's tough to say definitively. In all likelihood you could run 1066 because most of the boards that will run the Q6600 will support 1066. From reading reviews a lot of people are questioning if you'll realize a significant performance increase over the 800. To be absolutely sure, I'd contact Dell and hope get someone that knows what they're talking about
 

masterson001

Distinguished
Jan 9, 2008
11
0
18,510
Thanks g-paw for your reply.

I also got similar advice from other people on the board. Also been looking at rams and I can't seem to find any 2gb dimms that run at 1066MHz, so it's starting to look more and more like PC2-6400/800Mhz.

Thanks again,
Masterson :)
 
I run an XPS 410 with 2 gig of PC4200 Dell oem ram, swapping it out for 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistix PC6400 gives about a 10 % improvement in memory benchmarks, not that you would see that in everday use.
The difference going from PC5300 to PC6400 would be even less, save your money.
 

masterson001

Distinguished
Jan 9, 2008
11
0
18,510
Hi DellUser1,

Thanks for your reply. Interesting that it only gave a 10% improvement, but now at least I know I can stick in a PC2-6400/800MHz. I was getting worried that I will not be about to even get 800MHz as Dell might of lock the speed at 667MHz.

Also just wondering, what options can you change in the bios? FSB, RAM voltage? anything?

Thanks again
Masterson :)
 

You can't make any real change's that would help to improve performance drastically, only basic things like turning off on board sound or video, or changing the boot order.
You can change the hard drive accoustics from quiet to performance, but the little bit of gain there is not worth the extra noise in my opinion.
 

masterson001

Distinguished
Jan 9, 2008
11
0
18,510
It's a shame you can't change anything, I guess it helps Dell with their support.

But just wondering, have you tried putting RAM that runs at 1066MHz? Just curious what's the fastest speed RAM the XPS 420 will accept.

Thanx
Masterson
 

ktheripper

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2008
19
0
18,510
go to somewhere like crucial.com. They a memory finder you can use to find out what memory will work in the dell. Now they give you your brand but you can take the specs of the memory and go shopping at other places that sell memory
 

George Knighton

Distinguished
Feb 3, 2009
1
0
18,510
The Curcial tool isn't going to be a lot of help because they still think the XPS 420 will only hold 4 gigs. It'll hold 8, if you bought one recently.

800 MHz is the fastest memory the XPS 420 will handle.
 
G

Guest

Guest
up to 8 GB or DDR3 - 1333 SDRAM see below

Field Value
North Bridge Properties
North Bridge Intel Beachwood X38
Supported FSB Speeds FSB800, FSB1066, FSB1333
Supported Memory Types DDR2-667 SDRAM, DDR2-800 SDRAM, DDR3-800 SDRAM, DDR3-1066 SDRAM, DDR3-1333 SDRAM
Maximum Memory Amount 8 GB
Revision / Stepping 00 / A0
Package Type 1300 Pin FC-BGA
Package Size 4.0 cm x 4.0 cm
Core Voltage 1.25 V
In-Order Queue Depth 12

PCI Express Controller
PCI-E 2.0 x16 port #2 In Use @ x16 (Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GTS TDH 640MB Video Adapter)
PCI-E 2.0 x16 port #3 Empty

Chipset Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets
BIOS Upgrades http://www.esupport.com/biosagent/index.cfm?refererid=40
Driver Update http://driveragent.com?ref=59
 

dyepoi

Distinguished
Mar 10, 2010
2
0
18,510
hello..

i'm trying to learn things in my dell xps 420 which i bought 2 years ago.. i bought it with 4 gig memory and was thinking of upgrading it..

i bought 2 gig kingston memory cards and replaced my 4 memory card (from 4 gig to 8 gig)

when i first started my computer it gave me a warning that said.. the memory of the computer has been changed...

the options are

1. Continue
2. Enter Setup
3. <there's another option i forgot what it was.. >

what i did was enter the setup.. and saw that the computer did recognize the memory of kingston.. displaying 2 Gig memory on each slot.. (total of 8gig)..

however, when i exit and save (but didn't do any changes..)

when i try to see the memory of the computer.. it seems that it only has "3Gig" Memory on it... ???? ???

so in BIOS/SETUP it recognizes the kingston memory of 8 gig..

however in running Windows itself.. it only shows 3 gig..

I dont know what to do to fix the problem..

if anyone knows something.. please tell me.. that would be really helpful and eye opener for me..

Thank you very much.

Kind Regards,

iceman
 

invinter

Distinguished
Mar 10, 2010
1
0
18,510
The amount of memory a computer sees on bootup is one thing. But when the OS finally kicks in that another ball game. I'll assume that ur using Windows Vista, that being said Vista can only detect a limited amount of memory. Vista can only "see" 3 gig of memory, or so i've been told. So the remaining 5 gig is literally ignored, it simply doesn't know what to do with it so it does nothing.
 

dyepoi

Distinguished
Mar 10, 2010
2
0
18,510
@Invinter... thanks for that. yes i'm using windows vista.. so it has something to do with the OS? shall i install another OS? i'm thinking of reformatting my computer and see if it works.. but stil have hesitations on it.. =(

mmm... what to do.. what to do.. ????