Opinion / Advice needed

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have a Dimenision 4300, 1.6, 256 Ram.

I want to upgrade the Ram to 512 but I am not sure how many "pins" are
on the current Ram stick (new at this).

I also want to upgrade my video card. System is used for games, net,
and overall just entertainment. Any suggestion on a new video card ?
Want to play games such as Doom 3, Farcry

Should I even bother to upgrade the current components or just get a
new system?
Dell email support seems to want to sell me their own RAM but I can
get better deals elsewhere. They have not answered my questions. Any
help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Check the motherboard BIOS setup for more information about the memory. Being a
1.6GHz system, the speed is right at the crossover point between 168-pin SDRAM
DIMMs and DDR DIMMs. Or check with www.crucial.com as to the type of memory
required, and maybe order from Crucial, who give good deals on memory. Or even
go to www.dell.com , enter in the service tag of the system, and Dell on-line
will tell you (in somewhat cryptic manner) what kind of memory was shipped with
your system.

Memory upgrades are inexpensive. You can throw oodles of money at graphics card
upgrades. Not sure what is cosy-effective for you, but you can probably upgrade
the system for less than $150 if you pick the right graphics card. This is a
lot less than the cost of a new system... Ben Myers

On 23 Nov 2004 20:01:12 -0800, richard994@hotmail.com (richard994) wrote:

>I have a Dimenision 4300, 1.6, 256 Ram.
>
>I want to upgrade the Ram to 512 but I am not sure how many "pins" are
>on the current Ram stick (new at this).
>
>I also want to upgrade my video card. System is used for games, net,
>and overall just entertainment. Any suggestion on a new video card ?
>Want to play games such as Doom 3, Farcry
>
>Should I even bother to upgrade the current components or just get a
>new system?
>Dell email support seems to want to sell me their own RAM but I can
>get better deals elsewhere. They have not answered my questions. Any
>help would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

That system uses 168-pin PC133 SDRAM. The Dimension 4400 was the first to
use DDR...

http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartspecs.Asp?mtbpoid=52CCC8B6A5CA7304&WSMD=Dimension+4300+Systems&WSPN=CT263995


Stew


<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:41a412c8.2592134@nntp.charter.net...
> Check the motherboard BIOS setup for more information about the memory.
> Being a
> 1.6GHz system, the speed is right at the crossover point between 168-pin
> SDRAM
> DIMMs and DDR DIMMs. Or check with www.crucial.com as to the type of
> memory
> required, and maybe order from Crucial, who give good deals on memory. Or
> even
> go to www.dell.com , enter in the service tag of the system, and Dell
> on-line
> will tell you (in somewhat cryptic manner) what kind of memory was shipped
> with
> your system.
>
> Memory upgrades are inexpensive. You can throw oodles of money at
> graphics card
> upgrades. Not sure what is cosy-effective for you, but you can probably
> upgrade
> the system for less than $150 if you pick the right graphics card. This
> is a
> lot less than the cost of a new system... Ben Myers
>
> On 23 Nov 2004 20:01:12 -0800, richard994@hotmail.com (richard994) wrote:
>
>>I have a Dimenision 4300, 1.6, 256 Ram.
>>
>>I want to upgrade the Ram to 512 but I am not sure how many "pins" are
>>on the current Ram stick (new at this).
>>
>>I also want to upgrade my video card. System is used for games, net,
>>and overall just entertainment. Any suggestion on a new video card ?
>>Want to play games such as Doom 3, Farcry
>>
>>Should I even bother to upgrade the current components or just get a
>>new system?
>>Dell email support seems to want to sell me their own RAM but I can
>>get better deals elsewhere. They have not answered my questions. Any
>>help would be appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Add up the cost of the upgrades - if it is more than the value of the
system on the used market (for this one, $200-250 or so), a new system
may be a better idea.

The bottleneck in the 4300 system is the use of SDR-SDRAM - you'll never
see optimum performance from a P4 using this RAM.




richard994 wrote:
> I have a Dimenision 4300, 1.6, 256 Ram.
>
> I want to upgrade the Ram to 512 but I am not sure how many "pins" are
> on the current Ram stick (new at this).
>
> I also want to upgrade my video card. System is used for games, net,
> and overall just entertainment. Any suggestion on a new video card ?
> Want to play games such as Doom 3, Farcry
>
> Should I even bother to upgrade the current components or just get a
> new system?
> Dell email support seems to want to sell me their own RAM but I can
> get better deals elsewhere. They have not answered my questions. Any
> help would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Edward J. Neth" <ejn63@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:30jakrF305bmrU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Add up the cost of the upgrades - if it is more than the value of the
> system on the used market (for this one, $200-250 or so), a new system may
> be a better idea.
>
> The bottleneck in the 4300 system is the use of SDR-SDRAM - you'll never
> see optimum performance from a P4 using this RAM.
>
>
>
>


I wasn't going to mention that, but since you did so (the OP mentioned Doom
III), I agree with completely. Great little system for moderate tasks, but
not for current graphics intensive gaming.

I've been told that Doom III has humbled many a good newer P4/DDR/128
adapter systems.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I thought that SDRAM was faster than DDR.

Can I replace my SDRAM with other types of RAM ?

Thanks for all that have answered.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

DDR is double-data rate SDRAM. You have single-data rate SDRAM -
effectively, 1/2 the bandwidth. Since the P4 processor is deficient in
internal architecture relative to the P3 it replaced, it is far more
dependent on the memory bus - the only reason Intel offered SDRAM with
it at all was that it was desperate to get out from under the Rambus
(RDRAM) debacle and had no chipset ready for DDR-DRAM - it had a short
market life.

The only way to use DDR in your system would be to replace the mainboard
with one from a Dimension 4500, 4550, 8300, etc. - which would require
reloading Windows.




richard994 wrote:
> I thought that SDRAM was faster than DDR.
>
> Can I replace my SDRAM with other types of RAM ?
>
> Thanks for all that have answered.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"richard994" <richard994@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f9558a14.0411241052.5a644667@posting.google.com...
>I thought that SDRAM was faster than DDR.
>
> Can I replace my SDRAM with other types of RAM ?
>
> Thanks for all that have answered.


No. 168-pin PC133 SDRAM is the only type of RAM that system board will take.
However as Edward pointed out, you could put a board from a 4400 or 4500 in
your system, but you'd have to also buy DDR SDRAM for the board. Your CPU
would work in either of those boards.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Can I replace my SDRAM with other types of RAM ?" In a word, NO.

DDR provides a wider path for data to flow between memory and motherboard than
SDRAM, hence the name Double Data Rate which implies twice the bandwidth as
SDRAM. DDR can be considered another species of SDRAM, or maybe just another
evolutionary step in the SDRAM species. Biologists, please don't flame me for
this analogy... Ben Myers

On 24 Nov 2004 10:52:33 -0800, richard994@hotmail.com (richard994) wrote:

>I thought that SDRAM was faster than DDR.
>
>Can I replace my SDRAM with other types of RAM ?
>
>Thanks for all that have answered.