Can I use this ram with my xps 710

[logan86]

hello everyone

firstly id just like to say im new to the forums so hello all. I have a dell xps 710 and i was looking to upgrade my ram. at the moment its the achillieas heel of my whole system. some generic 667mhz modules with horrible timing. the other issue is that my mobo is locked at 1.85v for memory. and thats it, completely locked, i think.

the modules i was looking at getting were 2 x 2gb sticks of corsair 800mhz ddr2 TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX

so my question is can i run these modules at 1.85v and still get the stated timings and speed. i already know that getting 2 modules instead of 4 will help, but is there anything else i should know?

thankyou very much for any help that anyone can give me

 

[o1die]

If it works, use it. Dell boards won't allow you to adjust timings or anything else; if you already have 4 gb of ram, you may not notice any difference. I can't tell you what the dell bios will set the timings to. Check the ram specs. If they say they need 2.1, then the dell board may not run with them. That's about all that's certain.

 

[logan86]

well all i know is that the spec for the ram says maximum voltage of 2.1v

however, on the very same spec it also says fully tested at 4-4-4-12 at 1.8v

so i suppose really what im wondering is, can the ram be run at any voltage between 1.8v and 2.1v ? because if it could then i suppose i should be fine at 1.85v with those timings? but im a bit of a noob with ram so im really not sure

 

[Mongox]

No, you cannot expect that RAM to run at its listed specs at 1.8V or 1.85V. It's not a question of it running at those timings, most likely it'll come up as 667MHz. The mfg data sheet says 2.1V
http://www.corsair.com/_datasheets/TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX.pdf

Choose modules rated for 1.8V even if they are CL=5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052108080%201052315794%201052416064%201259916288&name=1.8V

 

[geno777]

hello everyone

firstly id just like to say im new to the forums so hello all. I have a dell xps 710 and i was looking to upgrade my ram. at the moment its the achillieas heel of my whole system. some generic 667mhz modules with horrible timing. the other issue is that my mobo is locked at 1.85v for memory. and thats it, completely locked, i think.

the modules i was looking at getting were 2 x 2gb sticks of corsair 800mhz ddr2 TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX

so my question is can i run these modules at 1.85v and still get the stated timings and speed. i already know that getting 2 modules instead of 4 will help, but is there anything else i should know?

thankyou very much for any help that anyone can give me

I also have a XPS 710. After trial and error I found this ram,that works
great with a little boost in performance.

Crucal Ballistic 4 gig kit.2-2 gig sticks. Part;BL2kit25664AA89A. Got it at newegg for about $58 bucks


Just don't exspect to do much else with the PC.

 

[logan86]

thankyou so much guys. i hope i dont sound too stupid right now but im a little bit worried because i had already ordered before i even found out about the existence of tech support forums on the web. so even when i'd posted my first post they were already on the way

but at least i know what to expect now. the modules are being delievered today. should i even open the pack and try them out?

also, i know i cant get too much more out of my rig, now i have learned more about computers i would never buy a pre built dell like that again. i would just build my own from now on for sure. but i did also get a bfg gtx 285 ocfu which is working a treat and has boosted performance considerably. i would definatly recommend that card to anyone who wants to give their old xps 710 a bit of an update. but i was really hoping that this ram would finaly unlock some overclocking potential from my comp.

what about the possibility of achieving those timings with this ram by using ntune or something to overclock all of the other areas of my mobo, including the ram. would that allow me to achieve the stated timings in a stable way without being able to change to voltage, and at 800mhz ?

 

[Mongox]

Depending on who you ordered from, you're likely facing a re-stocking fee even if the package is not opened. And RAM packaging isn't usually damaged by opening it, unless they ship in retail blister packs. Check the return process at the place you got it from to guide you in this. Remember, if the RAM won't perform to specs, you can reasonably claim that it doesn't work, perhaps slipping by the re-stocking fee if you argue about it. Especially if you re-order from the same place.

I'd favor trying it out and seeing if it'll come up as 800. Since your BIOS doesn't have much control, use a program like CPUz from www.cpuid.com to see how the memory is running.

I haven't used anything like ntune to adjust timings and overclocking. I do use AMDs OverDrive utility to adjust some settings, but then if they work, go to the BIOS to implement them - never tried to use it to lock in the settings. So can't really help there. Heck, try it out and see how you like it.

 

[geno777]

thankyou so much guys. i hope i dont sound too stupid right now but im a little bit worried because i had already ordered before i even found out about the existence of tech support forums on the web. so even when i'd posted my first post they were already on the way

but at least i know what to expect now. the modules are being delievered today. should i even open the pack and try them out?

also, i know i cant get too much more out of my rig, now i have learned more about computers i would never buy a pre built dell like that again. i would just build my own from now on for sure. but i did also get a bfg gtx 285 ocfu which is working a treat and has boosted performance considerably. i would definatly recommend that card to anyone who wants to give their old xps 710 a bit of an update. but i was really hoping that this ram would finaly unlock some overclocking potential from my comp.

what about the possibility of achieving those timings with this ram by using ntune or something to overclock all of the other areas of my mobo, including the ram. would that allow me to achieve the stated timings in a stable way without being able to change to voltage, and at 800mhz ?

To check the memory,use the diagnstic cd Dell sent with the PC. It works very well. The first ram I bought was OCZ 800 mhz stuff. After about a month ,I started getting blue screens. I ran the Diagnostic disk and the memory failed. Stupid me should have ran it first. Then I found the Crucal memory. Tested with the CD and everything passed.



As far as using Ntune...! Its up to you. What little I got out of overclocking with it was lost due to crashes and just frustrations.


I agree about not buying another Dell.

 

[logan86]

well, i gave it a try, and it didnt work

the display didnt even come on actually. i just got diagnostic lights 1, 3, 4 . so i guess i will try and get some kind of refund. i guess i just have to email them and ask. i think i might try out that stuff that geno777 recommended, sounds good. also is cas=5 so bad compared to cas=4. would i noticed much of a difference if i get some of that instead? and of course, rated at 1.8v this time. i wont make that mistake again

 

[Mongox]

CAS=5 is not bad at all. Especially considering the lack of controls on your BIOS. It's odd that the RAM kept the system from booting at all - I'd double check everything. Make sure it's mounted good, no dirt in the slots, try one of them at a time also.

The Crucial Ballistix RAM on NewEgg is all 2.0V and I can't find any listing of that part number. BL2KIT25664 is fine but all have an 80 in place of the 89, might be a typo.

 

[geno777]

Sorry logan86 . I took the part number off the package. Heres the link . I used the item number off the recipt instead.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212&Tpk=20-148-212

 

[geno777]

That ram dose run at 2.0v . I have had mine now for a couple of months.

The diganostic CD I am talking about is the Drivers and utilitys CD. You will have to boot from CD to run it.

 

[logan86]

thanks geno for the link. i think i might give it a go. but is it unusual that i cant run my system at all with this ram. the error code on the diagnostic lights is 1,3,4. but that code isnt even listed in the manual. i definatly used both the white slots and i placed the modules perfectly. i would definatly do that test on the cd, i know the one you mean, but the problem is i cant even get a picture up at all. i presume thats because the gfx loads after the memory. but for now i've got the stock ram back in, and going well. im using ntune as well just to give it a go (posting from my laptop.) im nearly at the end of the 3 hour tuning session and so far the timings are a bit different and the fsb is up by 8% and the pci bus is up by 17% ! but i think i will have to just return that ram and pay the delievery and just accept that i'll be down by £10 by the end of it. still never mind. but if anyone has any suggestions on how i could get that ram working in the mean time that would be amazing. i didnt try using slots 2 and 4 because i thought that it wouldnt work at all if i dont start with the slot closest to the cpu.

 

[geno777]

thanks geno for the link. i think i might give it a go. but is it unusual that i cant run my system at all with this ram. the error code on the diagnostic lights is 1,3,4. but that code isnt even listed in the manual. i definatly used both the white slots and i placed the modules perfectly. i would definatly do that test on the cd, i know the one you mean, but the problem is i cant even get a picture up at all. i presume thats because the gfx loads after the memory. but for now i've got the stock ram back in, and going well. im using ntune as well just to give it a go (posting from my laptop.) im nearly at the end of the 3 hour tuning session and so far the timings are a bit different and the fsb is up by 8% and the pci bus is up by 17% ! but i think i will have to just return that ram and pay the delievery and just accept that i'll be down by £10 by the end of it. still never mind. but if anyone has any suggestions on how i could get that ram working in the mean time that would be amazing. i didnt try using slots 2 and 4 because i thought that it wouldnt work at all if i dont start with the slot closest to the cpu.

Before I got the Crucal ram I had the OCZ ram. I got BSOD. After days of reserch and OCZ tech support, I was told to raise the ram voltage. But could not do to locked bios.


Let me know about the ntune stability of it. Maybe I did it wrong.

I have a question about your PC. Did you get it with the 768 mb gforce 8800 gtx ? And if you did ,is the card you have now much better than it.

 

[Mongox]

Sounds like the two of you can work thru this problem with the advantage of having the same product.

I haven't ever used nTune, but does it only changes the settings once it loads in Windows, right? So special settings in it wouldn't cause the system to fail to boot at all.

I would definately try using a single new module in slot 1 and slot 2... and the pair in 2 & 4... just to see if you can track down the problem. It's very rare for RAM that's the right type to cause boot failure.

 

[logan86]

well, my ntune session with my old ram is all done. i have managed to achieve fsb of 291mhz up from 250mhz. but when it goes that far the cpu multiplier goes down to 6x . and i have gotten the pci bus from 2500 mhz up to 2925mhz. and interestingly, and you're going to love this, the ram up to 712mhz (up from 667mhz) and at 1.875v up from 1.85v. so seemingly , it can change it really can. so why wont it even boot with my modules?

the best part is i played gta4 for quite some time and it was fully stable. as for using ntune, i think its worked well so far. i ran a fine tuning session for 3 hours. it crashed once near the begining and then got to the end no problems.

also yes i did get the 8800 gtx 768mb when i got the machine. i thought it was always a really good card. one day it died on me though which was lame. but it turns out it was a microfracture in the solder somewhere and baking it in my oven for a few minutes had it working good as new again.

but i did realise it was time any way for an upgrade. so i got a bfg tech gtx 285 ocfu (the very fastest 285 available from any company i believe). i have to say the boost in performance has been insane. it has brought the old xps right into the modern world. i can run gta 4 at full settings for example with excellent fps. also crysis at easily 50 fps at fullest settings at 1600x1200. everything runs like a dream.

however, overclocking has really solved a small amount of stuttering very very occasionally in games like gta4. also far cry 2. now everything is the same but just a little bit smoother really. but as for the card, it was the most massive boost in performance you could ever even imagine. it seems to be several times more powerful easily, and yet it only requires 2 x 6 pin power connectors, which the xps 710 has. and it fits great so its all good really. it actually draws less power than the 8800 gtx thanks partly to smaller manufacturing design. i would definatly recommend it.

as for the new ram, i think maybe i should try and insert just one module or something just to see if that works. but i also find it strange that i couldnt even get a display up. but i guess when the diagnostic lights come on to report an error, nothing else happens at all after that, so i suppose it just sits there waiting for the hardware problem to be rectified.

 

[geno777]

well, my ntune session with my old ram is all done. i have managed to achieve fsb of 291mhz up from 250mhz. but when it goes that far the cpu multiplier goes down to 6x . and i have gotten the pci bus from 2500 mhz up to 2925mhz. and interestingly, and you're going to love this, the ram up to 712mhz (up from 667mhz) and at 1.875v up from 1.85v. so seemingly , it can change it really can. so why wont it even boot with my modules?

the best part is i played gta4 for quite some time and it was fully stable. as for using ntune, i think its worked well so far. i ran a fine tuning session for 3 hours. it crashed once near the begining and then got to the end no problems.

also yes i did get the 8800 gtx 768mb when i got the machine. i thought it was always a really good card. one day it died on me though which was lame. but it turns out it was a microfracture in the solder somewhere and baking it in my oven for a few minutes had it working good as new again.

but i did realise it was time any way for an upgrade. so i got a bfg tech gtx 285 ocfu (the very fastest 285 available from any company i believe). i have to say the boost in performance has been insane. it has brought the old xps right into the modern world. i can run gta 4 at full settings for example with excellent fps. also crysis at easily 50 fps at fullest settings at 1600x1200. everything runs like a dream.

however, overclocking has really solved a small amount of stuttering very very occasionally in games like gta4. also far cry 2. now everything is the same but just a little bit smoother really. but as for the card, it was the most massive boost in performance you could ever even imagine. it seems to be several times more powerful easily, and yet it only requires 2 x 6 pin power connectors, which the xps 710 has. and it fits great so its all good really. it actually draws less power than the 8800 gtx thanks partly to smaller manufacturing design. i would definatly recommend it.

as for the new ram, i think maybe i should try and insert just one module or something just to see if that works. but i also find it strange that i couldnt even get a display up. but i guess when the diagnostic lights come on to report an error, nothing else happens at all after that, so i suppose it just sits there waiting for the hardware problem to be rectified.

Good to hear. When I used ntune I got some of the same specs. The pross 291 to 297 range, FSB from 1066 to 11xx,and the ram was from 800 to 950 mhz. I used the quick method,but I think I may go with the long method. The main problem I had was after the setup it ram pretty good,then when I restarted the pc it said could not load profile.

After reading your post I am going to upgrade my video card. I had planned on building my own rig before the first of the year , but my sons wife lost her job and fixing to have a baby. So now it will have to wait until next year.

But the new card is for sure "xmas present".

 

[logan86]

wow, those are pretty good results. i also used the quick tune once but it wasnt very stable. played gta4 and the whole machine just restarted after 20 minutes or so of perfect running, no bsod or anything. i would definatly recommend the 3 hour tuning session, i was tempted to go for 6. i've still been running with it and its been perfect in every scenario. as for the profile, the automatic one seems to suck anyway so i might change the rules a bit or something.

definatly definatly uprade your card. im not even joking, it litterally blew my mind. it brings the old beast right up to the present day, there isnt a single game that it cant now run comfortably at full settings. and i think thats because any quad core is adequate really. (actually out of interest did you get the q6600 with yours?) i would also recommend the bfg gtx 285 ocfu. overclocking insanity for only 20 pounds more. the memory on that is 2664mhz. i cant remember the other specs but its crazy, and for such a small price difference.

sorry to hear about your delayed build. its always a shame if you've already been planning and researching for ages and stuff. and then its like, arrrgh! i was also going to do a build before, but i thought, i'll just get the ram for this first and see how much further it takes me. i think i may also do mine next year. hopefully the prices will have come down by quite a bit by then. so what im planning now (intel core i7 920, asus p6t7 supercomputer mobo, 2000mhz ddr3, etc, etc) will probably be a lot more tempting. right now i was looking at the possibility of spending about £1000. but if i wait that could go down to more like £750 i would hope.

also im really glad i found out the hard way about ordering mistakes. any other ideas about what i could do to make that ram work. its frustrating that these modules seemingly go up to 1.875 successfully, and yet with the new modules the computer wont even boot up.

 

[geno777]

Logan86 , This is a thought. In your BIOS , there are a couple of settings in there that might help. One is the performance setting. Theres a on and off .For overclocking. I turnned this on when I first got my PC. The other is in the memory setting. It turns on eep or somthing like that.I put mine on the eep setting.


I looked up that ram you have,and I don't see why it should not work. But out of curiosoty did you buy it from Dell. The reasom I ask this is because I almost bought the same stuff.Who new...! Anyway I found out it was for the XPS 625 memory upgrade. Plus I have gotten bad memory from Dell a few times.

My specs;
C2D e6600 2.4 at 1066 fsb
768 mb gforce 8800 gtx
150 GB raptor HD (10,000 rpm )
4 GB Crucal Ballistics ram at 800 mhz
FX sound Blaster card
XP

 

[logan86]

thanks for the suggestion. i have turned all the settings in the bios like overclocking and memory profile on. it is very odd that it wont work. i bought it from ccl computers. i think you had the right idea by going with crucial. if its all tested and compatible then i guess its just that extra peace of mind. i just thought i was being clever by picking it myself but i guess i was wrong. then again maybe i made an ok choice but the memory is bad or something. how would i know if it was just broken in some way

 

[geno777]

thanks for the suggestion. i have turned all the settings in the bios like overclocking and memory profile on. it is very odd that it wont work. i bought it from ccl computers. i think you had the right idea by going with crucial. if its all tested and compatible then i guess its just that extra peace of mind. i just thought i was being clever by picking it myself but i guess i was wrong. then again maybe i made an ok choice but the memory is bad or something. how would i know if it was just broken in some way

To be 100% honest with you I am not sure how to. You could try installing 1 module and see if it boots up. I am still learning the Tech, of computers.This Xps 710 is still under warranty (extended)but when I need tech.support the techs. at Dell are not so bright. So I have did 90% of the trouble shooting myself.

The main reason I went with Crucial is it's 100% guaranteed. The one thing I have learned about Dell computers are,there very temperamental when it comes to parts.

 

[logan86]

i completely agree about dell tech support. they simply dont know anything at all. its quite shocking really. but i think after much deliberation, im going to have to go with the crucial ballistics. if it will save me a big headache then i dont mind having to settle for it. its not like those dhx heat spreaders on the corsair are really worth the money anyway. thankyou everyone for your support etc. also its nice to meet a fellow xps 710 owner. we're certainly a very rare bunch thats for sure. i will be sure to post my results with the crucial

 

[Mongox]

Please do post the final results! And very glad to help.

And you two should be sure to send a private message with email addrs so you can keep in touch. One of you may not stay active here but if either has problems, would be nice to email the other to read any future posts here.